Cannot get HP plotter to work in AutoCAD 2000

[barrykap]

I have a HP Designjet 455CA A0 size plotter. I used this without any trouble at all with AutoCad 2000 under Windows 98. But since I upgraded to Windows 2000 on two of my PC's this potter just will not work with them. When I select 'Plot' and then select the Plotter from the plot devices I get first a small window saying 'AutoCad Error Memory Allocation Error' with an 'OK' button. When i press OK it then displays a larger window saying 'AutoCad warning. HP Designjet 455CA (E/A0) by HP; This plotter configuration cannot be used. Either the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The non-plot device will be substituted.'
Then after clicking on OK the device disappears from the list completely.

I have 512 MB of ram so it cannot be memory problems, Also, the exact same thing hapens on the other PC I have tried, also running W2000. the only PC I can get it to work on is one running W98. I had downloaded the latest drivers (PL532en.EXE) from HP site and have also e-mailed HP about the problem but they haven't replied. can anyone throw a light on this please.

many thanks.

Barry

 

[borgunit]

Heres a snippet from Autodesk...

Error printing to local printer: Memory Allocation Error

Published date: 2003-03-06
ID: TS71799

Applies to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD® 2002
AutoCAD® 2000i
AutoCAD® 2000
AutoCAD LT® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2002
AutoCAD LT® 2000i
AutoCAD LT® 2000


Issue


When you try to print to a locally connected printer, the following error message is displayed:

Memory Allocation Error

Note: You might still be able to print from other applications.

Solution


This error can occur if more than one printer shares the same port name (for example, LPT1) through a cable splitter or a switchbox. Check with your hardware vendors for a way to assign independent port names for each printer.

 

[barrykap]

Thanks for that info Borgunit. Unfortunately I still can't get rid of this problem. I don't have any switch box at all and I have removed all the other devices that I had assigned to LPT1 and also removed the plotter too. Then re-installed the plotter as just the one device assigned to LPT1 with the correct name for this plotter appearing in the properties list. But once again, as soon as I select it for plotting, exactly the same two messages come up and I am left with no available plotter at all. It is very frustrating so if anyone else can throw a light on this problem I would be very grateful thanks.

Best wishes.

Barry.

 

[barrykap]

Big breakthrough!

I have found (on another forum) a reference to a PLOTUPDATE.EXE patch available from AUTOCAD.COM which after reading the small print on the txt file, says it will also now allow plots on Windows 2000 Pro host systems, as this is normally disabled. So it appears that Autocad 2000 is not supporting Windows 2000 normally. Anyway I downloaded and ran this patch and it's now working fine. Hope this might help others who have the same problems.

Best wishes.

Barry.