Printer prints unwanted character before every line

[NickOf Time]

Hi,

I need to hook up a Panasonic KX P-1091C dot-matrix printer to my Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dv6618ca notebook (dv6500 series) using Windows Vista.

I am using the patch-cord by StarTech--a USB-to-parallel adaptor cable DB25 (ICUSB1284D25).

I am told that the nearest compatible printer on my computer Control Panel's
drop-down list is the Epsom FX-80, however, during any printout there is always a spurious character like & @ # and various others in
front of every line. For example:

&the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs
@the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain
#everyone wants to win the lottery including me

How can I eliminate that unwanted spurious character? Could it be that there
might be another printer I must choose from the very long drop-down list?
Others have suggested that the Epson FX-80 is the closest compatible model.

Would anyone be aware of another compatible printer that I could choose from that drop-down list in order to obtain an acceptable printout? The Panasonic KX P-1091C is not on that list, nor is the virtually identical Roland PR-1011.

The 8 DIP switches are set as: ON ON OFF OFF ON ON ON OFF but when I change the the number 1 switch to OFF (as others have suggested), the unwanted characters which appear are limited to only a P and a Q --somewhat of an improvement, but still unacceptable.

I have downloaded the latest drivers, but the problem still persists.

Would there be a quick fix for this issue, or is my printer unfortunately out of date?

Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[B.Hermance]

I dunno. I am thinking maybe there is a "general" or "standard" option or driver listing somewhere? You should do it through the windows control panel. if there is a 'Let Windows Detect it" option, try that. option, maybe that will work? I dunno. Or try seeing if there is a "common" driver that will work with all dot matrix printers? I could be wrong so don't shoot me if I am wrong. LOL I dunno why you wanna use a dot-matrix printer when today's printer are so much better!
You may have to actually go through all the printer drivers to see what works. It's all trial and errors. I would start with what's is considered "compatable' first before trying the ones that says are not compitable.
Good luck with it!

 

[B.Hermance]

I dunno. I am thinking maybe there is a "general" or "standard" option or driver listing somewhere? You should do it through the windows control panel. if there is a 'Let Windows Detect it" option, try that. option, maybe that will work? I dunno. Or try seeing if there is a "common" driver that will work with all dot matrix printers? I could be wrong so don't shoot me if I am wrong. LOL I dunno why you wanna use a dot-matrix printer when today's printer are so much better!
You may have to actually go through all the printer drivers to see what works. It's all trial and errors. I would start with what's is considered "compatable' first before trying the ones that says are not compitable.
Good luck with it!

Right clicking on anything can reveal whatever you did not know was there!!

 

[muckshifter]

The Panasonic KX-P1091 is not directly supported in Microsoft Windows.

The "fix" in altering the dip switches was written back in 1995 and I would assume they were written as a workround for Windows XP, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

If you really need a DM printer I would suggest you look at the Windows Compatibility list for one that do the job.

Laser printers have taken over from the DotMatrix.


Welcome to PCReview

 

[NickOf Time]

My Panasonic KX-P1091C dot-matrix printer is a spare which was sitting in the closet and had been hooked up to an old desktop using DOS.
I am able to run this printer from another laptop (a Presario 2710 with Windows XP) by substituting the KX-1081 from its Control Panel's drop-down list.
I can only assume that because the KX-1081 does not appear on the Pavilion's drop-down list then the nearest alternate choice is the Epson FX-80, but that still does not eliminate the spurious character printout, which may have nothing to do with the printer's DIP switches in any case.
I can only speculate that the solution may or may not be very simple.
Various other suggestions in Google have thus far not solved this issue, but since I am able to use the printer from the Presario, I can obviously avoid throwing the printer in the trash, which would be wasteful. Besides, I don't print out documents or letters as much as I used to, which is why I've hesitated to purchase a laserjet of inkjet.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.

 

[Anon_F]

You can get a cheap decent printer for under £100.