DOS Printing Issue with HP (HW208)

Top Margins of DOS Applications Creep Further and Further Down Each Succeeding page - HP DeskJet 880 and 895 Series Printers - (HW208)

ISSUE: When printing from a DOS application, the first page of the document prints correctly, but subsequent pages print with a larger and larger top margin on each succeeding page.

SOLUTION: Follow the instructions shown below:

1. In the DOS application, be sure to select the correct printer driver or the closest HP DeskJet printer model.

2. If possible, set the number of lines per page in the DOS application to 60, which is the default setting for the HP DeskJet printer. If the DOS application's lines per page settings cannot be changed to match the HP DeskJet printer's, then use the HP DeskJet Control Panel (DJCP) to set the printer's lines per page to 66 lines to match the DOS application's setting.

Installing the HP DeskJet printer control panel software

1. Insert the printer software CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive.

2. Click Start and Run. On the Open line, type your computer's CD-ROM drive designator (for example D:\), and the following command:

D:\ENU\DJCP\Install.exe

3. Follow the instructions on the screen to install the HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS.

Accessing the control panel

1. If the AUTOEXEC.BAT file was modified when the Control Panel was installed, type DJCP at any prompt in DOS and press ENTER.

2. If the AUTOEXEC.BAT file was not modified, change to the HP DeskJet directory by typing CD\DESKJET at the C:\> prompt and then pressing ENTER.

3. Then, from the C:\DESKJET> prompt, type DJCP and press ENTER.

Selecting print settings from the DOS control panel

1. Once the Control Panel is open, select More Settings, or type the letter M.

2. Type in the number of lines for each page on the line that says Lines per page, and press ENTER. (For example, if Lines per page says 60, you might change it to 66.)

3. Choose OK to return to the main menu.

4. Select Done and then the Control Panel will ask if these settings are to be the new default settings. Choose Yes.

5. Go to the DOS application and print out the document.

CAUSE: Since many older DOS applications were formatted for dot matrix printers, their page length defaults to 66 lines of text per page. This did not include any margins since the dot matrix printers started at the top of the page and printed to the very bottom of the page. The HP DeskJet printers have a default page length of 60 lines of printable area, plus 3 blank lines at the top of the document and 3 blank lines at the end of the document.

When attempting to place 66 lines of text in an area where the HP DeskJet printer can only place 60 lines of text, the 6 lines that would normally print at the bottom of the first page of a dot matrix printer will be forced past the unprintable region of the HP DeskJet printer at the bottom of the page. Then the HP DeskJet printer will print the last 6 lines of page 1 at the top of page 2, move down 3 lines for the default top margin and then place the top of page 2 at that point on the page.

BY: JML - 06/2002