XP inserts extra lines.

[Chuck]

What drivers are you using for the printers?
Are the blank lines between forms or labels or both?

 

[Ron Huffman]

As we are rolling out XP Pro and replacing Windows 98, printing to labels
and forms are getting out of alignment.

Different apps and printers are doing the same thing, everything was fine in
Windows 98, now with XP extra blank lines are inserted throwing off the
alignment on labels and forms.

The printers are both tractor fed dot matrix, one is a panasonic the other
is an oki. One app is custom the other is out of a box.

No problems until XP Pro was used, now we can't print labels and forms.

Any ideas?
Thanx, Ron

 

[Ron Huffman]

We are using the built-in XP drivers. I have checked oki's web site, they
don't have XP drivers, they only go up to Win2000.

The location of the blank lines are inconsistant, they are usually somewhere
in the middle of the form/label, as they happen each additional form gets
further and further out of alignment.

 

[Chuck]

If the extra line feeds are inserted at random, as opposed to at the
beginning or end of a form or label--
And the printers are connected to the parallel port--
A quick possible fix (Since the printers are dot matrix) is to change the
parallel printer port mode in BIOS to standard Port (SPP), instead of ECP,
EPP, or ECP-EPP. Some MBDs label the SPP setting differently. The rationale
is that the ECP/EPP modes are slightly faster, and may have problems with
some dot matrix printers.
If all else fails
A possible diagnostic method may help
1. Print to a file instead of the printer via the printer driver, and look
at the file data with a hex editor.
You may be able to edit the file manually if extra line feeds are really
present. The file should be in printer ready format, and can usually be
copied to the printer port as a binary file with the copy command. This may
allow you to prove the cause of the problem by removing it from the printer
ready file.

2. Some dot matrix printers such as older Epsons had a diagnostic mode that
printed the data sent to the printer in hex format. This may allow you to
see a data pattern that is not otherwise obvious without the use of a hex
editor.