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Printer help

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ccasedj

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Nov 20, 2009
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I have an old DTK Peer model computer, with a 486 DX2 chip. I run Windows 3.1 on it, and it has 4 MB Ram.

I am messing around with this thing, and want to get the parallel port to work on it.

It is definitely detected by the BIOS, on LPT1 and is at IRQ level 5.

But when I go to print, or to hook up a ZIP drive, its like something is faulty. The printer software says there is a problem accessing the printer port.

The Iomega software can't detect a drive.

I'm clueless about what to look for when I open this thing up.

Can I bypass that connector by installing another LPT port?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Chuck
 
One really simple test to see if your lpt1 port is working or if it's a driver issue is to connect the printer to your parallel port and just echo something to it. (echo testing123 > lpt1:) and see if it prints that.

If so then your parallel port is working and it's an OS/driver issue.

There's also the debug trick to see if your BIOS has it properly mapped. Here's a little info on that technique depending on how bored ya are ;-) http://www.computerhope.com/rdebug.htm
 
Two other things to check if you can

First, some 486 era chipsets had problems with the more advanced parallel port options. Check the BIOS and see if you can set the port in a slower mode.

Second, open the case and make sure the cable to the printer port is positioned on all the pins on its header. I have seen a number of systems that tightly packed the headers with other components. Someone tries installing memory, knocks the cable off the header pins, and forgets to replace the cable correctly.
 
tried a lot

tried a lot

I ran a program yesterday called "Parallel", which is a simple little freeware program that showed where the port is in the bios, and the IRQ, although it couldn't detect the IRQ level. Parallel shows my port to be a 4 bit port.

Looking inside, everything seems plugged in correctly. The ISA card that the parallel port is plugged into has the floppy and hard drive plugged into it as well. Isn't there a name for that type of card?

There is another set of empty pins for a connector the same size as the one that comes from the parallel connector. I wonder if it is plugged into the wrong one? But how would I know? Would it do harm to swap it and see what happens?

Oh, and as far as the Setup on this computer, there is no mention of a printer in the setup. It's an American Megatrends bios I believe, Bios date 1993.

I'm thinking a possible good move may be to buy a second ISA Parallel card and plug it in one of the empty slots.

Keep the ideas coming if you have anything else!
 
Did you type "debug" and run d40:00? You'll be looking at the 5th and 6th slot for LPT1 and 2. The link that barythrin gave should give the details. I strongly suggest that method of diagnosis as it is an "end run" on what most diagnostics software does anyway.

That will answer a couple of your questions. :) Sometimes software expects LPT1 but gets something else. There could be jumpers on the board and also, as you suggest, another header could be for another port. If that is what it is, then there is no harm in trying it.

Yes, you could plug in another card with a parallel port, but you might just end up with conflicts and an even more complicated situation.
 
ccasedj said:
I'm thinking a possible good move may be to buy a second ISA Parallel card and plug it in one of the empty slots.

Keep the ideas coming if you have anything else!
Click to expand...

if you can't figure anything out, i have an 8-bit ISA card with parallel on it.
 
The debug found things to be as diplayed on the ititial boot up window.

The string looked pretty much like

F8 03 F8 02 E8 02 0000 78 03

Also, I moved that one cable from the one header to the other

The label on the one is JP 5, and the other is JP 10 (does that stand for jumper?)

Nothing happened differently at all when I moved it.

Let me know if you have any other clues I can look for. I looked at the connector, and all the pin holes looked good and clean.

Thanks!

Chuck
 
MSD test

MSD test

Maybe this can give another clue.

When I did an MSD test of the LPT port, it shows its address,

and the results show the port is online, paper is out, and it is busy.

No I/O error though.

Is this how it should be?

Chuck
 
It's quite possible that the port has been blown out. There were several ways to do this, including mistaking it for an RS-232 port. If the port's not implemented by a piece of LSI, it's usually very easy to repair.

Alternatively, just install another parallel port and use that.
 
Last edited:
My bad

My bad

Disregard the references to switching those hook-ups above. The Parallel port connector is part of this card...not connected by any connector or strap wire.

Those other things were the serial ports.

An interesting note...the MSD showed that the port is online, paper out, and busy when I don't have the printer hooked up.

After hooking it up, the port is online and busy, but paper not out.

On another machine I have that has a working port, the port shows online, but everything else ( Paper Out, Busy) is No.

When I do a printer test with MSD, after a long pause the message "Error writing, Bad file #" comes up.

Thanks again for the responses.

Chuck
 
8 bit ISA card

8 bit ISA card

linuxlove said:
if you can't figure anything out, i have an 8-bit ISA card with parallel on it.
Click to expand...

Is your card fairly easy to figure out, as far as setting address and IRQ jumpers?

Does your card have more on it than just the parallel port? If so, that can be disabled by not setting any addresses, right.

Let me know how much you want for it.

Chuck
 
Great News!

Great News!

I got a jumperable 8 bit parallel card from Ebay (Thank God for Ebay), and I took a guess on how to set the jumpers, because the card only says LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3 as opposed to actual addresses.

I put the jumpers on for LPT1, and set the card in the slot. When I booted up, 03BC was detected and assigned LPT1...the previous LPT1 (0378) was assigned LPT2. (I'm guessing that on this card LPT2 is 0378 and LPT3 would be 0278)

And, the best thing is, it worked. My ZIP drive was detected! I haven't tested a printer, but I'm sure it will work.

I guess that other port connector just got blown up somehow!

Now, what else can I do for this computer? :)

Chuck
 
ccasedj said:
I got a jumperable 8 bit parallel card from Ebay (Thank God for Ebay), and I took a guess on how to set the jumpers, because the card only says LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3 as opposed to actual addresses.

I put the jumpers on for LPT1, and set the card in the slot. When I booted up, 03BC was detected and assigned LPT1...the previous LPT1 (0378) was assigned LPT2. (I'm guessing that on this card LPT2 is 0378 and LPT3 would be 0278)

And, the best thing is, it worked. My ZIP drive was detected! I haven't tested a printer, but I'm sure it will work.

I guess that other port connector just got blown up somehow!

Now, what else can I do for this computer? :)

Chuck
Click to expand...
Glad you got it going.

BTW, the LPT numbers are not determined by the card address per se, but according to its location in the sequence 3BC,378,278; whichever card is first in that sequence becomes LPT1, etc.

There are also utilities that will rearrange the port numbers without having to change jumpers.

See:
http://www.luberth.com/cstep/parallel.htm

mike
 
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