Re: anybody there? (yes, and I have a problem)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Nicholas Clifford  on Tue, 27
Jan 2004 20:42:24 -0500


> all squinched up in that useless display

Could you describe this a little more clearly? I'm not familiar with "that
useless display". Top half of screen only? Small in the center of the screen?
A single column of characters on the left margin (bad printer driver)? What?
You go to Graphics view, then to Page-Line view?

> it crashed while I was trying to print from XyWrite IV, using
> a Brother 5040 printer, and an HP4-PLUS.PRN XyWrite printer file

Have you printed from XyWrite before with that printer? It's not a
"WinPrinter", right? The specs say that it only prints under Win32 operating
systems, and Mac OS 8.6+, which is a characteristic of WinPrinters. Nothing
about DOS. Can you print to it using DOS's PRINT command? You've got it on
LPT1, right -- not USB? Turn off the spooler.

> At first it worked; then later message appeared on the
> screen : "Spoolsv.exe Application error."

At first it worked. What does that mean? It worked for a long time, or it
worked once? Were you printing from other programs successfully? I mean, the
only reason to spool is if multiple programs are trying to print at the same
time, or if one program is trying to print more documents than the printer can
process.

> Dell tech support told me to delete my two printers, uninstall
> drivers, reinstall. I did that. But why?

That's my question, too. Totally irrelevant.

> When I print from XyWrite, am I
> using the Windows printer files? I thought not. In any case, the problem
> reappeared in a day or so

But XyWrite printed successfully again? How many times?

> and this time I was unable to delete the
> printers or uninstall the drivers; a message said the spool was not
> running.

Why are you associating this problem with XyWrite? Do errors only get reported
when you try to print with XyWrite? Do they _begin_ when you print with
XyWrite? Do they affect printing from other programs?

> Customization File contains an unrecognized command; unable to load
> when I start XyWrite IV,as
> it loads, I get a message across the screen:
> LPT1C:\XY4\HPL. . . (runs off the screen).

Presumably this is coming from SETTINGS.DFL. You might put an  after the
SETTINGS.DFL load to confirm that this is where the unrecognized command is
located. You need to nail down which file, and then which command, is yielding
this error. You're not using USB, right? And look, you've been using these
configuration files "for years", but this is a new printer, yes?

> It looks as if it's having trouble loading the printer file, but then if
> I go into Printer setup, I find the proper printer is loaded.

Now you're getting confused: Windows printer setup is irelevant. The only
thing that matters there is that your printer must be assigned to LPT1.

> Am I right in being
> reluctant to try to print from XY

For now, yes. You've got a fundamental problem with either SETTINGS.DFL and/or
your HPLJ-4.PRN.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------