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TITLE: Printing (Possible Solutions) NetWare Lite v1.1
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6108
DATE: 07Dec92
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: NA
SYMPTOM: NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
Printing (Possible Solutions) NetWare Lite v1.1
Before going any further, if you have not applied patches for NetWare Lite v1.1, please get FAX Document #265, read it and acquire the most current applicable patch file.
The following information is relative to printing problems you may encounter. Though every effort is made to confirm these solutions, they may not work in every case. With the variety of possible causes of print problems, we caution you to make a backup of your data before trying any of these suggestions. Also, all information is relative to NetWare Lite v1.1 only. If you have not already done so, please upgrade to v1.1.
If you have already upgraded from NetWare Lite 1.0 to 1.1 and are having printing problems, a possible solution is to physically delete the network printer files and network printer definition and recreate it using NetWare Lite 1.1.
Follow theses steps to make the necessary changes:
1. Go to Dos and make sure that you are on your C: drive.
2. Change to the NWLITE directory. ( CD\NWLITE )
3. Change to a hidden directory called NLCNTL ( CD NLCNTL )
4. There will be a directory for each printer on your machine. The contents of the directory must be removed and the directory removed. ( The name of the directory may be SLPT1, SLPT2, SLPT3, SCOM1 or SCOM2 ).
Here are examples of how to delete the files and directories:
Using DR DOS 6.0: XDEL SLPT1 /RSD
Using MS DOS 5.0: DEL SLPT1\*.*
RD SLPT1
NOTE: DO NOT DELETE ANY FILES IN THE NLCNTL DIRECTORY, ONLY DELETE THE FILES IN THE DIRECTORIES FOR THE PRINTERS AS OUTLINED ABOVE.
5. Change back to the NWLITE directory ( CD.. ).
6. Type NET.
7. Go to SUPERVISE THE NETWORK, NETWORK PRINTERS.
8. Delete your network printer.
9. Recreate your network printer. (see printer setup below)
10. Exit the NET UTILITY.
NOTE: You may set Capture Settings under Network Printers, if you wish, prior to Exiting or continue with #11 below.
11. Capture your network printer.
12. Print a file from dos with the network loaded
( COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT LPT1 ).
13. Print a file from your application.
Printer Setup
If you are having printing problems, we presume the Network Printers are not setup properly, since this has been the source of some confusion it is necessary to check this information first. To do so, with the Network running (server loaded and supervisor logged in) type NET, then select Supervise the Network, select Network printers. If a printer does not exist, press the Ins key, and a list of existing Servers will come up. Select the Server where the printer is physically located. Enter a printer name. (It is recommended using a name that will identify the printer, i.e., HP_LASERJET_III etc,) Then select a port the printer is connected to. The next screen shows default information for the printer. At this point you can press F1 for information and details of each option. You may now escape out of NET (press ESC key several times until an EXIT message comes up) EXIT and reboot your Server. Once you are back up and running you can issue your NET CAPTURE statement to specify the port and printer name and any other valid capture parameters. (see manual for details on NET CAPTURE or at the DOS prompt type NET CAPTURE ? for help information. Additional printing information can be found in document #240.
Questions & Answers
Q. How do I eliminate the banner page at the beginning of each print job?
A. Banner defaults to y(yes). Eliminate it with b=n in your Net Capture statement.
Q. Each print job ejects a blank page when it finishes. Can I eliminate this wasted page?
A. Yes. Formfeed default is set to y(yes). Turn it off with f=n in the Net Capture line.
Q. Can I capture to a printer on my Client only machine?
A. NO. Not at this time, you can only capture to a Server or Server-Client.
Q. I have two people sending print jobs at the same time, when the files print they get mixed up. Some of each job prints on the same page.
A. Make sure they are not printing direct to the printer port. Default is NO but can be set to d=y. This means it sends the print job as soon as it gets it in the buffer and doesn't wait until the entire job is buffered. This first portion may print out and then SERVER has to wait for the rest of the job. A second job sent directly may print part of its job and start mixing the two together, they in turn wait for the rest of the print job from the sending application but continue mixing up the printing. If this is seen DO NOT use d=y.
Q. My printing comes out with just a few lines per page.
A. This can be buffer size or wait time related or both. First increase the w=xx parameter in Net Capture. Default is 10 but if the print job is large or has a lot of printing codes, graphics or postscript, it may need more time to send the job to the buffer before the Wait time times out and assumes that is the last of the job and issues an end of file and closes it. If this happens you may see the job split up into several jobs in the NET utility. Second the print buffer may need to be increased. Go into NET, select Supervise the network, select Server configuration, select your SERVER, increase Print buffer size in the Future column. Then escape out and reboot for any changes to take effect.
NOTE: Do not use d=y and w=0. If you set w=0 it will rely on the application to close the file, if it doesn't then no printing will occur and the print job will remain open until it is closed explicitly. You will need to do this manually by sending a ^L to the port. (hold down the CTRL key and press L key) EXAMPLE: ECHO ^L >lpt1
Q. Sending a print job but only a few pages print out, then the printer stops and the machine with the printer attached to it locks up.
A. First check the WAIT parameter. Try increasing w=xx in NET CAPTURE. Also check for the presence of Caching utilities. Make sure only one is loaded. Two caching utilities loaded at the same time will conflict with each other and cause unpredictable results. If the problem persists remove all caching and any TSR's loaded, other than the NetWare Lite files.
Q. I have just run the upgrade utility to v1.1. Now print jobs are okay for the first page or two then it prints just a few characters per page until the job is finished. Increasing the WAIT time and print buffer size doesn't help.
A. Go to NET, select Supervise network, select Network printer, now check the Characters per second. If it is set at 0 change it to 16384 which is the default.
Q. I get a message saying "Printer off line" or "Printer out of paper", however neither case is true. Their is plenty paper and it may continue printing without problem.
A. Increase the Error wait time by 10-15 seconds. It is found in same area as previous question.
Q. The server locks up intermittently when printing or the print job just disappears without printing.
A. Make sure their are no hardware conflicts. If using LPT1 do not use a Network Interface Card (NIC) set at I/O address of 360. The size of the address overlaps with the LPT1 port address of 378. If you use LPT2 do not use interrupt 5. See FAX Document #212 "Resolving I/O and IRQ conflicts"
Q. What is a typical value to set for "Characters per second"?
A. Normally the default of 16384 is sufficient. If it is set high then DOS will be interrupted more often to retrieve characters from the print buffer. If the printer is a serial printer or a slow machine, increasing this parameter may not affect the speed of the printer but it can affect the Dos foreground process. A good rule of thumb for setting "Characters per second" for serial printers is the printer baud rate divided by 10. Example, 9600 baud / 10 = 960. This parameter is a value you may need to experiment with and do some fine tuning.
Q. I have several applications from which I print different types of files. Most applications are okay but a few of them print odd formats, or ascii type characters or just plain garbage.
A. Make sure the NetWare Lite v1.1 patches are installed. (see note above) CLPRNTR.PAT is what will most likely be needed.
Q. I print from my Client to a printer attached to my Server-Client and it prints just fine. But if I print from my Server-Client to the same printer the data is corrupted and sometimes the Server-Client machine locks up. I also have noticed a lot of lost clusters on my hard drive and sometimes problems with the drives FAT table.(File Allocation Table)
A. This is a known problem relating to NetWare Lite. Use INT28FIX.PAT. See patch information at beginning of this document.
Q. My application is setup to output to a com port. How can I Capture the port and send the print job to a printer on my Server?
A. NetWare Lite will not Capture com ports. If the application is hard coded to print to a com port you will need to work that out with the makers of the application. If the application can be changed and configured to output to an lpt port then do so and Capture the lpt port. This may be the problem if you get re-direct errors.
Example: If printer Laserjet is attached to Server and the Capture command is executed from a Client.
Net Capture COM1 Laserjet (will not work)
Net Capture Lpt1 Laserjet (will capture the lpt1 port of the client and end the print job to the Laserjet attached to the Server machine)
Q. I run NetWare Lite and Windows and other various applications. When I send a print job from the application it will go on hold until I exit out of Windows. It then prints without flaws.
A. First check the Windows System.ini file in the [shell] section. If the application is listed there remove it from this area and try again. See Fax Document #204 NetWare Lite and Windows 3.1 (possible solutions)
Q. All print jobs are printing extremely slow.
A. First try printing from DOS, without any Netware Lite files loaded. In most cases the slow down is related to bad or conflicting hardware. Check for the use of any A-B switches or multiplexor hardware connected to the port. If so, remove it and try printing. If it is still slow it may be the port itself is bad. If it prints fine without NetWare Lite but as soon as Lite is loaded the slow down occurs you may need to adjust the print buffer size and try fine tuning the Characters per second.
Q. I try printing and get an error 5 (access denied). Sometimes it says "error writing to disk, there may not be enough space on the disk (disk full messages), although the disk has several megabytes available.
A. The software used may be calling for the attributes of a device and getting the wrong information from NetWare Lite. Use Opendev.pat from the previous mentioned patches.
Q. Can I set up my printer on my Server-Client machine as a NetWare Lite printer and print to it using Net Capture as well as use it as a DOS printer?
A. No, if the printer is set up in the Net utility as a Network printer and Server is loaded then NetWare Lite has control of the printer. It no longer is available to DOS. Be sure to Net Capture the port first then you may print to it. If you print directly to the printer without capturing you may corrupt the print job.
Q. Can I Net Capture a non existent port such as lpt2 so as to use my lpt1 for DOS printing.
A. Yes, provided your machine is not a Server as was covered in the previous question.
EXAMPLE: Net Capture lpt2 Laser
(if lpt2 doesn't exist and applications send their print output to the lpt2 port, the print job will be redirected to printer Laser which is attached to a Server machine. Lpt1 is free for DOS use)
Q. I can have Net Capture loaded but can not do a print screen or redirect an ASCII file to the lpt port. Also some applications do print okay, others do not.
A. This may happen if the printer can be set to different print modes. For example, an HP Laserjet IIIsi can be set to PCL or Postscript mode. If the previous mentioned problems occur check the printer and make sure it is not set to Postscript. The reason some applications worked is they may have been sending Postscript print jobs. If you are sending Postscript make sure the Net Capture contains the following parameters. b=n(no banner), t=0(no tabs), f=n(no formfeed), s=default(the default setup string should not have any values when used for postscript printing).
