Printer issue

What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of course.
In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so items
that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a fault in
the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found nothing
out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing can
print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that red
was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now.... Printing
from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
Conclusion: my extensive efforts to make win98 shutdown properly, reducing
the size of the registry by rebuilding it, or the patches to solve the red-x
problem I had, must be responsible for this phenomenon. My reasoning is,
that somewhere in the registry two entries point to the same location within
a file or memory, so instead of 4 colour channels there are only 3. When a
program initializes the printer, the sequence determines the colour assigned
to it.
If I knew where to look, I could correct it. But I don't ...

Cornelis Koger

"C.D. Koger" wrote in message
...
| What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of course.
| In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so items
| that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
| changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a fault
in
| the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
| between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
nothing
| out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing
can
| print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
| So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
| But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that red
| was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
Printing
| from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
| Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
| Conclusion: my extensive efforts to make win98 shutdown properly, reducing
| the size of the registry by rebuilding it, or the patches to solve the
red-x
| problem I had, must be responsible for this phenomenon. My reasoning is,
| that somewhere in the registry two entries point to the same location
within
| a file or memory, so instead of 4 colour channels there are only 3. When a
| program initializes the printer, the sequence determines the colour
assigned
| to it.
| If I knew where to look, I could correct it. But I don't ...
|
| Cornelis Koger
|
|

Hmm, don't think your mods and fixes would have done this due to the two
different colors aspect coming from two different apps. Let me think on this
one today, or maybe someone else has some ideas. {Let's see, need to think
around spooling, printer settings, drivers, aaaahhhh.... where's the dang
light switch}

--
MEB
_______________

"MEB" meb@not wrote in message
...



"C.D. Koger" wrote in message
...
| What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
course.
| In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so
items
| that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
| changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a
fault
in
| the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
| between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
nothing
| out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing
can
| print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
| So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
| But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that
red
| was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
Printing
| from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
| Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
| Conclusion: my extensive efforts to make win98 shutdown properly,
reducing
| the size of the registry by rebuilding it, or the patches to solve the
red-x
| problem I had, must be responsible for this phenomenon. My reasoning is,
| that somewhere in the registry two entries point to the same location
within
| a file or memory, so instead of 4 colour channels there are only 3. When
a
| program initializes the printer, the sequence determines the colour
assigned
| to it.
| If I knew where to look, I could correct it. But I don't ...
|
| Cornelis Koger
|
|

Hmm, don't think your mods and fixes would have done this due to the two
different colors aspect coming from two different apps. Let me think on
this
one today, or maybe someone else has some ideas. {Let's see, need to think
around spooling, printer settings, drivers, aaaahhhh.... where's the dang
light switch}

--
MEB
_______________



I am leaning towards driver corruption ...

On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:03:50 +0200, "C.D. Koger"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of course.
In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so items
that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a fault in
the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found nothing
out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing can
print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that red
was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now.... Printing
from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.

If the printer has a self test, try running that. Many printers will
print a test pattern if you power them on while holding the linefeed
button or some other button.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"MEB" meb@not wrote in message
...
|
|
|
| "C.D. Koger" wrote in message
| ...
| | What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| | everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
course.
| | In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so
items
| | that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
| | changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a
fault
| in
| | the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
| | between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
| nothing
| | out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing
| can
| | print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
| | So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
| | But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that
red
| | was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
| Printing
| | from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
| | Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
| | Conclusion: my extensive efforts to make win98 shutdown properly,
reducing
| | the size of the registry by rebuilding it, or the patches to solve the
| red-x
| | problem I had, must be responsible for this phenomenon. My reasoning is,
| | that somewhere in the registry two entries point to the same location
| within
| | a file or memory, so instead of 4 colour channels there are only 3. When
a
| | program initializes the printer, the sequence determines the colour
| assigned
| | to it.
| | If I knew where to look, I could correct it. But I don't ...
| |
| | Cornelis Koger
| |
| |
|
| Hmm, don't think your mods and fixes would have done this due to the two
| different colors aspect coming from two different apps. Let me think on
this
| one today, or maybe someone else has some ideas. {Let's see, need to think
| around spooling, printer settings, drivers, aaaahhhh.... where's the dang
| light switch}
|
| --
| MEB
| _______________
|
|

Nothing clicks here yet, but some faded bits of memory
[*LEXMARK!!!!!!!!!*][old Corel issues],, let's try to give the group
something to work with.

Let's try some basics:
We know its 98SE.
You have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.

Printing what [extension, etc.] causes you to noticing the problem?
What version of CorelDraw?
What version of Word?
What model of Lexmark printer?
What else is listed as a print driver under Printers?
What print mode are you using as default? What, as the actual print mode
within the program?
DO you have Adobe typemanager installed or any other type or print manager?
Any other Adobe products [versions if so]?
Any problems with fonts or changing fonts?

--
MEB
_______________

ADDENDUM:

Did you check the BIOS to be sure your still set properly for the type of
printer attached, e.g. SPP, ECP, etc.....
Does it show properly in Device Manager?

--
MEB
_______________

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:03:50 +0200, "C.D. Koger"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
course.
In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so
items
that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a fault
in
the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex wiring
between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
nothing
out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the thing
can
print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that
red
was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
Printing
from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow (!)
Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.

If the printer has a self test, try running that. Many printers will
print a test pattern if you power them on while holding the linefeed
button or some other button.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Thank you MEB, Haggis, Franc.
Here are the answers:
The Coreldraw version is 9.0. It skips every yellow pixel in both old and
new *.CDR files.
Word says it is word 97 SR1. Both Word and IE6 print all shades of red as
yellow. *.JPG and *.BMP pictures look psychedelic, red text is of course
unreadable.
The Lexmark is a Z45 USB photo quality printer with a nr 20 and nr 90
cartridge, at 80 and 60% ink level.
I print on plain paper with 'normal' quality. Changing to 'better of 'best'
has no effect on the problem, changing to 'quick print' produces an error
messages 'print mode not consistent with installed cartridge types'.
There is no other printer installed, nor is there a 3rd party print manager.
The only Adobe products I have installed is a stone age Photoshop that came
with a long discarded scanner and the Acro reader 6.0. Both have been there
long before the printer issue showed up.
The Lexmark has no selftest but a heavy software package that talks to you
and has a 'solutions centre'. The test page has colour boxes for cyan,
magenta and yellow, the word Lexmark and a picture of a peacock. It is
printed with vague cyan, magenta that looks like my grandma's underware and
bright yellow shifted approx. 1 millimeter left of the box it should be in.
The peacock's colours do not resemble the ones on my screen.
Because the yellow was shifted like a misprint I went to the 'automatic
alignment' page, but the voice said "the printer has a problem", no further
explanation given. There is also 'manual alignment' and that's where the
funny part starts. It prints four flawless bars in yellow, cyan, magenta and
black, followed by 4 lines of arrows in square boxes with thin lines,
vertically labeled A,B,C and D, horizontally numbered 0 to 20. The idea is
that you enter the number above which are the arrows with the highest
contrast. Unfortunately only line A has some traces of yellow with all black
arrows identical, line B has 14 identical black arrows, line C has 20
black/grey arrows in various shades and line D has no arrows at all. So that
was no help at all.
If I remember correctly (have mercy please, I'm nearly 64), this started
when I posted here last year about a window popping up at shutdown with the
familiar text 'this program is not responding'. I got advice from various
sides, installed Microsoft patches, monitoring tools, reg. cleaners, Adaware
etc. I learned a lot about how win98se works, but not nearly enough to
really solve a problem, so the window still pops up whenever I shutdown
after using IE6. Now I contemplate starting from scratch. What kept me
thusfar is the amount of work it involves.

Cornelis Koger

"C.D. Koger" wrote in message
...
|
| "Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
| ...
| On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:03:50 +0200, "C.D. Koger"
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
| What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
| course.
| In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so
| items
| that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
| changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a
fault
| in
| the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex
wiring
| between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
| nothing
| out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the
thing
| can
| print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
| So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
| But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw that
| red
| was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
| Printing
| from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow
(!)
| Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
|
| If the printer has a self test, try running that. Many printers will
| print a test pattern if you power them on while holding the linefeed
| button or some other button.
|
| - Franc Zabkar
| --
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
|
| Thank you MEB, Haggis, Franc.
| Here are the answers:
| The Coreldraw version is 9.0. It skips every yellow pixel in both old and
| new *.CDR files.
| Word says it is word 97 SR1. Both Word and IE6 print all shades of red as
| yellow. *.JPG and *.BMP pictures look psychedelic, red text is of course
| unreadable.
| The Lexmark is a Z45 USB photo quality printer with a nr 20 and nr 90
| cartridge, at 80 and 60% ink level.
| I print on plain paper with 'normal' quality. Changing to 'better of
'best'
| has no effect on the problem, changing to 'quick print' produces an error
| messages 'print mode not consistent with installed cartridge types'.

Quick print is sometimes called draft [lowest resolution available], which
some printers do not support.

| There is no other printer installed, nor is there a 3rd party print
manager.
| The only Adobe products I have installed is a stone age Photoshop that
came
| with a long discarded scanner and the Acro reader 6.0. Both have been
there
| long before the printer issue showed up.
| The Lexmark has no selftest but a heavy software package that talks to you
| and has a 'solutions centre'. The test page has colour boxes for cyan,
| magenta and yellow, the word Lexmark and a picture of a peacock. It is
| printed with vague cyan, magenta that looks like my grandma's underware
and
| bright yellow shifted approx. 1 millimeter left of the box it should be
in.
| The peacock's colours do not resemble the ones on my screen.
| Because the yellow was shifted like a misprint I went to the 'automatic
| alignment' page, but the voice said "the printer has a problem", no
further
| explanation given. There is also 'manual alignment' and that's where the
| funny part starts. It prints four flawless bars in yellow, cyan, magenta
and
| black, followed by 4 lines of arrows in square boxes with thin lines,
| vertically labeled A,B,C and D, horizontally numbered 0 to 20. The idea is
| that you enter the number above which are the arrows with the highest
| contrast. Unfortunately only line A has some traces of yellow with all
black
| arrows identical, line B has 14 identical black arrows, line C has 20
| black/grey arrows in various shades and line D has no arrows at all. So
that
| was no help at all.

This is where you would have over-ridden auto settings were they wrong,
reset "head" alignment, and print "quality".

| If I remember correctly (have mercy please, I'm nearly 64), this started
| when I posted here last year about a window popping up at shutdown with
the
| familiar text 'this program is not responding'. I got advice from various
| sides, installed Microsoft patches, monitoring tools, reg. cleaners,
Adaware
| etc. I learned a lot about how win98se works, but not nearly enough to
| really solve a problem, so the window still pops up whenever I shutdown
| after using IE6. Now I contemplate starting from scratch. What kept me
| thusfar is the amount of work it involves.
|
| Cornelis Koger
|
|


One more you may have missed as it was an addendum, did you check the BIOS
for the proper port settings?
As this is a USB printer, did you check for any USB port settings that your
board might need set in the BIOS?
Is this USB 1.0, 2.0, 2.*? Your printer likely requires 2.0 though it may
[or did if that's what you have] work with 1.0.

Also make su that "PNP OS" is noted in the BIOS and that automatic
settings/assignments are being used; RESET/UPDATE ESCD is set to yes or do
or what ever; then Save Settings and restart to Normal Mode.
A potential issue relates to whether your using ACPI are you? IF so, save
the below for future use, and post back {SEE the last paragraph HOWEVER of
this post}[ACPI is not recommended for desktops or towers, i.e., non-mobile,
in 98].

The test/alignment prog/app shows you have alignment errors, though if the
printer is not receiving the proper "orders", as is indicated by the
errors/failure which the app directed too, then you will not be successful
regardless, nor will the printer print properly.

Question begs to know whether you're using default drivers or one of the
"universal drivers" for anything such as a Flash Drive or other USB device?

Here's the test.

First, check with MSINFO to find out what your shared IRQs, addresses, and
like, are existent in your system. Print these out for future reference.

Shutdown completely. Unplug from electricity both the computer and printer,
and physically disconnect the printer from the computer for a day or so to
completely clear the on-board printer "memory". Replug the computer and
restart to Normal Mode. {you unplugged the computer to remove residuals from
its memory, if a notebook pull out its battery}

While doing this disconnect from the printer, uninstall the driver and
related apps for the printer from the OS. If Lexmark has a "cleanup" utility
use that to remove all traces of the printer from the OS. Restart in Normal
Mode.
If not, check in CCLEANER [which I think you have now] or some other
registry cleaner for left over entries of the printer and software. Remove
them. You can also search manually via Regedit if your familiar with its
usage.
Restart in Normal Mode, Run find New Hardware doing both tests, install
anything found even if you know it is not really there. Shutdown and restart
in Normal Mode again. Check for the USB and assignments in Device Manager,
any faux entries, or unknown devices making notes of any found, recheck via
MSINFO, then restart again, this time to Safe Mode.

Check in Safe Mode for any residuals or ghosts, especially the USB. Check
to make sure the software you removed shows it's actually been removed
[which if you clean the registry it should be]. Uninstall all the USB,
restart in Normal Mode, let the port reinstall as a default Microsoft USB
hub or if your board/computer has a specific driver, install that.
Run find New Hardware doing both tests, install anything found even if you
know it is not really there [as this is the second time run, you may have
hardware issues]. Shutdown and restart in Normal Mode again. Check for the
USB and assignments in Device Manager, any faux entries, or
unknown/duplicate devices making notes of any found, recheck via MSINFO.
Nothing found, skip next segment.

* Option/variable *
IF you have problem devices, and/or devices installed which you know aren't
there, or the port does not show properly, restart again in Safe Mode,
remove any problem devices first. Make sure you do not have any duplicate
ports, devices, USB hubs, etc.. If so, remove all issues. Check your System
devices for resources and drivers. Check what driver{s} is installed for the
BIOS control. Your looking for PlugnPlay, not FAIL SAFE, and NOT ACPI. If
either shows, post back.
IF NOT, Restart in Normal mode.
Let Windows reinstall the what it finds again, checking in Device Manager
for proper settings.
Restart in Normal Mode, Rerun Find New Hardware [should find nothing so
just cancel when done], recheck everything again in Device Manager and
MSINFO.
*

Shut down completely, if ATX hit the switch on the back of the computer to
make sure the computer is completely off, or if no switch unplug or remove
battery. Reconnect the printer. Reconnect the power and restart. DO NOT
install the printer drivers yet.

Microsoft included a tool on the CDROM called USBView which you may have
in:
C:\%windir%\Options\Cabs\tools\reskit\diagnose\usb view.exe , or on the
CDROM;
\tools\reskit\diagnose\usbview.exe

Run the tool and note what it finds. You can copy the findings by
highlighting the right pane and right click copy. Save in a text prog for
future reference.

Now reinstall the printer software, OR if the printer requires, follow its
recommendations for installation. Restart after installing, and check for
problems. Make sure your NOT printing to RAW format. Check all other printer
settings. NOTE: having uninstalled the software, likely the INK available
will not be accurate. Recheck with USB View.
See if your problem still exists.

Though a relatively involved test, we can now pretty much negate hardware
and printer software related issues, save for the specifics involved with
ACPI [if your using]; and potentials related to OS variables in conjunction
potentials related to the prior issues you worked on.
[GEES, did I actually write all that????]

There is a HOWEVER here.
You have had prior problems with this OS setup before, which indicates
registry and installation issues, which are likely being compounded after
each fix or attempted fix. Though we all HATE to reinstall, you might want
to seriously think about scheduling this shortly.
It is extremely difficult to correct problems when running across the
various issues and modifications which your OS may now contain.
Now [soon], would be an excellent time to make a clean base install
[leaving out added applications and peripherals], burn that to CDROM or
image/backup to a separate partition for future use if you intend to
continue using 98SE.

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com/
BLOG - http://peoplescounsel.spaces.live.com/ Public Notice or the "real
world"
http://groups.google.com/group/the-peoples-law?hl=en - discussion group for
general aspects of Law verses the Peoples' of the world

"Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth.
Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business as if
nothing had happen." Winston Churchill
Or to put it another way:
Morpheus can offer you the two pills;
but only you can choose whether you take the red pill or the blue one.
_______________

"MEB" meb@not wrote in message
...

"C.D. Koger" wrote in message
...
|
| "Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
| ...
| On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:03:50 +0200, "C.D. Koger"
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
| What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
| course.
| In my case the Lexmark suddenly dropped red, or magenta actually, so
| items
| that should have been red or orange were printed in yellow only. But
| changing the cartridge didn't make any difference, so I suspected a
fault
| in
| the printer itself, like a loose connector or a crack in the flex
wiring
| between the chassis and the cartridge carrier. Took it apart, found
| nothing
| out of the ordinary and put it together again. Was amazed that the
thing
| can
| print anyhow, it is practically empty. No wonder they are cheap.
| So I decided to add a new printer to the shopping list.
| But yesterday I made a drawing with Coreldraw, printed it and saw
that
| red
| was printed correctly, but there was not a trace of yellow now....
| Printing
| from IE6 or Word, there is no red, from Coreldraw there is no yellow
(!)
| Removed the printer software, reinstalled it, no change.
|
| If the printer has a self test, try running that. Many printers will
| print a test pattern if you power them on while holding the linefeed
| button or some other button.
|
| - Franc Zabkar
| --
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
|
| Thank you MEB, Haggis, Franc.
| Here are the answers:
| The Coreldraw version is 9.0. It skips every yellow pixel in both old
and
| new *.CDR files.
| Word says it is word 97 SR1. Both Word and IE6 print all shades of red
as
| yellow. *.JPG and *.BMP pictures look psychedelic, red text is of course
| unreadable.
| The Lexmark is a Z45 USB photo quality printer with a nr 20 and nr 90
| cartridge, at 80 and 60% ink level.
| I print on plain paper with 'normal' quality. Changing to 'better of
'best'
| has no effect on the problem, changing to 'quick print' produces an
error
| messages 'print mode not consistent with installed cartridge types'.

Quick print is sometimes called draft [lowest resolution available],
which
some printers do not support.

| There is no other printer installed, nor is there a 3rd party print
manager.
| The only Adobe products I have installed is a stone age Photoshop that
came
| with a long discarded scanner and the Acro reader 6.0. Both have been
there
| long before the printer issue showed up.
| The Lexmark has no selftest but a heavy software package that talks to
you
| and has a 'solutions centre'. The test page has colour boxes for cyan,
| magenta and yellow, the word Lexmark and a picture of a peacock. It is
| printed with vague cyan, magenta that looks like my grandma's underware
and
| bright yellow shifted approx. 1 millimeter left of the box it should be
in.
| The peacock's colours do not resemble the ones on my screen.
| Because the yellow was shifted like a misprint I went to the 'automatic
| alignment' page, but the voice said "the printer has a problem", no
further
| explanation given. There is also 'manual alignment' and that's where the
| funny part starts. It prints four flawless bars in yellow, cyan, magenta
and
| black, followed by 4 lines of arrows in square boxes with thin lines,
| vertically labeled A,B,C and D, horizontally numbered 0 to 20. The idea
is
| that you enter the number above which are the arrows with the highest
| contrast. Unfortunately only line A has some traces of yellow with all
black
| arrows identical, line B has 14 identical black arrows, line C has 20
| black/grey arrows in various shades and line D has no arrows at all. So
that
| was no help at all.

This is where you would have over-ridden auto settings were they wrong,
reset "head" alignment, and print "quality".

| If I remember correctly (have mercy please, I'm nearly 64), this started
| when I posted here last year about a window popping up at shutdown with
the
| familiar text 'this program is not responding'. I got advice from
various
| sides, installed Microsoft patches, monitoring tools, reg. cleaners,
Adaware
| etc. I learned a lot about how win98se works, but not nearly enough to
| really solve a problem, so the window still pops up whenever I shutdown
| after using IE6. Now I contemplate starting from scratch. What kept me
| thusfar is the amount of work it involves.
|
| Cornelis Koger
|
|


One more you may have missed as it was an addendum, did you check the
BIOS
for the proper port settings?
As this is a USB printer, did you check for any USB port settings that
your
board might need set in the BIOS?
Is this USB 1.0, 2.0, 2.*? Your printer likely requires 2.0 though it may
[or did if that's what you have] work with 1.0.
The BIOS has a USB yes/no option and Assign IRQ yes/no. USB was on of
course, assign IRQ was off. I switched it on: it now shares IRQ5 with 3
other devices. The USB-hub says it's 2.0, the printer is plugged directly to
the main board, always has been.

Also make su that "PNP OS" is noted in the BIOS and that automatic
settings/assignments are being used; RESET/UPDATE ESCD is set to yes or do
or what ever; then Save Settings and restart to Normal Mode.
Bad idea! These were both off. After I switched them on the machine failed
to boot, so I switched them off again, but that didn't do any good: just a
warning beep and a black screen. So I booted in safe mode and found IRQ
conflicts between video and audio cards. With device manager I tried to
assign different IRQ's, but win98 gave me a slide show of warnings, so I
abandoned the efforts. Tried to delete the ATI Rage Pro drivers, but that
ended with 'this program has performed an illegal function bla bla'. Only
after I deleted the drivers manually in DOS mode, rebooted and reinstalled
them, the machine resumed normal life again.

A potential issue relates to whether your using ACPI are you? IF so,
save
the below for future use, and post back {SEE the last paragraph HOWEVER of
this post}[ACPI is not recommended for desktops or towers, i.e.,
non-mobile,
in 98].
No, ACPI and win98 are a bad marriage.

The test/alignment prog/app shows you have alignment errors, though if
the
printer is not receiving the proper "orders", as is indicated by the
errors/failure which the app directed too, then you will not be successful
regardless, nor will the printer print properly.

Question begs to know whether you're using default drivers or one of the
"universal drivers" for anything such as a Flash Drive or other USB
device?
Not to my knowledge. There are several drivers, for the Samsung stick, a
card programmer, two cameras, but nothing universal.

Here's the test.

First, check with MSINFO to find out what your shared IRQs, addresses, and
like, are existent in your system. Print these out for future reference.

Shutdown completely. Unplug from electricity both the computer and
printer,
and physically disconnect the printer from the computer for a day or so to
completely clear the on-board printer "memory". Replug the computer and
restart to Normal Mode. {you unplugged the computer to remove residuals
from
its memory, if a notebook pull out its battery}

While doing this disconnect from the printer, uninstall the driver and
related apps for the printer from the OS. If Lexmark has a "cleanup"
utility
use that to remove all traces of the printer from the OS. Restart in
Normal
Mode.
If not, check in CCLEANER [which I think you have now] or some other
registry cleaner for left over entries of the printer and software. Remove
them. You can also search manually via Regedit if your familiar with its
usage.
Restart in Normal Mode, Run find New Hardware doing both tests, install
anything found even if you know it is not really there. Shutdown and
restart
in Normal Mode again. Check for the USB and assignments in Device Manager,
any faux entries, or unknown devices making notes of any found, recheck
via
MSINFO, then restart again, this time to Safe Mode.

Check in Safe Mode for any residuals or ghosts, especially the USB. Check
to make sure the software you removed shows it's actually been removed
[which if you clean the registry it should be]. Uninstall all the USB,
restart in Normal Mode, let the port reinstall as a default Microsoft USB
hub or if your board/computer has a specific driver, install that.
Run find New Hardware doing both tests, install anything found even if
you
know it is not really there [as this is the second time run, you may have
hardware issues]. Shutdown and restart in Normal Mode again. Check for the
USB and assignments in Device Manager, any faux entries, or
unknown/duplicate devices making notes of any found, recheck via MSINFO.
Nothing found, skip next segment.

* Option/variable *
IF you have problem devices, and/or devices installed which you know
aren't
there, or the port does not show properly, restart again in Safe Mode,
remove any problem devices first. Make sure you do not have any duplicate
ports, devices, USB hubs, etc.. If so, remove all issues. Check your
System
devices for resources and drivers. Check what driver{s} is installed for
the
BIOS control. Your looking for PlugnPlay, not FAIL SAFE, and NOT ACPI. If
either shows, post back.
IF NOT, Restart in Normal mode.
Let Windows reinstall the what it finds again, checking in Device Manager
for proper settings.
Restart in Normal Mode, Rerun Find New Hardware [should find nothing so
just cancel when done], recheck everything again in Device Manager and
MSINFO.
*
The above is something for a rainy sunday. I will post back later.

Shut down completely, if ATX hit the switch on the back of the computer
to
make sure the computer is completely off, or if no switch unplug or remove
battery. Reconnect the printer. Reconnect the power and restart. DO NOT
install the printer drivers yet.

Microsoft included a tool on the CDROM called USBView which you may have
in:
C:\%windir%\Options\Cabs\tools\reskit\diagnose\usb view.exe , or on the
CDROM;
\tools\reskit\diagnose\usbview.exe

Run the tool and note what it finds. You can copy the findings by
highlighting the right pane and right click copy. Save in a text prog for
future reference.
Never knew I was that rich. Not on the harddisk but the CDROM has it. It
says there is a generic hub connected to port1, no devices to hub 1/2/3/4
and an inkjet colour printer to port 2. Useful tool!

Now reinstall the printer software, OR if the printer requires, follow
its
recommendations for installation. Restart after installing, and check for
problems. Make sure your NOT printing to RAW format. Check all other
printer
settings. NOTE: having uninstalled the software, likely the INK available
will not be accurate. Recheck with USB View.
See if your problem still exists.

Though a relatively involved test, we can now pretty much negate hardware
and printer software related issues, save for the specifics involved with
ACPI [if your using]; and potentials related to OS variables in
conjunction
potentials related to the prior issues you worked on.
[GEES, did I actually write all that????]
I wish you had skipped the PNP OS line. It took me the better part of this
morning to get the machine functional again.

There is a HOWEVER here.
You have had prior problems with this OS setup before, which indicates
registry and installation issues, which are likely being compounded after
each fix or attempted fix. Though we all HATE to reinstall, you might want
to seriously think about scheduling this shortly.
It is extremely difficult to correct problems when running across the
various issues and modifications which your OS may now contain.
Now [soon], would be an excellent time to make a clean base install
[leaving out added applications and peripherals], burn that to CDROM or
image/backup to a separate partition for future use if you intend to
continue using 98SE.

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com/
BLOG - http://peoplescounsel.spaces.live.com/ Public Notice or the "real
world"
http://groups.google.com/group/the-peoples-law?hl=en - discussion group
for
general aspects of Law verses the Peoples' of the world

"Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth.
Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business as
if
nothing had happen." Winston Churchill
Or to put it another way:
Morpheus can offer you the two pills;
but only you can choose whether you take the red pill or the blue one.
_______________

MEB, Thanks for putting your experience at my disposal for free, it must
have taken a lot of time. What I completely forgot was the fact that I still
have winXP on another partition. It maybe helpful to install the Lexmark and
a graphics package there to see if the problem persists.

"C.D. Koger" wrote in message
...
|
| "MEB" meb@not wrote in message
| ...
|
| "C.D. Koger" wrote in message
| ...
| |
| | "Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
| | ...
| | On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:03:50 +0200, "C.D. Koger"
| | put finger to keyboard and composed:
| |
| | What do you do when your printer omits one of its four colours, so
| | everything that comes out looks weird? You change the cartridge of
| | course.

{stuff deleted}

| | when I posted here last year about a window popping up at shutdown
with
| the
| | familiar text 'this program is not responding'. I got advice from
| various
| | sides, installed Microsoft patches, monitoring tools, reg. cleaners,
| Adaware
| | etc. I learned a lot about how win98se works, but not nearly enough to
| | really solve a problem, so the window still pops up whenever I
shutdown
| | after using IE6. Now I contemplate starting from scratch. What kept me
| | thusfar is the amount of work it involves.
| |
| | Cornelis Koger
| |
| |
|
|
| One more you may have missed as it was an addendum, did you check the
| BIOS
| for the proper port settings?
| As this is a USB printer, did you check for any USB port settings that
| your
| board might need set in the BIOS?
| Is this USB 1.0, 2.0, 2.*? Your printer likely requires 2.0 though it
may
| [or did if that's what you have] work with 1.0.

| The BIOS has a USB yes/no option and Assign IRQ yes/no. USB was on of
| course, assign IRQ was off. I switched it on: it now shares IRQ5 with 3
| other devices. The USB-hub says it's 2.0, the printer is plugged directly
to
| the main board, always has been.

Ah ha, Okay Assign IRQ should have been on for Win9X.
Nice USB 2.0 gives ya lots of usage....

|
| Also make su that "PNP OS" is noted in the BIOS and that automatic
| settings/assignments are being used; RESET/UPDATE ESCD is set to yes or
do
| or what ever; then Save Settings and restart to Normal Mode.

| Bad idea! These were both off. After I switched them on the machine failed
| to boot, so I switched them off again, but that didn't do any good: just a
| warning beep and a black screen. So I booted in safe mode and found IRQ
| conflicts between video and audio cards. With device manager I tried to
| assign different IRQ's, but win98 gave me a slide show of warnings, so I
| abandoned the efforts. Tried to delete the ATI Rage Pro drivers, but that
| ended with 'this program has performed an illegal function bla bla'. Only
| after I deleted the drivers manually in DOS mode, rebooted and reinstalled
| them, the machine resumed normal life again.

Okay, then the OS was either installed with these off, OR, some
drivers/applications were installed after something caused these to be reset
in the BIOS/CMOS. 9X should be {or have been} installed with these turned
on.

Another possibility - Have you ever thought about, checked, or changed the
BIOS/CMOS battery? How old is this machine/board?

|
| A potential issue relates to whether your using ACPI are you? IF so,
| save
| the below for future use, and post back {SEE the last paragraph HOWEVER
of
| this post}[ACPI is not recommended for desktops or towers, i.e.,
| non-mobile,
| in 98].

| No, ACPI and win98 are a bad marriage.

|
| The test/alignment prog/app shows you have alignment errors, though if
| the
| printer is not receiving the proper "orders", as is indicated by the
| errors/failure which the app directed too, then you will not be
successful
| regardless, nor will the printer print properly.
|
| Question begs to know whether you're using default drivers or one of
the
| "universal drivers" for anything such as a Flash Drive or other USB
| device?

| Not to my knowledge. There are several drivers, for the Samsung stick, a
| card programmer, two cameras, but nothing universal.

|
| Here's the test.

OHOH, we may need to review these ...

[MOST OF TEST DELETED]

|
| Microsoft included a tool on the CDROM called USBView which you may
have
| in:
| C:\%windir%\Options\Cabs\tools\reskit\diagnose\usb view.exe , or on the
| CDROM;
| \tools\reskit\diagnose\usbview.exe
|
| Run the tool and note what it finds. You can copy the findings by
| highlighting the right pane and right click copy. Save in a text prog
for
| future reference.

| Never knew I was that rich. Not on the harddisk but the CDROM has it. It
| says there is a generic hub connected to port1, no devices to hub 1/2/3/4
| and an inkjet colour printer to port 2. Useful tool!

Yep, first tool to pull out when suspecting USB problems.

|
| Now reinstall the printer software, OR if the printer requires, follow
| its
| recommendations for installation. Restart after installing, and check
for
| problems. Make sure your NOT printing to RAW format. Check all other
| printer
| settings. NOTE: having uninstalled the software, likely the INK
available
| will not be accurate. Recheck with USB View.
| See if your problem still exists.
|
| Though a relatively involved test, we can now pretty much negate
hardware
| and printer software related issues, save for the specifics involved
with
| ACPI [if your using]; and potentials related to OS variables in
| conjunction
| potentials related to the prior issues you worked on.
| [GEES, did I actually write all that????]

| I wish you had skipped the PNP OS line. It took me the better part of this
| morning to get the machine functional again.

Well, PNP OS allows the OS to manage the assignments, resetting AUTO and
updating ESCD resets them to defaults, which allows the 9X OS to work out
where to put stuff.
Without PNP OS set, the BIOS/CMOS reports its assignments, which you may
have manually set or which the manufacturer set, disallowing the OS to
reassign without potential conflicts or assigning conflicts which are
"supposed" to work together [shared assignments].

As the video card crashed, it appears to show it was installed without
AUTO, and PNP, and likely ASSIGN IRQ [for the video] properly set.
Once properly set in the BIOS/CMOS, the card [and potentially other
devices] would need to be reinstalled/ or checked for proper settings.
This, because the OS would attempt to reassign to proper shared IRQS, e.g.,
things known to work together without alot of failures or conflicts. As the
OS never ran (needing the video for graphics) it never changed the IRQ and
otherr assignments.
In fact, as video cards are necessary in the gui, most cards/drivers will
NOT allow reassignments within Windows 9X and must be, as you found and I
failed to caution, be uninstalled, before setting PNP OS and ASSIGN IRQ FOR
VIDEO CARD in the BIOS/CMOS, and reinstalled afterwards. Sorry, my bad,
should have warned you. {knew i forgot something, that naging in the back of
the brain}

|
| There is a HOWEVER here.
| You have had prior problems with this OS setup before, which indicates
| registry and installation issues, which are likely being compounded
after
| each fix or attempted fix. Though we all HATE to reinstall, you might
want
| to seriously think about scheduling this shortly.
| It is extremely difficult to correct problems when running across the
| various issues and modifications which your OS may now contain.
| Now [soon], would be an excellent time to make a clean base install
| [leaving out added applications and peripherals], burn that to CDROM or
| image/backup to a separate partition for future use if you intend to
| continue using 98SE.
|
| --
| MEB
| _______________
|

| MEB, Thanks for putting your experience at my disposal for free, it must
| have taken a lot of time. What I completely forgot was the fact that I
still
| have winXP on another partition. It maybe helpful to install the Lexmark
and
| a graphics package there to see if the problem persists.


AAAACCCKKK, yyyyyyyeah best test it there.

The dual boot issue modifies some of the test and installation of both. {My
bad again, forgot you advised previously you had done that for the tax form
issue}

XP once installed and running, ignores the BIOS/CMOS for the most part, and
will reassign stuff based upon HAL and other aspects within the OS.

9X, on the other hand, reads BIOS/CMOS, uses the limitations and assignments
(though it may override some settings with varying success rates).

Dual booting should be set for the base requirements of the most limited OS
or the most used OS, which would be 9X in your case, unless your booting
virtual... hence, whenever you decide to re-install, set those things in the
BIOS/CMOS properly, but expect XP to complain a bit upon first startup {it
make take longer to bootup the first time, as it will be resetting the
bootup assignments}...

But then we have dozens of duel [dual] booters here that can better serve
you on those potentials.

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com/
BLOG - http://peoplescounsel.spaces.live.com/ Public Notice or the "real
world"
http://groups.google.com/group/the-peoples-law?hl=en - discussion group for
general aspects of Law verses the Peoples' of the world

"Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth.
Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business as if
nothing had happen." Winston Churchill
Or to put it another way:
Morpheus can offer you the two pills;
but only you can choose whether you take the red pill or the blue one.
_______________