Printing from MS Access to HP LaserJet via JetDirect

[AAVF]

We have a problem that has only started in the last few weeks.

We have an Access 2000 database running on a P300 Win98 PC. The PC outputs
Access reports to an HP LaserJet 5L printer, connected to an HP 170
JetDirect on an internal network. The PC has McAfee anti-virus (v7, fully up
to date) and all Windows 98 critical and non-critical updates loaded.

Recently, certain reports are printing with either the occasional incorrect
character within words, or blanks where there should be characters.

So far, we have replaced the PC with another P300 (different make, but
similar spec) PC, again with all anti-virus and Windows updates loaded. This
had no effect. We have checked we are using the latest driver from HP. It
appears to be OK.

We have now replaced the HP LaserJet 5L with another identical printer -
still no effect.

The weird thing is, that the report will work fine for a while, and then
print incorrectly. If we run the same report again immediately, it is fine,
so it does not appear to be a data error.

The same reports run fine from my PC which outputs to a Samsung laser
printer, also connected via a JetDirect.

This, and quite a few other problems, have only started since we set out to
ensure all PCs have all of the latest Windows updates. We have already had
one supplier recommend we re-install MS Office without the latest updates
(ie anything after SP3) as there appear to be bugs in the updates.

Any help on this would be gratefully received.

Regards

Tom Millington
IT Manager
AAVF Bideford
(e-mail address removed)


We have ch

 

[SA]

Tom:

1.) I don't recommend that you go to the trouble of reinstalling, but if you
do, always stay with the latest service release, which for A2000 is SR3; it
actually solves many things and we haven't seen any impact such as you are
experiencing caused by that update.

2.) Have you updated to the latest printer drivers available and searched
the knowledgebase at MS regarding the LJ 5? Many LJ's also support using a
post script driver and emulating that; you might try using the PS driver
rathe rthan the PCL driver.

3.) What it sounds like though is that you are having dropped / corrupted
packets. This can come from bad NICs, router or the print server itself.
Have you tried connecting a printer to one of your workstations directly and
running the report routinly that way?

 

[PattyL]

Since the problem is random, I would be more likely to suspect a problem
with something running in the background or a virus.

Try clean booting and see if that helps. Clean booting includes disabling
the anti-virus for troubleshooting purposes.

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192926

How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility with Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281965

PattyL

 

[Terry]

This may sound stupid but try changing your video driver.
Use a vanilla vga mode or something other than what you
are using. All the wyswyg stuff sometimes (maybe all the
time) sends printed output via the graphics interface. I
have fixed a similar scenerio using Word and a Canon LPB8i
(i think) and it was the video driver!???!

Best of luck,

Terry

 

[AAVF]

I can believe anything about video drivers as they have been a pain in the
rear to us over the last 12 months or so, especially since we installed some
of Microsoft's alleged service packs and updates in the last 6 months:
things like the refresh rate that had been OK on the PC for years suddenly
has to be changed as we get 'black screen' on bootup and the only way to get
into the PC (without going into safe mode) is using VNC over a network.

However, I don't think it is video related this time as we have swapped out
the PC and replaced it with one with a completely different graphics set,
and the result is the same.

Thanks for the idea though, I will bear it in mind in case the other ideas
put forward don't work.

Regards

Tom