Prints test page okay BUT.......

Recently re-installed 98 and downloaded drivers
for Lexmark printer of recent vintage. Installed
and tested and test page prints fine. And I am able
to use Notepad, Open a .txt file that I browsed
to, saw it in the window and printed it. That's
the good news.

The bad news is that if I use MSDOS command and
then edit, to open and look at the file, and then
try to Print it, I get a write fault error. The
printer power light is lit, all tests show the printer
to be ready, but I can't print from MSDOS.
I tried copy filename prn or LPT1, nothing happens.

It's been a long time that I've been working in XP.....
what did I forget to do? Is there something I have to
add to the autoexec or config.sys , or what?

Thanks.

William B. Lurie

Are you opening a DOS window or restarting in DOS mode? Is the printer
connected to a parallel port, or is it USB. Could you post the whole error
message, please? One thing to note is that you don't need the "" in the
copy command, rather it should be "copy filename LPT1".

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE --
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Still Cadillacin' - www.badnewsbluesband.com

wrote in message
...
Recently re-installed 98 and downloaded drivers
for Lexmark printer of recent vintage. Installed
and tested and test page prints fine. And I am able
to use Notepad, Open a .txt file that I browsed
to, saw it in the window and printed it. That's
the good news.

The bad news is that if I use MSDOS command and
then edit, to open and look at the file, and then
try to Print it, I get a write fault error. The
printer power light is lit, all tests show the printer
to be ready, but I can't print from MSDOS.
I tried copy filename prn or LPT1, nothing happens.

It's been a long time that I've been working in XP.....
what did I forget to do? Is there something I have to
add to the autoexec or config.sys , or what?

Thanks.

William B. Lurie

Thanks for offering to help, Hal. I never restart in DOS mode....
takes too long and doesn't leave me with running programs. I
open a DOS window by StartRuncommand, then CD from Windows to
root directory. Printer is on a USB cable at all times. Please note that
printer prints test page from Lexmark Solution Center nicely.

Right now I'm having trouble reproducing it, but when I am in this
DOS prompt mode, and type edit bigapl.txt to open the batch file,
and then do the FilePrint and ask for the whole page, it just
hangs, with the message at bottom of window "Waiting for printer
to respond", which it never does.....

I now see that it acts the same way in XP, so I think I have to
regroup and get my story narrowed down. I can tell you this, though:
it prints that file nicely if I copy it into Notepad and print it from
there.

Sorry to have started you on something that I can't reproduce. I'll
appreciate your interim advice, while I get my act in order.

Bill Lurie

Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] wrote:
Are you opening a DOS window or restarting in DOS mode? Is the printer
connected to a parallel port, or is it USB. Could you post the whole error
message, please? One thing to note is that you don't need the "" in the
copy command, rather it should be "copy filename LPT1".

Hal


--
William B. Lurie

I thought it might be a USB printer; what you need to do in both operating
systems is to "Capture" the printer port. In Windows 98, you do this from
the "Details" tab on the printer property sheet with the "Capture" button;
what it does is map the printer to an LPT port so DOS and DOS programs can
have access to it. With Windows XP, the process is a bit different and,
fortunately, here is a web page with detailed instructions:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm
Printing from DOS with Windows 2000 or XP

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE --
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Still Cadillacin' - www.badnewsbluesband.com

wrote in message
...
Thanks for offering to help, Hal. I never restart in DOS mode....
takes too long and doesn't leave me with running programs. I
open a DOS window by StartRuncommand, then CD from Windows to
root directory. Printer is on a USB cable at all times. Please note that
printer prints test page from Lexmark Solution Center nicely.

Right now I'm having trouble reproducing it, but when I am in this
DOS prompt mode, and type edit bigapl.txt to open the batch file,
and then do the FilePrint and ask for the whole page, it just
hangs, with the message at bottom of window "Waiting for printer
to respond", which it never does.....

I now see that it acts the same way in XP, so I think I have to
regroup and get my story narrowed down. I can tell you this, though:
it prints that file nicely if I copy it into Notepad and print it from
there.

Sorry to have started you on something that I can't reproduce. I'll
appreciate your interim advice, while I get my act in order.

Bill Lurie

Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] wrote:
Are you opening a DOS window or restarting in DOS mode? Is the printer
connected to a parallel port, or is it USB. Could you post the whole
error
message, please? One thing to note is that you don't need the "" in
the
copy command, rather it should be "copy filename LPT1".

Hal


--
William B. Lurie

Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] wrote:
I thought it might be a USB printer; what you need to do in both operating
systems is to "Capture" the printer port. In Windows 98, you do this from
the "Details" tab on the printer property sheet with the "Capture" button;
what it does is map the printer to an LPT port so DOS and DOS programs can
have access to it. With Windows XP, the process is a bit different and,
fortunately, here is a web page with detailed instructions:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm
Printing from DOS with Windows 2000 or XP

Hal
Hal, it's the 98 I care more about, and you led me to
the right place, but I don't know what to put there.
I tried changing the USB002 (virtual port to USB) to
LPT1 and it didn't like that. When I tried printing,
it told me I had to stick with USB. Where it shows LPT1,
the drop-down lets me choose LPT1 theu LPT7. Your
explanation, above, led me to the right place, but could
you tell me the steps, and what to change in the windows
there, so that I'll capture what needs to be captured.

The XP instructions of Sanders' are another matter. Even
with his glossary, eventually I'll need another dictionary
or better instructions, but the XP matter is distinctly
lower priority.

Thanks for helping.

Bill Lurie

I'm not exactly sure how to do this, however, it should be one of two ways.
In both cases, you'll use the "Capture Printer Port" button. The first
thing to try is to use the path listed in the "Print to the following path"
window of the "Details" tab. In the Capture box, use the LPT port of your
choice in the "Device" window and the path shown on the Details tab as the
path. If this doesn't work, the next thing to try would be the Windows XP
method. Here, you would share the printer (right click the printer, click
"Sharing", give it a name, click OK) and then use the share path (which
would be \\computername\sharename) in the path window in the capture dialog
box.

I'm not sure either method will work. Windows 98 doesn't have much USB
support, so I don't know if either "Path" is useable.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE --
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Still Cadillacin' - www.badnewsbluesband.com

wrote in message ...
Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] wrote:
I thought it might be a USB printer; what you need to do in both
operating
systems is to "Capture" the printer port. In Windows 98, you do this
from
the "Details" tab on the printer property sheet with the "Capture"
button;
what it does is map the printer to an LPT port so DOS and DOS programs
can
have access to it. With Windows XP, the process is a bit different and,
fortunately, here is a web page with detailed instructions:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm
Printing from DOS with Windows 2000 or XP

Hal
Hal, it's the 98 I care more about, and you led me to
the right place, but I don't know what to put there.
I tried changing the USB002 (virtual port to USB) to
LPT1 and it didn't like that. When I tried printing,
it told me I had to stick with USB. Where it shows LPT1,
the drop-down lets me choose LPT1 theu LPT7. Your
explanation, above, led me to the right place, but could
you tell me the steps, and what to change in the windows
there, so that I'll capture what needs to be captured.

The XP instructions of Sanders' are another matter. Even
with his glossary, eventually I'll need another dictionary
or better instructions, but the XP matter is distinctly
lower priority.

Thanks for helping.

Bill Lurie

Just to remind you, Hal, that you have pointed at *exactly*
what the problem is, with 98 and my USB-demanding Lexmark
printer.......if you would be so kind as to expand those
instructions just a bit. Thank you.
Bill Lurie

Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] wrote:
I thought it might be a USB printer; what you need to do in both operating
systems is to "Capture" the printer port. In Windows 98, you do this from
the "Details" tab on the printer property sheet with the "Capture" button;
what it does is map the printer to an LPT port so DOS and DOS programs can
have access to it.

Hal