Top Margin Moves Down on Epson and Compatible Printers

ID: Q97696

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows 3.1
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0
  • Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

When you use the manual feed option to print a multi-page document from Microsoft Windows to one of the following printers, the top margin creeps down on each page and the output may contain one or more lines of corrupted text:

  • Star NX-2430 (using STAR24E.DRV, supplied with Windows version 3.1)


  • Epson 24-pin dot-matrix printers (using EPSON24.DRV version 2.0, supplied with Windows version 3.1)


NOTE: If you print in landscape orientation, the left margin increases on subsequent pages instead of the top margin.


CAUSE

This problem is caused by the following two problems in the printer drivers supplied with Windows version 3.1 (STAR24E.DRV and EPSON24.DRV version 2.0):

  • The unprintable region settings are incorrect for the manual feed mode.


  • The drivers fail to instruct Print Manager to prompt you to feed a manual page. When the printer goes offline after ejecting a page, Print Manager generates an error message. When the error occurs in Print Manager, the printer may lose some data, which causes the top margin to creep down and may also cause the printer to lose some data and print one or more lines of corrupted output.



RESOLUTION

To correct these problems, use the updated Epson 24-pin printer driver (EP24.EXE, version 2.1), which is available from Epson. An updated STAR24E.DRV is not yet available, so you should use the Epson LQ-860, or Epson LQ 850 printer driver to print on the Star NX-2430 printer.

The updated Epson 24-pin printer driver prompts you to feed each manual page so that the margin no longer creeps down and no data is lost as long as you also do the following:

  1. Activate Print Manager. For instructions, see pages 199-200 in "Microsoft Windows User's Guide."


  2. In Print Manager, choose Always Alert from the Options menu.


If you have problems obtaining precise margin settings, modify the Options Margins setting in the printer driver. For information on the Options Margins setting, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
setting and options and margins and unprintable and capability


REFERENCES

"Microsoft Windows User's Guide," version 3.1, pages 199-200, 221-222

Additional query words: 1.10a 2.00a 2.00a-CD 2.00b macppt winppt 2.00c 3.10 w4wprint

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,1.1a,2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,2.0b,2.0c,3.0,3.1,4.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :


Last Reviewed: December 2, 1999
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