HPLJ 4000N Printer Name Missing from Properties Printing Window

ID: Q182252

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft SNA Server, versions 3.0, 3.0 SP1, 3.0 SP2, 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you configure a host printer session in SNA Server Manager, the name of the printer entered on the Printing tab of the Print Session dialog box may not be retained after you close the Printing tab or after you save the changes. This has been observed when adding the printer name of Hewlett-Packard LaserJet (HP LJ) 4000N, and with the HP8100 series and LexMark Optra printers.

NOTE: This symptom may occur with other types of printers as well.

CAUSE

SNA Server's host print service stores printer setting information in the SNA Server configuration file (COM.CFG), in the same format that Windows NT uses. This format has a fixed size part and a variable size part that is printer dependent. SNA Server reserves 256 bytes for the variable size part. Print drivers that use more than 256 bytes of data for the variable data overwrite other information contained in the SNA Server configuration file. In this case, the printer name is being overwritten; this is the reason it is not retained in the print session setting.

PCL6 printer drivers exceed the 256-byte limit that is reserved for the variable printer data by a large margin. Printers using a PCL6 print driver will experience this problem. Other print drivers may exceed the 256-byte limit as well.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can use the SNACFG utility to add the printer session name to the SNA Server configuration.

The command line must be modified to reflect the following parameters:

"prtsessname" must be replaced with the APPC print session name.
"svrname" must be replaced with the name of the SNA Server.
"printername" must be replaced with the name of the print device.
Note that this can also be a network share name.

Open a command prompt. At the command prompt, enter the following line:

SNACFG PRINTSESSIONAPPC prtsessname /SERVER:svrname
DEVICENAME:"printername"

Doing this should correctly add the APPC print session name to the SNA Server configuration.

RESOLUTION

SNA Server 3.0

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SNA Server version 3.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q184307 How to Obtain the Latest SNA Server Version 3.0 Service Pack

SNA Server 4.0

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server version 4.0. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for SNA Server version 4.0. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server, versions 3.0, 3.0 SP1, 3.0 SP2, 4.0. This problem was first corrected in SNA Server 3.0 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

To print to the HP LJ 4000N, you can use other applications running on the Windows NT Server computer that SNA Server is installed on.

This was resolved by installing the PCL 5E driver for the HPLJ 4000N from the Hewlett-Packard Web site.

REFERENCES

For information about how to contact Hewlett-Packard, query in the Knowledge Base for one of the following articles:

Q65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

Q60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

Q60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

The third-party contact information included in this article is provided to help you find the technical support you need. This contact information is subject to change without notice. Microsoft in no way guarantees the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The Laser Jet 4000N is manufactured by Hewlett-Packard, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

Additional query words: HPLJ 4000N 4000n

Keywords : prodsna sna3rdparty snaprintservice
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0 SP1,3.0 SP2,4.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug