Re: printer problems {again}

["Leslie Savan" lsavan@xxxxxxxx]

At this point, the upshot is that I'm quite confused, and, no matter what I
try, I still get "printer error" when trying to print out. And when trying
to quit C: or A:, after trying to printout, I still get "FILE Open, Quit
Anyway?" I'm also feeling desperate, because I should be
writing/editing/printing now. My deadline is at the end of next week.
    I'll try to address Carl's and Harry's comments here as best as I
can (but please remember, my tech knowledge is abysmally low):

1) Carl wrote:
> Not LPTI!!!! LPT1 -- ELL PEE TEE ONE -- the last character is the number
1!!!!

I'm sorry about misreading the character. I corrected it, and wrote:
       C:\>COPY A:\filename LPT1

This time the prompt read: "Write fault error writing device LPT1
              "Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?"

Nothing happened with Abort, Retry or Ignore, but when I typed F for Fail, I
got:
      Fail on INT24-LPT1

I also tried "COPY A:\filename.TXT LPT1" but nothing happened either. I
tried every permutation I could think of (with TXT and without TXT; in C:
with \xy [as in COPY C:\xy\filename LPT1] and without \xy. Other than the
"Write fault error writing device LPT1" above, I lost track of which
responses followed which commands, but once it said, "file(s) copied" (in C:
I think). But when I tried to call LPT1 up from the directory, it said
"access denied."
     When I had wrongly typed in LPTI (=EYE), it HAD copied the file I
was trying to print, but in any case, that file still would not print out.
     I'm probably not doing this LPT1 thing as well as I should, but I
don't understand what it is or what it's for.

2) Carl wrote:
        "C:" isn't a directory. It's a drive. What _directory_ on
C: is PRINT.TMP in? The error message "Path not found" indicates that the
directory C:\XY doesn't exist. No wonder the file won't print out."

         C: is the drive, of course, and I guess the directory that
PRINT.TMP keeps appearing in is EDITOR (the only one I normally use).
         But... if C:\XY doesn't exist and if that's why the file
won't print out, then why have my computer and printer been working fine for
so many years but stopped working just a few days ago? I haul out this old
computer/old printer setup only when I have to print out, and it worked fine
about a month ago, the last time I used it. (For daily use--writing on
Xywrite, email, internet, etc.--I use my newer computer, the one with the
dreaded Millenium windows.) It's still a mystery to me why the dependable
old setup suddenly stopped working.

3) Which leads me to think that it is something "physical." Should I pull
out and put back in the "card," as John suggested? And if so, where do I
find it?

3) I did notice something odd in the directory for editor for A: --a file
called FO (which I believe Harry mentioned in a previous message). "FO" was
a copy of the file I had been trying to print out but with tons of code
woven through it. I erased FO (from the directory) and tried printing out
the original file, but still got: "Printer error."

4) Harry suggested that I try to print out on a different computer, and then
wrote:
        "Now, all this assumes you have a 2nd computer and that the
printer in
question can be plugged into it and will work. If any of these assumptions
are false, can you get to a Kinko's? If so, put the MYFILE.PRN onto a
floppy:"

       I do have a second computer, the one with ME windows that I'm
working on right now. But the computer guy who originally set me up on it
said it won't print out from Xywrite whether it's hooked up to the old
printer (the one that DOES work with the equally old computer) or any new
printer he knows of. This computer guy, by the way, is the one who
refurbished my old printer and got it into working order. But he knows
nothing at all about Xywrite (and just advises me to switch to Word).
      As for Kinko's, there isn't one near me. (I'm in South Orange,
NJ.) But even if I were near one, going there to do printing would be crazy,
because for the next 10 days or so, my printing needs are daily but
sporadic, a little here, a little there, with lots of writing/editing in
between. Plus, I have a strong feeling that I wouldn't know what in the
world I was doing.)

       All of which leads me to ask: If I can't get the old computer
to work with the old printer again, should I get a new printer and hook it
up with my new(er), ME-based computer? (I may eventually be getting an XP,
because this ME has many problems, which have nothing to do with xywrite.
But if I DO get a new printer, ideally it would need to work with XP, too).
        Is there any printer that will print-out from Xywrite (I have
Xywrite III Plus Version 3.54)--and do so with ITALICS and BOLD? (Again, the
reason I use my creaky old set-up is because, at least until recently, it
printed out from Xywrite WITH italics and bold.)
        Or, is there any printer that will print out from Xywrite
even withOUT italics or bold? I'd have to underline words manually, but at
this point, I may have to lower my expectations.
        If I do need to get a new printer, I'd need it in the next
few days.
        Thank you all again--and sorry for such a long, multi-limbed
message.
        Leslie Savan