lodidad
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HP 722C On/Off problem
In Feb. I bought an HP Deskjet 722C printer, and it has never worked properly. HP support people have not been much help. When I want to print something, I need to turn the printer on, off and on again before it will print, regardless of what I'm trying to print. My operating system is Win95 and I have a fair number of programs loaded. This problem occurs even when I bypass my startup files when I power up. My neighbor has the same printer but a different computer using Win98. My printer works fine on his system, but his printer also doesn't work on my system. I've also switched cables with the neighbor and that doesn't help, so it must be some kind of software problem (I also used the neighbor's CD to load the drivers, etc. to no avail.) Anyone have any ideas?
I think I may have seen this before. Your printer has to be turned on after the computer boots up. for some reason whenever the printer was on before the computer the printer won't work. It probably gives a 'lpt1 error' I've no idea why that happens 'specially since it works on another computer.
If amanela is right about it having to be turned on after you're finished booting, the problem is probably caused by drvwppqt.vxd. This link should help:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q157/1/45.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q157/1/45.asp
ASKER
In don't believe I have an option with respect to kschang's suggestion to check in the CMOS settings to see if the LPT port is set to bidirectional. In my CMOS, I have 4 parallel port setting options - SPP, EPP (with Mode selects of EPP1.9 or EPP1.7), ECP (with ECP Mode using DMA of 3 or 1) and ECP+EPP (again with the same Mode selects and ECP Mode DMA settings). I suspect that the SPP option is bi-directional, but I don't know how to determine that for sure. I had been using the ECP (DMA 3) setting because that was what was recommended by HP for use with the IEEE 1284 cable I use for my printer.
ASKER
I don't think amanela's suggestion is pertinent. The problem doesn't seem to be related to whether the printer is on or off before the computer is booted up.
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Actually, SPP is usually not bi-directional. SPP stands for Standard Parallel Port. EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) is bi-di, as is ECP (Enhanced Capabilities Port), which is basically a faster (and often buggier) version of EPP.
If you're going to try messing with the BIOS settings, you will want to stay away from ECP, especially with Windows 95.
One thing that I had forgotten about with Windows 95 that helped many of the customers having similar problems when I was in tech support was to try using the alternate LPT.VXD. In the MS Knowledge Base Article titled "Printing Problems with ECP Port," there are steps that will explain how to get the alternate LPT.VXD as well as how to reconfigure Windows. This article is available (at least for now) at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q141/9/19.asp
Additional troubleshooting can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q128/3/45.asp
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Troy
If you're going to try messing with the BIOS settings, you will want to stay away from ECP, especially with Windows 95.
One thing that I had forgotten about with Windows 95 that helped many of the customers having similar problems when I was in tech support was to try using the alternate LPT.VXD. In the MS Knowledge Base Article titled "Printing Problems with ECP Port," there are steps that will explain how to get the alternate LPT.VXD as well as how to reconfigure Windows. This article is available (at least for now) at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q141/9/19.asp
Additional troubleshooting can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q128/3/45.asp
--
Troy
ASKER
Actually, I believe kschang offered a suggestion that seems to have solved the problem. I do have power savings features, so I checked my Power Management Setup and found that under a category called **Reload Global Timer Events** everything was disabled except "IRQ [3-7,9-15], NMI, & Serial Port". I enabled the parallel port, and the on/off problem has not occurred since.
All of the responses were gratifying and I thank you.
All of the responses were gratifying and I thank you.
First I would suspect the port. REMOVE the printer port from Control Panel / System / Device Manager, then restart. WIN9X should add it back, then give it another try (reinstall the printer and all). If you get an error... Well, you found the problem. :-)
Second, do you have any of the power-saving features enabled? Some of them allows the individual ports to be shut down to save power, and that can cause printer problems...
One more thing... Check in CMOS settings if the LPT port is set to bidirectional. Forget the EPP and ECP stuff for now. If it works in bidir, then try EPP, don't need ECP to print.