CHUCKM@UCRVMS.BITNET (07/19/90)
Hello: I'm posting this on behalf of a friend who doesn't have network access. In the main campus library here at UCR, there are several Zenith XT's (as well as other assorted IBM clones) each of which has a HP DeskJet printer. Each also has a CD-ROM, containing a database of reference information. The problem (only seen so far on the Zeniths) is as follows: On occasion, (about once per month per machine), the Zenith will no longer be able to print to its printer. The cursor scans the screen during a PrtScn, but nothing goes out to the printer. The only way found to fix this is to physically remove the printer, plug it into one of the other clones, print something to it, and then plug it back into its original machine. This has apparently been happening for about four months, and the workaround clears it up, but I wonder why it happens! Could this be a virus? Oh, by the way, after the machine won't print anymore, switching another working printer to the non-printing machine doesn't work. What it DOES do is make it so that the second printer won't print either! The Zeniths have MS-DOS version 3.21; I couldn't check the DOS version for the other clones, as they have no access to a DOS prompt from those machines. I used the SCAN program to look on the Zeniths for a virus and found none. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated. I've posted this to Info-IBMPC, just in case this is not a virus. Please respond directly to me, and I'll summarize whatever I hear to the list in a short while. Thanks again! Chuck ++++ Chuck McDaniels, Systems Consultant, Phone: (714) 787-4711 ++++ ++++ Univ. of California, Riverside BITNET: ChuckM@UCRVMS ++++ ++++ Thank you for not blaming UCR or anyone else for anything said here ++++