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My Spreadsheet (Document, Database Report, Email …) Won’t Print.
I believe you.
When did it last print correctly? What has happened since then? Installation of new software or new hardware is usually the culprit. In the meantime let us see where the problem lies.
Reboot your computer and try printing the spreadsheet (document etc) again.
Exit the spreadsheet program, reload the spreadsheet program, key your given name into an empty cell, press Enter to lodge the value, then try printing the sheet. If your name does not print, the problem may not lie in your original spreadsheet (document etc).
Try resetting the printer (on my laser printer I have to hold down a button for five seconds to flush the buffers, your printer manual will tell you what to do), then try printing your name again.
Try printing to any other printer on your system. If your dot-matrix springs to life but your laser does not, the problem seems to lie with your laser printer or its connection to the system.
Can you print from any other computer to your printer? No? The problem lies in a cable or your operating system.
Check that the printer cable is securely plugged in AT BOTH ENDS!
Load NotePad.exe (in Windows: Start, Programs, Accessories, NotePad) and type in your place of birth. Try printing. Nothing? Odd. Very odd.
Reboot your system but use the
Raw DOS.
No Windows.
Scary, eh?
At the DOS prompt, echo a string of text to the printer port(s) using the greater-than character (Shift-Period) as the redirection symbol, thus:
ECHO any string at all > LPT1
Try it for each port if you have more than one:
ECHO any other set of characters at all > LPT2
Time to dig out ye olde printer manual!
Find the section where it talks about printing a test page. On the dot-matrix printers, holding down either the FF button or the LF button or the OnLine button while turning on the power usually prints a test page. No test page? It is starting to sound like a genuine printer problem.
Through all of this, we are attempting to narrow down the location of the problem.
Working backwards:
(1) If you can print a test page, then clearly the printer, as a box, can print. There is a ribbon or cartridge present, electrical power is reaching the printer.
(2) If you can ECHO to the printer, then the cable from your computer is fine, too.
(3) If NotePad can print, Windows can talk to the printer, at least occasionally, and so on.
(4) If you can print from another workstation, but not from your own, the problem lies within your workstation, and so on.
If all else fails Contact Me
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Toronto and Mississauga, Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:47 PM
Copyright © 1996-2011 Chris Greaves. All Rights Reserved.