This trouble shooting document assumes you are trying to use a local printer connected directly to a parallel port on your computer. If you are having trouble printing to a network printer, please consult your Network or local System Administrator.

Make sure that all cables from the printer to the computer have a solid connection.

Make sure your media (paper) is fresh and dry; even a SMALL amount of moisture can cause bleeding or ragged print or sticking, jamming or tearing paper.

For troubleshooting purposes, make sure your printer is connected directly to the back of your computer (in an appropriate LPT1 parallel port) and not going through any AB (switch) boxes or other piggyback devices.

Make sure you are using the appropriate cable for your printer. Most printers require an IEEE 1284 (bi-lateral) parallel printer cable. Consult your printer manufacturer for your specific printer.

Make sure that printer is turned on and the Line Feed light is not blinking or a warning light is on. Also make sure your printer is Online. Look for a button that says Online, there is probably a light next to it indicating whether that button has been activated. You may need to consult your printer documentation to identify the indicator lights on your printer.

If the Line Feed light is blinking, you may need to press the Line Feed button to activate the printer. If you find you must press the Line Feed button whenever you try to print, please contact your printer manufacturer for further support.

Turn your printer off for a few seconds, and then back on again.

TRY PRINTING DIRECTLY FROM DOS TO YOUR PRINTER. To do this, turn on your computer and press the F8 key when you see the message, Starting Windows 98. Choose Safe Mode Command Prompt only from the menu. That will bring up a C:\> prompt. Type DIR >LPT1.

If you receive a message stating, Write fault error writing device LPT1, then there is either a physical problem with your printer, the cable to the printer or the port on your computer. To best determine what is causing the problem, try using another printer and/or cable with your computer. If another printer and cable have the same problem, then the port on your computer may be having a hardware problem.

If the printer prints a directory of your hard drive, then the port on your computer is working, and the connection to your printer is good. You may have a problem with the drivers for your printer in Windows 98.

In Windows 98, click the Start button, then Programs, then Accessories, then Wordpad. Type a sample sentence in Wordpad.

Click on File, then click Print. In the Print dialog box, make sure you have the printer that is currently connected to the computer, selected next to Name:. If you do not see your printer there, click the down arrow next to the printer, and then choose the printer that you have connected to your computer from the list. If you do not see your printer listed, the drivers for the printer may not have been loaded. You will need to consult your printer manufacturer or the documentation that came with the printer on how to properly install your printer.

Once your printer has been selected, click OK to print.

Check to see if your sample sentence printed. If it has printed but it is unreadable then there may be a problem with your printer driver. Try uninstalling and reinstalling your printer driver. Please contact your Printer Manufacturer or consult the documentation that came with your printer for information on how to do this.

MAKE SURE YOUR PRINTER IS THE DEFAULT PRINTER.

To do this, click Start, point to Settings, click Printers. Right-click the icon that represents your printer. Click Set As Default.

Make sure you have at least 10 MB of free space on your hard disk.

To view the amount of free space on your hard disk, double-click My Computer. Right-click the icon that represents the hard disk on which Windows 98 is installed. Click Properties.

On the General tab, find the total amount of free space on your hard disk.

If the General tab indicates that you have less than 10 MB on your hard disk, you must free up at least that much space before you can print.

You have a choice of the following actions to free space:

Empty the Recycle Bin. Delete any temporary files from your hard disk.
Delete any obsolete or archived files from your hard disk.
Remove any programs that you never use.


Check your Printer’s Properties by clicking on Start, then Settings, then Printers. Next, double click your printer’s icon. The first tab you will see is the General Tab.

Click on the Details Tab located next to the General Tab.

In the Print to the following port box, make sure the printer is set to the proper port. The most common port selection is LPT1: (Printer Port). However, some printers require a different port. Consult the printer's documentation to determine the port your printer uses.

Click on Spool Settings located near the bottom of the window. Next click on Print directly to the printer. Then Click OK.

Next click on Port Settings. Remove the check marks from the Spool MS-DOS print jobs and Check port state before printing. To do this, click with your mouse on the check marks. Click OK.

Try to print your sample sentence in Wordpad again following the instructions above.

If your sample sentence does not print, try installing a generic printer.

To do this, click Start, then Settings, then Printers, then double click on Add Printer.

The Printer Wizard window will appear. Click Next.

If Windows asks you to choose a Local or Network Printer, choose Local then click Next.

A window will appear with manufacturers and their associated models.

Under manufacturers, choose Generic. Click Next.

Make sure that the printer port highlighted is LPT1. Click Next.

In the next window, it will ask you if you want to name your printer and if you want to select this printer as a Default Printer. Just click Yes and then click Next.

The next window will ask you if you would like to print a test page. Click Yes, then click Next. Windows will start copying files.

When Windows asks if the test page printed correctly, click the appropriate button.

If you answered No, please follow the troubleshooting guide provided by Windows.

If you are still unable to print after following the troubleshooting guide, you should call your printer manufacturer for further help.

Try connecting a different printer to this computer or try connecting the printer to a different computer and print a test page. If this printer works when connected to another computer, there may be a problem with the port on your MyFavoritePc. If this printer does not work when connected to another computer, there may be a physical problem with the printer.

If you are still unable to print, contact your printer manufacturer for help. Or contact MyFavoritePc Technical Support for help with the computer hardware and/or Windows 98.