Troubleshooting Printing and Fonts

This section describes the most common problems you might encounter with printing and fonts, and explains the best ways to resolve these problems.

Troubleshooting Printing

Windows 98 provides print troubleshooting topics in Help, which you should use first to resolve printing problems. In Windows 98 Help, select the Index tab, and then type print troubleshooting. If you cannot resolve the problem by using the print troubleshooting topics in Help, check the procedures in this section.

For information on specific printer models and printing problems, read the Printers.txt file in the \Windows directory. This document describes the latest printer models and troubleshooting issues for Windows 98.

Correcting Problems with Printer Installation

This section describes conditions that may interfere with installing a printer and explains how to fix them.

No printers are listed in the Print dialog box.

If you cannot select a specific model because no list appears, verify that the printer INF file exists. The Msprintx.inf file in the Windows INF directory stores the information displayed in the Manufacturer and Model lists.

A file-copy error occurs during printer installation.

If an error occurs with a file copying operation while running the Add Printer Wizard, the wizard displays the specific error information, including the source and destination paths and file names it was trying to copy when the error occurred. To continue, verify the location of the specified files, and then retry the installation.

Correcting Specific Printing Problems

This section describes problems or errors that might occur when printing and explains how to fix them.

You cannot print to a local or network printer.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• Clear the print buffer. Turn the printer’s power off, wait about five seconds, turn the printer on, and then try printing again.
• Try printing a test page.
• Verify that there is paper in the printer, the printer is not jammed, and there are no problems with the printer cartridge or toner.
• Try printing to a file.
• If you can print to a file, try copying the file to the printer port (for local printers).

To copy a file to a printer port

• At the MS-DOS prompt, type

  copy /b filename lpt1:
  

  The switch /b directs the system to print a binary file.

If copying the file to the printer port prints the document correctly, the problem is in the communication between Windows 98 and the printer. Check the following (and consult your printer’s documentation as needed for further information):

• Check the printer, making sure it is plugged in, turned on, and online.
• Check the printer’s self-test program.
• Check the printer connection and printer cable.
• Check the printer configuration.

You cannot print because of a network-specific printing problem.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• Make sure other network resources are available.
• Try connecting over the network to the print server.
• Try removing and adding network protocols.

If you still cannot print, the printer driver might not be working correctly.

You cannot print because of a printer driver.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• Try printing using another printer driver. For example, use the Generic/Text Only Printer driver. If this works, check the version of your printer driver, and either reinstall or upgrade the driver.
• Try printing from the MS-DOS command prompt to determine whether the description for the printer driver in the registry is invalid.

To check the printer driver

1. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, click Properties, and then click the Details tab.
2. Verify that the driver name is correct.
3. Click the Paper tab, and then click the About button. Verify that the driver version is the same as the one listed in the manual from the printer manufacturer.

To fix the registry description for the printer driver

• Remove the current printer driver and reinstall it.

If you still cannot print, an application might be conflicting with the printer driver.

You cannot print because of an application conflict.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

1. Try printing from a different application.
2. If successful, check the failing application’s configuration, and reinstall the application if needed.

If you still cannot print, determine whether you have a spooling problem.

You cannot print because of spooler problems.

To determine whether you have a spooling problem, print directly to the port.

To disable all spooling and print directly to the port

1. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, click Properties, and then click the Details tab.
2. Click Spool Settings.
3. Click Print directly to the printer.

You cannot print to a printer shared using a non-Microsoft print server.

Redirect LPT1 to the shared printer, and then run the Add Printer Wizard to set up the printer on LPT1. For example, if a network printer is connected to LPT1, type the following at the MS-DOS prompt:

net use lpt1: \\servername\sharename 

This command depends on the network you are using. Consult your network documentation to find out how to redirect an LPT port, and then use the Add Printer Wizard in the Printers folder to set up the printer on the LPT port.

You cannot access remote NetWare servers when making a dial-up connection.

This problem occurs when the computer making the remote connection is also running File and Print Sharing for NetWare Networks. In this case, the file and printer sharing service automatically becomes the default server, but it cannot receive the information needed to find the remote servers. To avoid this problem, disable File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks before you make the dial-up connection.

You cannot print because of a bidirectional printer problem.

To disable bidirectional printing support

1. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, click Properties, and then click the Details tab.
2. Click Spool Settings.
3. Click Disable bi-directional support for this printer.

If you can now print successfully, make sure you have an IEEE 1284 – compliant printer cable.

Graphic images do not print correctly, or output is garbled.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• Disable enhanced metafile (EMF) spooling (see "Enhanced Metafile Spooling" earlier in this chapter).
• Print with a PostScript driver, if supported by the printer. If this prints, the problem is a Unidrv.dll error.
• If PostScript fails, there is either a problem with the GDI or with the application. To verify that it is an application problem, try printing another file, or try printing from another application.
• Try printing shorter jobs or fewer jobs at a time. If you are printing a long document or several documents, the spooler may be printing one page over another.
• If the graphic is in encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format, try copying the PostScript file to the printer.
• For a PostScript printer, try changing from vector-graphics to raster-graphics mode. Raster-graphics mode uses less memory.
• For a PostScript printer, try adjusting the virtual memory settings.

Pages are only partially printed.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• If the printed page is missing part of a graphic image, this may mean that the printer has insufficient memory. To check for insufficient printer memory, try reducing print resolution.
• Try printing the same graphic image from a different document and application.
• Check the printable region by running a print test from the printer.
• If the printed page is missing a section of text, check the font that is used, and verify that the font is valid and correctly installed (check the Fonts option).
• Try printing from a different document with the same font.
• Try printing from the same document with a different font.
• Try enabling Print TrueType As Graphics in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties sheet.
• Try simplifying the page by reducing the number of objects, such as lines, or reduce the number of fonts.

Printing is slow.

You can try the following:

• Use the Disk Defragmenter utility to check for excessive hard disk fragmentation, and defragment the hard disk drive.
• Check for available disk space for temporary files.
• Check for available system resources.
• Check the printer driver and reinstall it, if necessary.
• Disable the option to send TrueType fonts as bitmaps, as described in the following procedure.

To disable printing TrueType fonts as bitmaps

1. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Fonts tab, click Print TrueType as Graphics, and then click OK.

A PostScript printer does not have enough virtual memory.

To change virtual memory settings for a PostScript printer

1. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Device Options tab, and then increase the value in the Available printer memory (in KB) box.

You cannot print more than 256 copies of a document.

Some printers cannot print more than 256 copies of a document. Consult the documentation for your printer to determine the maximum number of copies it can print. This is a known limitation for the following printer models:

• Canon Bubble-Jet BJ-230
• CoStar LabelWriter Pro
• HP LaserJet 4
• HP LaserJet 4MV PostScript
• HP LaserJet Series II

The computer stalls while printing.

To troubleshoot a computer that stalls while printing to a local printer

1. Check the printer driver version, and reinstall the printer driver if needed.
2. Check the video driver, and reinstall the video driver if needed.
3. Check for adequate free disk space in the Temp folder.
4. Delete residual spool files, and then retry printing. (See the procedure "To clear residual spool files" later in this section.)

You send a document to the printer, but nothing is printed.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• Check that the system has enough free hard disk space.
• If necessary, disable enhanced metafile spooling, as described in "Enhanced Metafile Spooling" earlier in this chapter.
• Check that the spooler has cleared the unprinted spool file.

To clear residual spool files

1. Delete spool jobs by deleting SPL files in the Windows System\Spool\Printers directory.
2. Check the Temp folder and delete all TMP files. All EMFs have file names similar to EMFxxxxx.tmp.
3. Restart the computer, and then try printing again. Windows 98 cleans up corrupted SPL files and their corresponding EMFs when you restart the computer.

Troubleshooting Fonts

This section describes problems with fonts that may occur and explains how to fix them.

A font does not print correctly.

To ensure that a font is installed correctly

1. Double-click the Fonts option in Control Panel, and make sure the font is installed.
2. Double-click the font, and then click Print.

You can also try the following:

• Print using a different font.
• Print a different document using the same font.
• Print with a different application using the same font.
• Print to a different printer using the same font.
• Verify the printer driver version, size, and date.
• Try using a printer-resident font.
• Print to a file, and then copy the file to a port to see if the driver or the spooler is causing the problem. For example:

  copy filename.prn /b lpt1:
  

• If the printer supports PostScript and page composition language (PCL), try printing in each format.
• If the font is a TrueType font, open the printer’s Properties sheet, and then on the Fonts tab, click Print TrueType As Graphics.
• Print with a different minidriver, such as the Generic/Text Only.

When printed, a font appears distorted or unreadable.

If you encounter this problem, do the following:

• In the application, change to Print Preview mode to see if the font appears correct on-screen.
• Change the font size to see if the problem recurs with a larger or smaller font.
• Use a different font to see if the original font is corrupted.
• Check printer resolution. Most non-TrueType fonts are optimized for 300 dpi or greater.
• Cut and paste the formatted text into another application and print it. If the font errors still occur, the problem may be related to the specific font.
• Load a PostScript driver, and select Download As TrueType. If the job prints correctly, the problem lies in the printer driver or Unidrv.dll. Otherwise, the problem is probably in the GDI.
• Check printer memory. If there are many fonts on the page, you may need more memory.
• For a laser printer, in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties, click Download TrueType fonts as bitmap soft fonts in the TrueType fonts box.

When printed, fonts overlap.

• Try different resolutions, using the same printer. If a higher or lower print resolution works, the printer driver is probably at fault. Try using another printer driver.

  Note

  If the problem persists with more than one printer driver, the problem is likely to be at the GDI level.

• For a laser printer, in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties sheet, click Download TrueType Fonts as Bitmap Soft Fonts.
• Try printing the same information with a different font.

A font does not print properly when underlined or strikethrough text is selected.

• Try a different application with the same font.
• Print in a different orientation (that is, if portrait, change to landscape).
• For a laser printer, in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties sheet, click Download TrueType Fonts as Bitmap Soft Fonts.

You cannot convert PostScript Type1 fonts to TrueType fonts in the Fonts folder.

Windows 98 does not support this capability. PostScript Type1 fonts will work with Windows 98, but you need to install Adobe Type Manager to manage them on the screen and install them for a printer.

Fonts are clipped when printed.

• Recheck the printable region by running a print test from the printer. (There is usually a test button on the printer; press this to run a test.) Adjust the paper orientation if you can.
• For a laser printer, in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties sheet, click Download TrueType Fonts as Bitmap Soft Fonts.
• Check the printer memory settings for the driver and printer. If you are printing large images, the printer memory may be insufficient; try printing small images.

Some parts of a TrueType font are rotated, but other parts are not.

• If this occurs because the printer can only print 180-degree and 90-degree rotation (not odd-degree rotations), redefine the degrees of rotation for the image.
• For a laser printer, in the Fonts tab of the printer’s Properties sheet, click Download TrueType Fonts as Bitmap Soft Fonts.
• If the problem is font-related, try using another character set, or download TrueType fonts to the printer, and then try again.

TrueType fonts do not display in an MS-DOS window.

Changing the displayed font to a TrueType font in an MS-DOS window sometimes does not change the font on the screen. TrueType fonts cannot be displayed in an MS-DOS window if the MS-DOS-based application is running in graphics mode. To work around this problem, run the MS-DOS-based application in text mode, and use bitmap fonts in the MS-DOS window.

To change the font used in an MS-DOS window

1. In the MS-DOS window, click the MS-DOS icon in the upper-left corner of the window (or press ALT + SPACEBAR).
2. Click Properties, and then click the Font tab.
3. Under Available Types, click Both Font Types.
4. In the Font Size list, click the font size you want to display, and then click OK.