Packing Slip Printer? Problems

Darren, It sounds like you have ruled out a mechanical problem with
the printer. Make sure you have the proper printer driver and then
focus on the report form for the packing slip. If this condition
exists only for packing slips then more than likely this is where the
problem is. The report form itself is what ultimately controls the
printer thru the printer driver. Make sure that the report is setup
to use the correct printer and then look for anything unusual like a
field that is hanging off of the page or a conditional statement that
is causing the form to do something unusual. See if the page size
and orientation are correct. Also see if you can find something
similar happening in Vantage when the printer starts to act up (any
thing at all) for instance is it a drop shipment, are there multiple
releases, maybe a comment was added or are they using serial
numbers. If you can find anything like this it will probably
give you a clue as to what is happening. Also you could try using a
different packing slip form and see if the condition goes away.


<Original Message>

Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 16:45:01 -0400
From: "Dunn, Nancy" <ndunn@...>
Subject: RE: Packing Slip Printer?? Problems

Darren,
I used to have problems occasionally with printers - forms or paper
getting
out of aliagnment. Watch the forms feed. Make sure they are lining up
straight and not at on angle. That the paper doesn't catch on the
sides of
a box or tray where they are stacked. I have even had cables catch
forms
and pull them off.


-----Original Message-----
From: Darren Mann [mailto:dmann@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 3:53 PM
To: vantage@egroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Packing Slip Printer?? Problems


I have looked at this as an option and even purchased a new printer
that did
exactly the same thing out of the box. I know the noise is
unexplainable at
this point, unless as Eunice outlined the line feed maybe getting
scrambled
to the point the printer does not know what to do. The crazy thing
is that
it picks itself back up on the next document and the problem occurs
exactly
at the same point in the form - packing slip (right after the last
detail
line and moves the page number to the middle of the form) - and never
the
BOL. If it was a physical problem with the printer or a form travel
problem
wouldn't you expect more random occurences of the problem???
Different
points in the page and different reports.

We are pulling the paper and do not place it in the box. The paper is
loosely stacked beneath the printer.
HELP!!!

I have a problem that has been a thorn in my side for tooooo long. Our
Okidata ML 320T is used to print packing slips to 3part paper in the
shipping area from the office. It is connected to a HP print server, which
is connected to a Bay Networks 304 switch via cat5 cable.

The problem is this: OCCASIONALLY, (I stressed that) the packing slip will
not line feed down the page and throws everything after off-line. The
printer makes a noise like it is slipping a gear (That was my first fix) but
then prints the last line in the middle of the page. There is NO pattern!!
It may go for weeks without a hiccup or it may happen several times a day.
Never a pattern!! Did I repeat that....

Two different people use this printer and either can cause the problem. It
doesn't even happen during heavy printing, this morning it was the first one
to print. Okidata says it isn't them. I really do not know what else to
try. This has been happening for going on two years!!!! So you can
understand how the natives are getting restless.

Also, we print BOL to the same printer and it has never missed up on these.


So far,

I have replaced the printer, the print server, the LAN run, patch cables and
updated all printer drivers. I have checked, researched, and double checked
settings on the print driver and print server settings.

Are there any NT problems that anyone has encountered that would create such
a scenario? It did this with our previous system (before Vantage) after
switching to NT from Novell. I am currently running SBS 4.5 Service pack 6a
on the print/email/data collection gateway server.

Any ray of hope would be appreciated.

Thanks
Darren Mann
Miller Products Co.
Darren, are you using an OKI print driver or a Generic/Text only one? If
the latter is true, be sure that driver is named exactly the same on all
computers that print packing slips. Make sure that you design the Crystal
form (have a made an unwarranted assumption?) to use that printer, with
exactly the same printer name. I have had similar problems with
generic/text output and found that Crystal does not always format the output
correctly when you change your printer setup at print time. Hope this
helps.
Jim Stetter

-----Original Message-----
From: Darren Mann [mailto:dmann@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 1:57 PM
To: Vantage User Group (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] Packing Slip Printer?? Problems


HELP!!!

I have a problem that has been a thorn in my side for tooooo long. Our
Okidata ML 320T is used to print packing slips to 3part paper in the
shipping area from the office. It is connected to a HP print server,
which
is connected to a Bay Networks 304 switch via cat5 cable.

The problem is this: OCCASIONALLY, (I stressed that) the packing slip
will
not line feed down the page and throws everything after off-line. The
printer makes a noise like it is slipping a gear (That was my first fix)
but
then prints the last line in the middle of the page. There is NO
pattern!!
It may go for weeks without a hiccup or it may happen several times a day.
Never a pattern!! Did I repeat that....

Two different people use this printer and either can cause the problem.
It
doesn't even happen during heavy printing, this morning it was the first
one
to print. Okidata says it isn't them. I really do not know what else to
try. This has been happening for going on two years!!!! So you can
understand how the natives are getting restless.

Also, we print BOL to the same printer and it has never missed up on
these.


So far,

I have replaced the printer, the print server, the LAN run, patch cables
and
updated all printer drivers. I have checked, researched, and double
checked
settings on the print driver and print server settings.

Are there any NT problems that anyone has encountered that would create
such
a scenario? It did this with our previous system (before Vantage) after
switching to NT from Novell. I am currently running SBS 4.5 Service pack
6a
on the print/email/data collection gateway server.

Any ray of hope would be appreciated.

Thanks
Darren Mann
Miller Products Co.



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