Canon i850--Suspect Head Failure

[me]

While I agree with you Burt, I also agree that even if you can find a
hub or a pci usb card for $20 or $10, you can also get close out
motherboards in the P4 or Athlon class for under $50 which would
include 6 usb ports. While yes we are likely talking $100 to $150 for
a modest motherboard/cpu/ram combo, this is a signifigent percent of
the total value. If the HUB or USB hub would be handy on a newer
machine i'd say go to it without a doubt, but I personaly don't use
more than a few USB connectors at a time, and if I need more I could
always slap my keyboard/mouse on the PS/2 ports.

So $10 to $20, not big price but I see it as an empty inventment. Not
bad for a machine you plan to keep in service.




Yes, even though a given cable may work on a panasonic 2123 or a HP
III, these are older SPP printers that don't employ bi-directional
communication. Could be cable related, connector related. More likely
it's pc related as in the bios settings or software. The problem is
troubshooting parallel requires either an ohm meter and testing 25pins,
or buying a new cable that will cost as much as a USB hub or pci usb
card.

Re: BIOS setting. Mine is set to ECP, IRQ 7 (of course) and DMA 3 for
the parallel port.

I did try another cable, but that didn't work.

After using the contact cleaner, I worked the Centronics AND DB-25
connectors in and out of their jacks several times. Even checked for
bent pins, which sometimes do happen. Again, no joy.

I agree that a failure of an internal port is VERY unusual--never had it
happen before. The mobo is an Abit BX6Rev.2, and it has been rock solid
since 1999, with a Celery Stick 466. But, we are talking 7 years of
fairly constant use. The only reason I hang with it is that I LIKE
Windows 98. With the HP and Panny printers, I can do DOS printing.
And, since I am a programmer, I do a lot of source program listings.
The Panny, running in Draft mode, runs rings around the HP; and using
continuous form paper, I can eke out a few more lines per page over
using something like Notepad or Wordpad, with their top/bottom margins.
True, the i850 running in Draft mode is pretty darn fast; but, the
cost of a Panny ribbon is a lot less than tanks of BCI3e Black!

If I have to move to a new system (likely an AMD 64), everything will be
XP; and, I'll not likely be able to find drivers to run the newer
integrated sound and video devices. So, I keep limping along with my
W98 system.

Thanks again to all for your help (and sympathy!).

LS

 

[drc023]

Burt,
You should know by now that according to the resident moron troll, that your
system isn't any good since it came from a small storefront shop and not a
major retailer charging exorbitant prices for mass produced systems of
unknown lineage. Besides any system problems you may have had will surely be
diagnosed by the troll as having been caused by using third party ink.[/QUOTE]
I actually prefer the ports in the back of the box PLUS the hub that I've
attached to the side of my monitor as I'm always fighting the "rat's nest"
of cables and wires that come with the computer territory. I've worked
with ports on the front of the box and I would only consider them when
attaching a device that I would use periodically and immediately
disconnect - like an MP3 player or camera. Except for the first IBM
computer I purchased in 1981, I've had all my computers assembled to order
by a small shop in my neighborhood in San Francisco. Reasonable price,
all quality components, fantastic service, and owned by a really nice
couple with whom I've become friends. Anytime I have a problem I bring
the CPU to their shop, five minutes from my home, and often have it
repaired while I wait. Worst case, the next day. I will definitely go
for more ports in my next computer, but I don't think that will happen for
quite a long time as the one I am using more than meets my needs at this
time.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Burt]

Burt,
You should know by now that according to the resident moron troll, that
your system isn't any good since it came from a small storefront shop and
not a major retailer charging exorbitant prices for mass produced systems
of unknown lineage. Besides any system problems you may have had will
surely be diagnosed by the troll as having been caused by using third
party ink.

Come to think of it, Ron, I do recall spilling about a gallon of MIS Photo
Magenta no-name, unbranded, unprofessional vendor,
they-didn't-tell-me-what-was-in-it, mislabeled ink into my unbranded,
reasonably priced, custom built, better-than-an-off-the-shelf CPU a few
weeks ago. I can assure you the the troll is dead wrong. My CPU still
works perfectly with no clogs. In fact, I'm looking forward to refilling it
again when it finally empties out. Absolutely not messy, either.

 

[zakezuke]

Re: BIOS setting. Mine is set to ECP, IRQ 7 (of course) and DMA 3 for

the parallel port.

Well... to isolate the issue.... i'm not certain whether this series of
canons will print directly plain text. But, one "can" print to a file
and then... I imagine... go into good old dos, copy file to lpt1: and
see if the sucker prints... assuming you have a copy of the win98se cd
rom handy or boot disks. Note i've not tried this on my ip3000 as
simply put it's usb only.

Also, for some reason I think this generation of printer may operate in
SPP mode as well.

Unfortunatly I have little troubleshooting info on this issue... even
the microsoft pages say if you have an issue with the parallel port
use USB.

The Abit BX6 unfortunatly only has two USBs onboard. I "imagine" one
could get a dirt cheap ISA parallel port.

 

[me]

Well... to isolate the issue.... i'm not certain whether this series of
canons will print directly plain text. But, one "can" print to a file
and then... I imagine... go into good old dos, copy file to lpt1: and
see if the sucker prints... assuming you have a copy of the win98se cd
rom handy or boot disks. Note i've not tried this on my ip3000 as
simply put it's usb only.

Never been able to do direct printing via redirection--->lpt1. But, as
you say, one can do so to a file, then print in Windows. It works,
but....prefer the old DOS way!

Also, for some reason I think this generation of printer may operate in
SPP mode as well.

May give that a try.

Unfortunatly I have little troubleshooting info on this issue... even
the microsoft pages say if you have an issue with the parallel port
use USB.

The Abit BX6 unfortunatly only has two USBs onboard. I "imagine" one
could get a dirt cheap ISA parallel port.

Very true about the Abit. Saw a cheapie USB 2.0 card at Wally World
today, which had 4 ports AND a firewire port; also, 4 port hubs are
under $10. As for the parallel port ISA card, I could give that a try;
but, since I can't use the Canon like an old DOS printer, doubt that
there's any need to. The USB port seems to work fine. Also, Windows 98
First Edition really doesn't support USB all that well. Guess I'll just
hang in there with USB printing since it DOES work.

 

[zakezuke]

Never been able to do direct printing via redirection--->lpt1. But, as

you say, one can do so to a file, then print in Windows. It works,
but....prefer the old DOS way!

That's exactly what I mean... go into dos via the win98se self booting
CD-ROM, and either attempt to print a file generated in windows which
should contain all the data the printer needs to print something.
Since you do have a working printer except for the parallel port it
would help to isolate if it's software or hardware, which booting
directly to dos and seeing if data is even getting to the printer would
help to that end, or you can give up as usb works.

Very true about the Abit. Saw a cheapie USB 2.0 card at Wally World
today, which had 4 ports AND a firewire port; also, 4 port hubs are
under $10. As for the parallel port ISA card, I could give that a try;
but, since I can't use the Canon like an old DOS printer, doubt that
there's any need to.

Thought you were hip to the idea of upgrading to a higher class system
rather than investing in a USB card, hince reccomending one of those
ISA cards that go for squat as no one can use them anymore, but if you
are hip to spending $10.00 great... problem solved.

I agree there isn't much use for the parallel port. They are nice in
the fact that it's just a simple port with direct communication that
for the most part is more reliable due to it's very simple nature, but
aside from that USB does the job just wonderfuly.