Printing Problem

[proton]

Hi All,

Have a big problem with printing in Filemaker (version 4.0). I have a database designed for a company. The main purpose of the database is to generate reports. The reports tend to be big, like 200 plus pages. The printer (which is shared) is linked to one computer (windows 98)in the network (windows 95/98/NT network).

If anyone sends the report to print through the network to the printer it prints about 30 pages and then just feeds the rest blank. They called me and I went in and did a workaround. I set up filemaker on the computer that had the printer. It still printed only 30 or so pages and fed the rest blank. I determined that maybe it was a memory problem (i.e. the report was too big and the computer couldn't handle it). I went into the printer options and set it to send the data directly to the printer (i.e. don't spool), and went in the config.sys file and Rem out the buffers and files statements. Then I sent the report to print in batches of 50 or so, and it printed. However, they had their network people come in lately, and the network people uninstalled the printer and set it up in such a way that all printing goes through the NT Server, even though the printer is still connected to the win98 machine. This caused the problem to re-occur. When I checked it the option to send the data directly to the printer is grayed out (inaccessible) and the girl said that I can't uninstall and re-install it cause it will setup from the server and still have the option grayed out. What can I do in this instance? Why won't Filemaker print that quantity through the network?

[LiveOak]

My best guess is that it is not a FM problem, but a Windows/Print Driver/Printer problem. I know of no such problems occurring on the Mac side, printing tends to be more problematic on the PC. I'd try a large report from another application as a test to see if it is only FM related and maybe do a round of Q&A with your network support people about the problem. -bd

[proton]

quote:

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Originally posted by LiveOak:

My best guess is that it is not a FM problem, but a Windows/Print Driver/Printer problem. I know of no such problems occurring on the Mac side, printing tends to be more problematic on the PC. I'd try a large report from another application as a test to see if it is only FM related and maybe do a round of Q&A with your network support people about the problem. -bd

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They do print large reports from Peachtree Accounting. That report is about 300 pages long, and it prints through the network. I think that Peachtree (with it's roots in Dos) tends to be still a lot text based, so that even though there are a lot of pages, it isn't very big. I strongly suspect that it is a windows/printer driver problem. Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.

[LiveOak]

Not a lot of good ideas here. Every time I get into a Windows printer driver problem, I don't like the available solutions.

Just for the sake of experiment, I might drag over another printer (another type) and give it a try, just to isolate it to the printer/driver. It's also always a good idea to see if there is a newer version of the driver. -bd