Custom/QC DOS^TM Printing FAQ

Problem:

The user gets the following error message: Printer is off-line or disk full. The first page prints fine before they get this error message.

Solution:

If the user is on a network and SHARE.EXE is loaded, make sure that SHARE.EXE is loaded after the network drivers. When in doubt have them put SHARE.EXE at the end of their AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Problem:

Printer is spewing out pages of garbage.

Solution:

They are using the wrong printer driver. Ask them what type of printer they have and then check their CGI.CFG or CONFIG.SYS file to see which device drivers they are loading.

Problem:

The user installed the HP Deskjet driver (HPDJET.SYS) that came with the package but CQC doesn't print properly.

Solution:

The black and white HP Deskjet driver (HPDJET.SYS) supplied by GSS does not work properly with the HP Deskjet. Have them use LASERJET.SYS instead. The current install program is smart enough to know this and substitutes the laserjet driver by default when they choose HP Deskjet as their default printer.

Problem:

The user has a color Deskjet (usually denoted by the letter "C" after the model number) printer and needs a color driver for it.

Solution:

The last printer driver that GSS wrote was HPDJ500C.SYS. This driver should work fine with any color Deskjet currently available.

Problem:

The user has a HP Laserjet that is connected to a parallel port other than LPT1 and CQC will only print to LPT1 with the LASERJET.SYS device driver.

Solution:

Have them use the driver HPLASERP.SYS. This is a HP Laserjet compatible driver that allows for the selection of alternate printer ports through the use of an environment variable. For instance, if the user wanted to have CQC output charts to the Laserjet on LPT2 he would put the line SET HPLASERP=LPT2 in his QC.BAT or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Make sure that the variable SI_PRINTER is also set to the same parallel port otherwise the user will get an error when trying to print the descriptive statistics.

Problem:

The user has an Epson LQ or compatible printer and when he prints out a chart from CQC the graphics image spills onto the second page.

Solution:

They are using EPSON100.SYS instead of EPSONLQ.SYS. Have them change to the correct driver.

Problem:

The user's specific printer isn't on the list of available printer drivers.

Solution:

If they have a 9 pin dot matrix printer have them use the EPSON100 driver. If they have a 24 pin dot matrix printer have them use the EPSONLQ driver.

Problem:

The user has an Okidata printer and can't get CQC to print out with it.

Solution:

There are a limited number of Okidata printer drivers available. The problem with Okidata printers is the fact that Okidata chose to make two versions of each of their printers, one which was an Epson compatible 9 or 24 pin printer, and another that had no emulation capabilities. There is no obvious way of telling the difference as they both retain the same model number. Have them try the corresponding Epson compatible 9 or 24 pin driver (EPSON100.SYS or EPSONLQ.SYS) first. If neither of these work have them try all three of the available Okidata drivers one at a time. If all of the above fails the user has no choice but to either purchase another printer or turn the graphics off in CQC and print the charts using the plain ascii character set. No other printer drivers have been found to work satisfactorily with these printers.