odd printer setup, Help...

[fenris]

I have this printing problem with nt workstation. I'll give a little bit of background first.<br><br>Up until a couple of weeks ago there was one computer at my companies remote site (about 45 minutes from the main office). The remote site is connected by phone lines to our network. The main software that we use at that site, called ram by alkon. This is the main software package that our business runs on. It handles point of sales and distribution of aggregate materials to and from our facilities. Since the remote site is only connected by phone lines, it is very impractical for the remote site to operate on a real time basis with the rest of the operations. Therefore there is a facility within the software that allows the database to synchronize with the main database at our headoffice. For months there have been problems with retrieving the data from the remote site automatically. It had to be done manually and it was rather involved. The tech support told us that the problem was MS outlook 2000 (they had problems with other clients). There first suggestion was to reformat the drive and install a fresh copy of nt and ram. I didn't like that idea because there was a lot of custom work done to get that computer operating properly. So that wasn't an opption, my idea was to put another computer out there just dedicated to ram itself, this idea worked great! <br><br>Now the Problem that I had was with the ticket printers (two identical dot matrix printers, okidata microline 320 turbos). There are two printers because there are 2 different size tickets to print. When I hooked them up to the new computer, matching the settings exactly. The one printer would not print properly, that is the printout didn't fall on the right line, and when manual adjustments were made to the printer, after a few printouts it would screw up. the odd thing is when I shared the printers from the old machine to the new machine everything worked great. I thought this was a fine hack job I explained what I did to my boss and he told me, very ademantly, that the printers had to be physically hooked and running through the new computer.<br><br>I am looking for any advice or pointers to get this setup running, What should I look for on the old printer that made it work and are there any reg settings I can export and copy to the new computer. Please keep in mind that it is not an easy task for me to get to the remote site as I don't own a car and trying to get use of one of the companies trucks would take longer then walking there.<br><br>I appologize for the length of the post, but I felt a little background on the issue would help. I am new to NT (been using it since the start of the millenium), but it really isn't too much different then 98.<br><br>Any help would be appreciated, the more pointers, tips, tricks and suggestions the better.<br><br><br>Thanks, <br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[dxd]

How is the parallel port configured on this new computer...try taking it back to Bidirectional. If you have the option in the Bios settings then set the port up without the use of any DMA channel. <p>Doug<br><a href=mailto:dxd_2000@yahoo.com>dxd_2000@yahoo.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[fenris]

I configured the port, both in the bios and in NT, to mirror that of the working computer and it still doesn't work. But when I have collected enough information I will verify the settings again and make sure that they are identical. I was just wondering if there were any ideas that I could try, other then the standard trouble shooting techniques, something quirky to NT. I don't relish the thought of fighting to get a truck, driving all the way out there, spending a few hours trying to fix something that my boss thinks is not working properly, and only to come back empty handed.<br><br>Thanks for the input....<br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[Guest_imported]

OKI DATA printers a legendary for presenting the problem you have encountered. Two identical setups on two identical machines, two different print line ups.<br>You might try changing some printer settings (physically on the printer, press the Shift and Select keys, this gets you into edit mode) Refer to your documentation but look for something like: Vertical Line Spacing. Use the Group key to cycle through the different topics, use the Select key to cycle through settings within a group, and use the Set key to change the value of the setting. (I think those are the correct keys).<br>Sometimes when you unplug the OKI's they revert back to factory defaults, do you have a printout of the old settings (it is a really good idea to keep one on file once you get it working)? Pressing Select and Menu&nbsp;&nbsp;or Shift and Print on the printer (or some 2 key combination) will generate a printout of it's current settings. Again refer to your documentation, it's been over a year since I used an OKI so I'm a little rusty.<br><br>Feel free to email me.<br><A HREF="mailto:benoy@home.com">benoy@home.com</A><br>You might visit the OKI DATA website, it's quite good for support and thier technical staff isn't bad either.<br><br>

 

[fenris]

Thanks Ken for your response. I will get and file the print configuration for those printers before I go monkeying about with them. I will be going to try and set them up sometime this week, hopefully it won't screw them up. Thanks<br><br><br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>