Problem printing through USB - parallel adapter cable in Win 7 - garbage chars

[The Gorn]

Here's the general situation.

I am running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. The motherboard of the new PC lacked a parallel port. So I bought a USB to centronics parallel port printer cable. (FYI: the part is by Cables-to-Go and is part number 16898.) The printer is a 1994 vintage HP Laserjet 4P that hasn't given me a moment's trouble ever.

Windows 7 instantly recognized the printer cable as well as the connected printer when I plugged the cable in.

What I am seeing on all printouts is this: the first job I send to the printer always causes a mostly blank sheet with three to five garbage characters to be emitted at the top line. (example: the characters s1M.) Then the normal appearing printed pages appear afterward. Subsequent printouts don't have the garbage character blank page prepended to the print jobs.

Of course, I never got this before with this printer when connected to the built in parallel ports of older PCs.

Any guesses what is going on here? Any tweaks that you guys would recommend?

[Richardk]

First I have some 'doubts' or 'uneasiness' with USB based stuff other than hard drives. I've tried some USB headsets for Skype calls and it's been hit or miss. A real disappoint with no easy solutions but that doesn't help you. Just a gut thought about how 'stable' or 'standard' a USB connection really is.

OK, I'm thinking the driver, computer, something is sending some initialization code to the printer.

I wonder, can you setup another printer and set the driver to generic or text only?

OR BETTER YET!

I recall the "old" printers had a start up mode where it would print the hex values of everything that it received. At least this way you could find out exactly what is being sent and then chase down a solution.

[The Gorn]

I was really looking for someone here who had set up non native parallel port setups on Windows and had encountered the same kinds of issues and maybe had stumbled into a fix. I don't feel like spending hours experimenting, this new PC has already burned beauceaux time of mine.

I'll think about your suggestions, though.

IE, there are also Ethernet and Wireless LAN based print servers for cheap now that act as network print servers.

It seems to me that when you increase the complexity of the path between the printer's port and the CPU, you compound the likelihood of weird printing issues.

[Richardk]

IE, there are also Ethernet and Wireless LAN based print servers for cheap now that act as network print servers.

I've done both of these and they're easy.

The closest thing to your adapter that I recall is using some serial to parallel adapters for some remote printers in a building. That was a long time ago and they even gave us problems from time to time.

[The Gorn]

USB looks more like a complex network protocol in its own right. So it is 100x more complex (easily) than the issues of interfacing parallel to serial. So buried in this cable is a chip set that communicates with drivers in Windows.

[The Gorn]

I can probably use Google maps to find out what brand of watches you guys are wearing.

I found this. My EXACT problem! This guy is complaining about the same kind of setup and the same printer and the same garbage characters.

http://www.fixyourownprin...com/forums/printer/31928

[pxsant]

So did turning off bi-directional support fix the problem?  That seems to be the only suggestion in the link.

[The Gorn]

So did turning off bi-directional support fix the problem? That seems to be the only suggestion in the link.

YES! It seems too easy. But it worked.

To find this, I just typed the junk characters I was getting into Google: s1M. Nothing else. This article is at the top of the results.

The article starts: "I have a HPLaserJet4P and I had to buy a parallel to usb vs. a parallel to parallel cable to hook it up to my new Dell computer and now everytime I print it prints the job but wastes an additional blank page with just s1M at the top left corner."

That was the same cable type, printer model, and junk characters I was getting.

[Richardk]

Just amazing that it was that easy to find plus the solution worked for you!

[Origisaurus]

To find this, I just typed the junk characters I was getting into Google: s1M. Nothing else. This article is   at the top of the results.

Lily Tomlin: "I always wanted to be someone, but now I realize I should have been more specific."

Specificity is golden.  How many times have you seen folks complaining about a problem but lacking any detail as to symptoms, etc?  Beyond help.

[The Gorn]

One persistent show stopping hassle I am having is this:  the printer has to be turned on prior to booting into Windows.  Otherwise the printer doesn't work.

If you turn the printer on after booting into Windows, then even though the cable and the printer are recognized, print jobs just pile up and never print. Doing things like resetting the printer and plugging and unplugging the USB don't help.

I removed and reinstalled the USB devices in Device Manager.

I see on the support forums on the net that people using USB printer cables with Windows 7 have the same problem.

So I am looking into a cheap LAN based print server to fix this once and for all. Like the Dlink DP-301P.

Quite aggravating.

[DG9]

GB,
 I picked up a cheap jetdirect printer server on ebay a quite while back and it made life much simpler for me and my old HP 4.  I think you got the right idea going with a cheap lan based print server.  Are we having fun yet?    BTW, I love these old work horse printers!  Good luck, sounds like you almost got this one wrangled to the ground...

[The Gorn]

GB,  
  I picked up a cheap jetdirect printer server on ebay a quite while back and it made life much simpler for me and my old HP 4. I think you got the right idea   going with a cheap lan based print server. Are we having fun yet? BTW, I love these   old work horse printers! Good luck, sounds like you almost got this one wrangled to the ground...

Thanks very much for the encouragement.

This is one sweet machine and in every other respect it's freaking awesome.

Unfortunately (queue up old guy bitching mode that repels the young and gormless) new hardware and software isn't terribly respectful of older technology... not even something less than 20 years old that commercially not that long ago was the gold standard for quality. IE, no parallel port for printers, and Windows 7 doesn't support the USB parallel bridge cable very well.

Stupid kid hardware designers and programmers.

[pxsant]

I know you are fond of the old HP but spending time and money trying to make it work does not make sense to me.

Why not purchase a brand new color laser printer with current interface and features?  An example is the HP CP1215 shown in the link at only $224.

HP Printer

Seems to me that would be more productive and cost effective.

And if you wanted to spend a few more bucks, you could get a network laser.