printer problems

[Stephen A. Green]

I have just installed a new printer: hp deskjet 5550. I am able to print
e-mail, jpegs, web-pages, powerpoint BUT NOT a word document. I have Word
6.0.1 for power Mac installed, along with an OS 9.0.4. I have contacted
hewlett packard. They walked me through re-installation and when that
didn;t work, suggested there may be an extensions conflict. I have tried to
attend to the latter, with no success. Any sugestions? This is really
annoying and hp has not been very helpful (at last referring me to "the
software manufacturer").

Steve

e-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Ramón G Castañeda]

I have just installed a new printer: hp deskjet 5550. I am able to print
e-mail, jpegs, web-pages, powerpoint BUT NOT a word document. I have Word
6.0.1 for power Mac installed, along with an OS 9.0.4. I have contacted
hewlett packard. They walked me through re-installation and when that
didn;t work, suggested there may be an extensions conflict. I have tried to
attend to the latter, with no success. Any sugestions? This is really
annoying and hp has not been very helpful (at last referring me to "the
software manufacturer").

Steve

e-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Stephen,

As you realize by now, there won't be an easy fix.

One thing you need to do RIGHT AWAY is upgrade your operating system. If
you want to stay with Mac OS 9.x, by all means go up to 9.2.2. In case your
machine cannot handle 9.2.2, at least go to 9.1. Anything but 9.0.4., as a
matter of fact anything but 9.0.x.

The other two problems are a bit more painful. Hewlett Packard software
(drivers and PS emulation) are known to cause so much grief in the Mac
environment that many of us have totally given up on HP. This has been the
case for years and years. I know that's not pleasant to hear, but it needs
to be said.

As for MS Word 6, that is easily the worst piece of software ever written
for the Mac, and perhaps for any computing platform. It was so bad, that
Microsoft was offering unhappy purchasers of Word 6 a DOWNGRADE to MS Word
5.1a for $25 at the time, and thousands of users are reputed to have taken
them up, just to get away from MS Word 6.x.

That issue is easy to fix by upgrading to MS Word 98 or MS Word 2001.
You'll be much more happy with either of those two. Heck, you'll be happier
with Word 5.1.a if you have to go back to it.

While you are waiting to upgrade, however, you should try trashing the
Word6 preferences file (found inside the Preferences Folder in the System
Folder). When you launch Word, it will automatically recreate a new one.
If that doesn't cure the problem, quit Word, trash the preferences file once
again, and reinstall Word. Don't try to reinstall Word before trashing the
preferences files, or you'll end up right where you started.

Even if you solve your printing problem, upgrade your operating system!

Good luck.

 

[Ron Wegner]

Ramon,

What is your opinion of Mac OS 9.0 (read: nine point zero)?

I am currently running 9.0 on my 450 MHz G4 and I am having printing
problems with Word 98 on an Epson printer. Most of the time when you go
to print from Word, the application quits. Excel and Power Point print
without issue.

Once I tried to upgrade to 9.1 and the results were a disaster! Don't
care to try it again.