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Epson And Epson Compatibles - "Ghost Columns" |
The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS
Problem
Symptoms: The customer has a NEC Pinwriter P6300. His lines of text are printing over the top of each other and his pages have a blank space in the middle approximately one inch wide. This effect is sometimes referred to as a "ghost column" or a "Moses column." This only happens when he types a full line of text and lets it wrap to the next line. If we go to a blank screen and type "this is a test," enter, "this is a test" and enter again, it prints fine. Solutions: This is a problem with Epson and Epson compatible printers. The problem is that something in the hardware is stripping the high bit of each byte of information from the positioning codes. This will happen with any printer that is Epson or Epson compatible. This is not a WordPerfect problem. The codes are being generated properly by WordPerfect, at least in every case that we have seen, which at this point is in the dozens. What happens is that WordPerfect will generate the codes, send them through DOS, through the cable, and to the printer port. Along that path, somewhere, the information is stripped; whether it is the port, the cable, the printer port, or a malfunction in the printer itself, there is no way for us to be sure. You may make the following suggestions to the customer. These are in no way conclusive, and it should be made clear to the customer that it is, in all likelihood, a hardware problem. Troubleshooting Suggestions 1. Make sure that the serial information on the printer is set to 8 data bits. Do this even if the printer is in a parallel configuration. 2. Make sure the customer does not have a cable longer than 25 feet, and that their cable is shielded. 3. Try a different cable. (One customer successfully used a thicker cable.) 4. Try a different port. 5. Try another identical printer. 6. If all of these steps fail, the customer can print to disk, copy that print to disk to the printer while it is in Hex Dump Mode (The steps for this are specific to each printer. Refer the customer to their printer manual for this). Then they can bring up the print to disk in a program editor and compare the hex translation with the hex dump. These two are not going to be consistent, if you ever run into an instance where the customer says that they are, please have them send the file in. If the two are different, then the problem is not in WP, the reason being is that the codes are being generated properly to disk. 7. If the customer is not satisfied with this for any reason, write up an STR. Be sure to have the following included: A. A copy of the file on disk B. A print to disk of the file C. A hard copy of the file D. Their PRS File E. Their SET File F. A hard copy of the file printed to the printer in Hex Dump mode We have contacted every printer company listed in the source, and all have acknowledged that WordPerfect is sending the proper codes, and that when this problem occurs something in the hardware is stripping the high bit of each byte from the positioning code. This problem is not necessarily with the printer, and no mention of any specific course of action further than the steps above should be mentioned. |
Answer:
Details:
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