WD: How to Troubleshoot Problems Using DeskJet Printers with Word

ID: Q105409

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Windows 3.1
Microsoft Windows for Workgroups versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

This article describes common problems you may encounter when you print from Word for Windows using a Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet printer. This article contains information on troubleshooting the HP DeskJet printer driver (DESKJETC.DRV) version 4.0 and specific information on the following topics:

Printer is busy. Cannot print. Try again when printer is free.

HP DeskJet Series V2.0 error: Printer is Busy.

General Protection (GP) fault in the DeskJet printer driver.

The background printing option may be disabled or unavailable.

Second envelope may not print properly.

Cannot install printer driver while Word 6.0 is running.

MORE INFORMATION

You can resolve most of the above DeskJet printing issues by using the HP DeskJet printer driver (DESKJETC.DRV) version 4.0 for Windows 3.1. To obtain this driver, contact Hewlett-Packard.
For information about how to contact Hewlett-Packard, click the appropriate article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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

PRINTER IS BUSY. CANNOT PRINT. TRY AGAIN WHEN PRINTER IS FREE

You may receive one or more of the following error messages:

Printer is busy. Cannot print. Try again when the printer is free.

Word cannot start the graphics filter.

The graphics filter was unable to convert this file.

These errors occur if you complete one or more of the following actions:

In Word 2.x, insert a picture or graphic using the Picture command on the Insert menu, and print the document. Then insert a second picture.

Insert a picture in a Word 6.0 document.

Run the Quick Preview demonstrations in Word 6.0 when the HP DeskJet is the default printer.

Workaround for Word 6.0

The error occurs if you are using an older version of the HP DeskJet printer driver. The error does not occur with the HP DeskJet driver version 3.1 or later from HP. For information on obtaining the correct driver, see the "More Information" section above in this article.

Turn off the Background Printing if the error occurs when you insert a picture. To turn off background printing, choose Options from the Tools menu, select the Print tab, and clear the Background Printing option box.

Note: The Background Printing option does not affect the error you receive during the Quick Preview demonstrations.

Workaround for Word 2.x

After you print the first graphic image, the printer driver does not reset the printer. This was corrected in the HP DeskJet drivers version 3.1 and later, which you can obtain from HP using the instructions in the "More Information" section above in this article.

To reset the printer, choose Print Setup from the File menu and choose the OK button. Then, when you choose Picture from the Insert menu, no error message should appear.

HP DESKJET SERIES V2.0 ERROR: PRINTER IS BUSY

-or-

GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT IN MODULE <PRINTER DRIVER>

Either or both of the above error messages may occur when you print from Word 6.0 to a HP DeskJet, DeskJet 500, 500C, 550, or 550C if background printing is turned on.

Background printing starts a second instance of Word to handle the printing of the document so that control of the machine is returned to the user much faster. The DeskJet printer driver cannot handle this type of printing situation.

Resolution

The error does not occur when you use the HP DeskJet printer driver (DESKJETC.DRV) version 3.1 or later. For information on obtaining the correct driver, see the "More Information" section above in this article.

Workaround

Turn off the Background Printing option. To turn off background printing, choose Options from the Tools menu, select the Print tab, and clear the Background Printing option box.

BACKGROUND PRINTING OPTION MAY BE DISABLED OR UNAVAILABLE

This is by design. Word 6.0 turns off the Background Printing option and makes the option unavailable under the Printing tab of the Tools Options dialog box when you use certain versions of the HP printer drivers for the HP DeskJet Family printers. Word does this for the following HP printer drivers:

DESKJETC.DRV version 3.1 and later for HP DeskJet family printers

With background printing turned off in Word, these printer drivers print reliably. The following DeskJet drivers do not disable this option, and therefore may cause a general protection (GP) fault or may lose text when background printing is turned on:


   HPDSKJET.DRV   (versions 2.0 and 2.1)
   DJ500C.DRV     (versions 2.0 and 2.1)
   DESKJET.DRV    (versions 3.0 and 3.1)

Workaround

You can turn on the Background Printing option for these printer drivers by setting a printer heuristic in the WIN.INI file using the procedure below. However, portions of text in your Word document may not print or you may experience a general protection (GP) fault when printing. For this reason, Microsoft does not encourage you to use the following procedure.

From the File menu, choose Print.

Choose the Printer button.

In the Printers box, select your DeskJet printer and then choose the Set As Default Printer button.

In the Print Setup dialog box, choose the Close button.

In the File Print dialog box, choose the Close button.

Open the MACRO60.DOT file, supplied with Word. This file is located in the <WINWORD>\MACROS subdirectory (where <WINWORD> is your Word 6.0 for Windows program directory).

From the Tools menu, choose Macro.

From the Macros Available In list, select Macro60.dot (Template).

From the Macro Name list, select SetPrintFlags and then choose the Run button.

In the Set Printer Flags dialog box, clear the Disable Background Printing, +64 option and then choose OK.

When the following message appears, choose Yes:

Do you want to replace current settings with these options? This will change printing behavior!

Last Line of Document Doesn't Print on HP DeskJet 500, 500C

With the Reverse Print Order option turned on, the last line of a Word document may not print on the HP DeskJet 500 series of printers. To print the entire document, turn off the Reverse Print Order option. (To turn off the Reverse Print Order option, choose Options from the Tools menu, select the Print tab, clear the Reverse Print Order option, and then choose OK.)

In the Microsoft Word for Windows Tools menu, select Options, Print, and clear the selection for Reverse Print Order.

Note: This may also occur with other inkjet printers based on the Canon print engine.

Second Envelope May Not Print Properly

After starting Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the HP DeskJet printer no longer prints a second envelope properly. The manual feed command for the DeskJet printer driver version that ships with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (Driver Version 2.14) does not work.

Resolution

Obtain the updated version of the DeskJet driver (DESKJETC.DRV) version 3.1 or later from Hewlett-Packard. For information about obtaining the correct driver, see the "More Information" section earlier in this article.

Workaround

If you must wait for the updated printer driver to arrive, use the following steps to temporarily correct the problem:

Reinstall the Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.1 printer driver version numbers 2.0 or 2.1. These printer drivers are located on the following disks:


   Windows 3.1, 3.5-inch disk 6
   Windows 3.1, 5.25-inch disk 7
   Windows for Workgroups 3.1, 3.5-inch, disk 8
   Windows for Workgroups 3.1, 5.25-inch, disk 8

CANNOT INSTALL PRINTER DRIVER WHILE WORD 6.0 IS RUNNING

You cannot install the HP DeskJet printer drivers that you obtained from HP while Word 6.0 is running. A message appears to notify you that the driver is in use by Windows. This may occur even if Word 6.0 is not currently running but ran earlier during the current Windows session. It also occurs even if you did not print from Word 6.0 during the current Windows session.

Workaround

Quit Word 6.0 and install the driver.

-or-

If that doesn't work, exit and restart Windows, then install the driver. (You may need to restart [reboot] your computer.)

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with the HP DeskJet printer drivers supplied by HP. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

TROUBLESHOOTING THE HP DESKJET 4.0 PRINTER DRIVER

The information below was taken directly from the README.TXT file supplied with the DESKJETC.DRV version 4.0 driver.

MICROSOFT WORD 2.0

Envelopes print incorrectly for the HP DeskJet 510, 520, 550C, and 560C. For these models, select the following settings in Word:

Select "Page Setup" in the Format menu.

Set Size to "Envelope," Orientation to "Landscape," Paper Source to First Page "Envelope," and Other Pages "Envelope."

Make sure that "Reverse Print Order" is turned off in the Print Options in the Tools menu.

If changing these settings do not solve the problem, try checking the "Word 2.0 Envelopes" check box in the INI Configuration Program. For information, see "INI File Modifications" section in the README file that ships with the HP DJ 4.0 driver.

MICROSOFT WORD (Versions 6.0 and earlier)

Default footer settings are outside the printable region. To move the footer within the printable region, change the default footer settings so that the footer is at least 0.67" or more from the paper edge.

MICROSOFT WORD 6.0

The HP Status Dialog box is hidden behind the active Microsoft Word window.

When printing envelopes with the HP DeskJet 500C, only 4 lines of text are printed in the "Send To" address. If you need to print 5 lines, select Black Text printout mode in the printer setup dialog box. In Black Text mode, the printer will print 5 lines.

The default envelope configuration works for all printer models except the HP DeskJet 510 and 550C. For these two models, select the correct orientation as follows:

Select "Envelopes and Labels" in the Tools menu.

Select "Feed."

Select "Face Down," make sure "Clockwise Rotation" is NOT checked, and select the third icon from the right.

Additional query words: winword2 6.0 2.0 2.0a 2.0b 2.0a-CD word6 canon 2.0c demos hpdj desk jet skipped incomplete printout print out losing left off missing quick preview troubleshooting tshooting winword DJ500 gpf phone

Keywords : kbdta
Version : WINDOWS:2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,2.0b,2.0c,3.1,3.11,6.0,6.0a,6.0c
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto