PTR OFF-LNE,OUT OF PAPER ERROR, PMV8005-8        3/11/94

3/11/94



TITLE: 931202 ERROR 004, PRINTER OFF-LINE OR OUT OF PAPER ERROR, OR
              PMV8005 THROUGH 8008 WHEN TRYING TO PRINT UNDER OS/2 2.X

DESCRIPTION OF SYMPTOMS:
    When trying to print on a system running OS/2 2.x the system
    returns any of the following error messages.
    1.  The printer is off-line, turned off, or out of paper.
    2.  Usually associated with ERROR 004, PMV8005, PMV8006, PMV8007,
        or PMV8008.
    3.  The printer is On, and On-line, and has paper in it.

SUMMARY OF RESOLUTION:
    This problem is caused by hardware not being setup correctly or a
    physical hardware problem with the system. DOS will normally print
    correctly with just about any hardware configuration so a DOS
    print test will not exhibit the same print malfunction as OS/2
    will experience.

DETAILS OF RESOLUTION:
    1.  I/O card not set up to the correct IRQ/Port address settings

    NOTE:  Refer to the documentation on the I/O card or back to the
           manufacturer for the settings specific to the system.

        a.  The OS/2 printer driver will only access
            a maximum of 3 parallel ports on any machine. If more
            than three parallel ports are available, the manufacturer
            will have to develop an OS/2 driver for the I/O card.
        b.  Printer port addresses and IRQ levels are hard coded in
            OS/2 2.x are as follows:

For a 2 parallel port system:
 ______________________________________________________________________
|  Port           AT Bus (ISA)        EISA*             Micro Channel  |
|______________________________________________________________________|
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT1      |   3BC/IRQ7       | 3BC/IRQ5 or       |  3BC/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT2      |   278/IRQ5       | 378/IRQ5 or       |  378/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|

                               OR
 ______________________________________________________________________
|  LPT1      |   378/IRQ7       | 378/IRQ5 or       |  378/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT2      |   278/IRQ5       | 278/IRQ5 OR       |  278/IRQ7        |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|

For a 3 parallel port system:
 ______________________________________________________________________
|                 AT Bus (ISA)             EISA*        Micro Channel  |
|______________________________________________________________________|
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT1      |   3BC/IRQ7       | 3BC/IRQ5 or       |  3BC/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT2      |   378/IRQ7       | 378/IRQ5 or       |  378/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|            |                  |                   |                  |
|  LPT3      |   278/IRQ5       | 278/IRQ5 or       |  278/IRQ7        |
|            |                  | IRQ7              |                  |
|____________|__________________|___________________|__________________|


            If these combinations are not used,  printer error
            messages or very slow printing will occur.
        c.  Ensure that the I/O Card is set to the above standards.
    2.  Printer Cable not configured correctly.
        a.  Problems have been found when using certain parallel port
            printer cables that do not meet the parallel port
            specifications.
        b.  Cables that are longer than six feet in length are
            suspect.The six foot cable length problem is
            more evident on higher speed processor systems.
        c.  Cables that do not contain all 25 wires will not
            work under OS/2.
    3.  I/O card not interrupting back to the system correctly.
    NOTE:  I/O card will need to be replaced if this is true.
    4.  Interrupt conflict. - (ISA type adapters, AT Bus)
        a.  Another card in the system is using the same interrupt
            i.e.(SoundBlaster) as the LPT port.  ISA systems do not
            share interrupts at the hardware level and port and IRQ
            contentions will have to be resolved by removing and/or
            reconfiguring the adapters to work properly together.
        b.  The standard IRQ settings for AT Bus machines are as
            follows.
            IRQ LEVEL      DEVICE ASSOCIATED
              0              System Timer
              1              Keyboard
              2              Secondary Interrupt Controller
              3              COM2 (Serial Communications Port 2)
              4              COM1 (Serial Communications Port 1)
              5              LPT2 (Parallel Port 2)
              6              Diskette
              7              LPT1 (Parallel Port 1)
              8              Real-time Clock
              9              open
              10             open
              11             open
              12             open
              13             Math Coprocessor
              14             Hard Disk
              15             open
    NOTE:  If interrupts above 7 are to be utilized the I/O card must
           be 16 bit.




12/31/99