Printer loses communicaions with PC

[yalamo]

I have an HP720c printer, and Win98SE.
Usually, everything works fine, but every now and then, in the middle of printing, I get an error message that says something like "The printer has lost communications with the computer". I usually cancel the print, shut off the printer, then turn it on again, and it will most times work. Sometimes I find I have to reboot.

I have noticed that the problem happens mainly (but not always) when I am printing a photo at the highest printer resolution (and large picture memory). This is especially annoying since the photo paper is expensive, and the printing takes a long time.

Does anyone know what the problm is? I don't think it's memory because I have 256MB, nor resources, since the only application running is either Word or Paint Shop Pro. Could it be the printer port? How do I tell? Or is some buffer being overrun or underrun? Are there any computer or BIOS settings that can solve the problem? HP hasn't been able to offer much help.

 

[bcastner]

Can you set the printer port to ECP in BIOS and then use a bi-directional cable?

 

[yalamo]

bcastner, thanks for your reply. (I would have gotten back to you sooner, but tek-tips.com was unreachable here, maybe because of the blackout?)

Unfortunately, I can't try your fix. I have a bidirectional cable (and communications with the printer, until it stops, is bidirectional) but I am not using the parallel port on the motherboard. This port went bad a few months ago, and I had a PCI/IO card with a parallel port installed. This may be part of the problem, but I don't see anywhere in the BIOS setup for peripherals where I can make an ECP setting. Anyone know what to do now?

 

[tomvdduin]

On that kind of pci cards there usualy are dip-switches or jumpers where you can set the card in ecp or epp mode.

Have you updated to the latest driverversion?

 

[bcastner]

Often these boards have a jumper to determine the setting of the port type. Look carefully at the silk screening on the board to see if a jumper setting instruction is imprinted on the board itself.

It is possible there is a website for the board.

You should also see if there are options in Device Manager.

 

[bcastner]

As a side note. Try disabling bi-directional printing option in the printer driver. It is usually a checkbox in the advanced features of the driver.

 

[bcastner]

As it is an HP printer, use the menu configuration on the printer itself to set its I/O option to disable bi-directional communications.

 

[yalamo]

Thanks, guys, for the help.

As far as I can tell, there are no switches or jumpers on this board. The (very brief) users' manual does not mention them, nor does the web site. I still haven't opened the computer and pulled the card to fully check, but I will when I have the time.

I disabled bi-directional printing, and what do you know, a picture that stopped in the middle a couple of weeks ago printed completely this time! It's not a certain fix, since the problem occurred randomly previously, but it's encouraging.

By the way, how does disabling bi-directional printing reduce capability? What will I be missing if the PC doesn't know what's happening in the printer?

As for getting a new printer, I've had this one for 5 years. I don't see why a printer shouldn't last much longer than that, and I don't want to encourage manufacturers to produce obsoloescent printers, and add to waste,

 

[mrh50]

Try a communication test between you printer
and computer from your printer toolbox under
programs. If this does'nt work try a new cable.
Sometimes they just go bad.