Incredible BAT Machine

Tech Support
Data Sheet 6008
173 W. Frederick Street, Millersville PA 17551-1911 - voice: 717-872-2183 - FAX: 717-872-4583
Email: techsupport@colorbat.com Web Site: www.colorbat.com

Dealing With Printer Crashes

There are two types of printer crashes:

1) When you first attempt to send a file (text, or image)

to the printer, almost immediately the computer locks
up and printing will not even begin
2) The printer has started printing, and about 1/4 or 1/2
of the way through printing the file (text or image),
the printing stops and the computer locks up

In the first type of crash, the problem is almost always

a printer spooler problem.
For a printer to be able to “do its thing”, it needs a little
space on one of the hard drives in which to create a These instructions and the
temporary file that it needs. This temporary file is
frequently about 3-4 times the size of the actual file that is examples shown later are based
being printed. For example, if you are printing an 8x10 upon the Microsoft Windows-
picture which has a file size of about 20MB, then the 2000 Operating System. If you
temporary (spooler) file could be 60 or 70 MB in size.
are using a different Operating
All printer drivers default to wanting to use the C: drive System, consult your HELP files
for this temporary file. However, you can usually re-direct for instructions on how to
the computer’s operating system to use a different hard
drive for the “printer spooler”… the temporary file used change the timeout settings
by the printer. Since re-directing the operating system to
use a different hard drive is a tad complicated, I am not
going to go into the details of how to do that. Besides,
there is an easier, and maybe better way of dealing with
the problem.
The better method of dealing with spooler problems is to
simply be sure that there is always plenty of free space on
the C: drive. Routinely delete all temporary files that
might build up on the C: drive . And, routinely remove any
programs from the computer that you do not use. And,
occasionally (once every month or so) run the
defragmentation utility on the C: drive. While defragging
the C: drive will not create a lot of free space, it will tend
to free up a little space that is used by the file indexing
system that needs to keep track of where all the
fragmented pieces of files are located.

In the second type of crash… the type where the

printer crashes after it has printed part of a file…. that
type of crash is usually the result of a printer time -out and
that can be corrected by simply making a change in the

Page 1, Data Sheet 6008, rev: Friday, January 11, 2002

time-out setting.

During the course of routine printing, the

computer sends a small packet of data to the
printer and then waits for the printer to confirm
that the data was successfully received before
sending the next packet of data. In other words,
there is “two-way” communication between the
printer and the computer.

After a packet of data is received by the printer,

the printer confirms back to the computer that the
data was received, then the printer proceeds to
“print” the data. At that point, it is waiting for the
next packet of data from the computer.

If for some reason, the computer gets busy doing

something else (multi-tasking) and is delayed a
few seconds in sending the next packet of data, the
printer believes that something wrong has
happened to the computer and the printer “gives
up” waiting and shuts down. The printer is said to
have “timed out”.
There are many reasons why the computer took
too long to send the next packet of data. One
reason could be a form of multi-tasking. But there
are other reasons. During the normal course of
events a computer is constantly doing lots of
things in the background… sometimes too many
things.
Doing things in the background is the phrase we
use to describe some of the “house keeping”
chores that the computer constantly does while it
is operating. Suffice it to say that as we load more
and more software onto our computers, there are
more and more house keeping tasks that the
computer is being asked to do… even though we This is a list of things that are going on in the
are not actively USING those programs. background of my computer.
Frequently, those programs have small portions of “Your mileage may vary.”
themselves running ALL THE TIME… “in the
back ground”… and we don’t even know it.
Anyway… the technique of dealing with printer-
time-out problems is to set the allotted time to a
larger increment.
Go to the START button and then to the
SETTINGS button and then to the PRINTERS
button.
That will open up the PRINTERS window.

Page 2, Data Sheet 6008, rev: Friday, January 11, 2002

Next, go to the heading at the top of the window
called FILE and open the little fly-out menu and
click on the item called SERVER PROPERTIES

When the PRINTER SERVER PROPRITIES

window opens it will look something like this. If
you have more than one printer installed on your
computer, you will need to select the printer that
you are having the problem with and be sure that
it is highlighted. Then click on CONFIGURE
PORT

Notice in this example, I do not have an actual

“printer” on the LPT1 port. My printer is
connected via USB. USB does not allow you to
set a time-out. So, you have to “set” it on the
LPT1 port instead. The USB printer port is a
“virtual” port, meaning that it is a sort of
“pretend” port. The “real” printer port is still
LPT1.

If you make a change in the timeout of LPT1, it

automatically applies for all the other printer
ports. And, no, I don’t know why that is… go ask
the folks at the Bug Factory… Microsoft!

Page 3, Data Sheet 6008, rev: Friday, January 11, 2002

When you click on CONFIGURE PORT a dialog
box will open up where you will have an
opportunity to set the TIMEOUT of the printer.
Notice in the example to the right, I have the
timeout set to 90 seconds. I’m not taking any
chances!!

After you change the timeout setting, you can

close all of the dialog boxes and windows. Then
re-boot your computer for the new changes to take
effect.

Happy printing!!

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Page 4, Data Sheet 6008, rev: Friday, January 11, 2002