Microsoft KB Archive/51211

Incomplete or No Printout on Serial Printer

PSS ID Number: Q51211 Article last modified on 11-02-1994

4.00 5.00

MS-DOS

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word versions 4.0 and 5.0 may overflow the buffer on printers when printing through a serial port using XON/XOFF protocol. This may cause problems, such as only the first page or two of a document printing. In some cases, with PostScript printers such as the Apple LaserWriter, no output occurs.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word versions 4.0 and 5.0. This problem was corrected in Word version 5.5.

The first workaround for this problem is to reattach the printer driver selected with the Print Options command. Word initializes the serial port each time the printer driver is changed. Doing this once per session is enough to correct the problem.

You can create an AUTOEXEC macro that will perform this procedure each time Word is started. To create this macro, follow these steps:

1. With your cursor in the text portion of the screen, press SHIFT+F3 to turn on Record Macro.
2. Select Print Options and type in the name of the printer driver (PRD) you normally use for serial printing.
3. Press ENTER to confirm the selection.
4. Press SHIFT+F3 to turn off Record Macro.
5. When the “Copy to:{}” prompt appears at the bottom of the screen, type AUTOEXEC.
6. Save the glossary addition by executing the Transfer Glossary Save command.

The next time Word is started, these steps will execute automatically.

Another workaround for Word 5.0 is to patch the WORD.EXE file to make Word use XON/XOFF for all serial printers. This patch is not available for Word 4.0. To patch the Word program file, do the following:

1. Make a backup copy of your Word 5.0 Program Disk 1.

2. Using the backup disk, rename WORD.EXE to WORD.XXX.

3. Assuming DEBUG.COM is in your DOS path, type DEBUG WORD.XXX.

4. At the “-” prompt, type the following (depending on the version being used) then press ENTER:

   e 7a26 (for version 5.0) e 7a36 (for version 5.0a)

5. Type “90 90” (without the quotation marks), then press ENTER.

6. Type “w” (without the quotation marks), then press ENTER.

7. Type “q” (without the quotation marks), then press ENTER.

8. Rename WORD.XXX back to WORD.EXE.

9. Run the Setup program to install a new copy of Word 5.0. The new program disk containing the patched WORD.EXE file should be used during the installation process.

If the program needs to be unpatched, follow the same steps above except for step 5. In step 5, replace the “90 90” with “74 3D”.

KBCategory: kbprint kbmacro KBSubcategory: Additional reference words:

============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.