Shared printer problem, not wotking with DosBox, jobs in queue showing page count N/A.

[Peter_Nikki]

Hi!

I need help with the Laserjet Pro M12a. I have replaced the printer after my LaserJet 1015 went wrong.

Technical/ setup info:

Windows 10 x64

USB printer shared over network as "hpprinter"

Windows printing is working!

Dosbox setup LPT1 printing (parallel1=file dev:lpt1)  and net use LPT1 \\"network PC"\hpprinter /persistent: yes

Driver from the original CD or from the web site working same, PrintDoctor shows everything OK

Problem step-by-step:

1. Job printed from dos - driver laserjet printer (PCL or non-pcl, tried all possible)
2. Job appears in the queue as "Older document format" with page count N/A
3. Queue shows everything OK, NO ERROR, job file shows 2kB/2KB sent to printer
4. Printer showing no sign of printing, not blinking!!!!
5. Job disappears after 1 minute without message it could not be printed.

Possible problem, my suggestions:

driver issue

printing processor issue

no support for the older raw data printing - but he job queue is working....hm

Please help to find the solution! I need the printer working because the DOS software i am printing from is a custom made industrial sofware with no other replacement on the market. I need the outputs from this software to be printed on paper.

Thanx a lot for any help!

[dansdaduk]

>> ... Job printed from dos - driver laserjet printer (PCL or non-pcl, tried all possible) ...

I've no experience with DosBox, so don't know how it generates print jobs (e.g. does it use the Windows drivers, or does it use its own built-in 'vanilla' ones?).

Bear in mind that the LaserJet Pro M12 printer series are host-based devices, so require their own (proprietary) driver (or an emulation) to generate the print job in the correct format; they certainly will not understand plain text, or PCL, for example.

[Peter_Nikki]

Hi! I think you're right. Shows to be problem with a correct language, with PCL. The printer cannot translate the job. Dosbox is not the problem, it is my msdos program that supports older printers and sending data in a language that the printer cannot accept. Laserjet Hp2055dn with pcl6 is working well so i have transfered the printing to it. Maybe in the future there will be driver for M12a with pcl6 support.

[dansdaduk · Accepted solution]

>> ... Maybe in the future there will be driver for M12a with pcl6 support ...

Which Page Description Languages are supported by a printer is determined by what language interpreters are present in the printer firmware (stored in non-volatile memory in the printer).

I think it exceedingly unlikely that HP will update (perhaps at considerable cost) the firmware in the printer to support additional PDLs.