Imelda Irby [MSFT]
Guest
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 Posted:
Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:50 am Post subject:
RE: blank page after each print job |
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Hi Steven,
The information below has helped many other customer have a stable SNA
environment. However, there is a posibility that this is being send by the
Mainframe. We could find out for sure, but we will need traces. Also, I
would recommend the latest service pack for windows, SP4, not that this
will take care of this problem, but it may avoid other problems.
TITLE: Troubleshooting Steps For HIS/SNA Printing Issues
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*** Problem Description ***
There are several components required for a stable printing environment
within HIS
2000 and SNA 4 SP4. Any one of these components can cause a variety of
printing
issues. Some of these issues are hanging print services, print sessions
stuck in
spooling,and grabbled formatting.
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*** Resolution ***
To build a stable host printing environment there are three areas that must
be
addressed:
1. Printers need to be defined locally using either TCP or LPR locally
defined
ports.
2. Print Drivers should be Microsoft certified drivers.
3. Unused drivers must be removed.
Locally Defined Printers:
Undefined printers
The term “Undefined Printer” refers to a feature that allows the output
from an SNA
Print Service session to be directed to a printer that has not been defined
in
Windows NT Server. This is configured by typing the UNC path of the shared
network
printer into the printer field of the SNA Server printer session
properties, or by
selecting a printer using the “Network” button from the Print Setup dialog
in the
SNA printer session properties.
An SNA Print Service session configured to use an undefined printer uses an
OpenPrinter call to initiate a print job with Windows NT Server. Windows
NT Server
then creates a temporary connection to the Remote Print Server to allow the
SNA
print session to be activated. For this job, the spooler service will copy
the
driver files onto the local system using RPC requests, and it will use the
Remote
Print Provider (win32spl.dll). The spooler creates a cache containing the
driver
version information, and updates the registry with the cached information.
At the
end of connection, when ClosePrinter is called, the driver files stay on
the system
but the cached information is deleted from the registry.
When the next print job is received from the host, another OpenPrinter call
is made
to activate the SNA print session. The spooler detects the existence of
the
printer driver, however the information in the cache has been removed. The
spooler
service contacts the remote print provider to compare the printer driver
files, and
all of the cached information is copied again in the registry. The process
of
comparing driver files creates a large amount of SMB and RPC traffic on the
network, and can be avoided by creating a permanent connection to the
Remote Print
Server.
Resolution: To define the printers locally using either TCP or LPR printing.
Third Print Drivers:
Some third-party print drivers expect a DEVMODE structure to be a certain
size.
Specifically, such drivers expect dmDriverExtra to be set properly. They do
not do
any error checking. The SNA Print Service was not setting this field and
would
create a structure smaller than the
print driver is expecting. Because the third-party driver would not check
the size
of the structure that was was passed to it, it writes beyond the size of
the
structure, which causes numerous problems, up to and including
blue-screens. A QFE
fix was generated for this problem, but does not necessary resolve all
problems
with 3rd party print drivers that are uncertified. NOTE: This is most
apparent in
print drivers from Hewlett Packard.
Resolution: Change these to the coordinating Microsoft drivers.
Unused Drivers:
Because of similar calls within the driver code these will cause mismatches
resulting in printing issues.
Resolution: Uninstall all unused drivers.
The steps to uninstall the unused drivers that I have outlined below:
Start button
Settings
Printers
File
Server Properties
Drivers Tab
There you can delete the unused drivers.
Steven, if you don't have service pack 1 for HIS 5.0 you can get it at
this location: http://www.microsoft.com/hiserver/
Thank you,
Imelda Irby, MCSE
Microsoft® HIS 2000/SNA Server Support Team
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no
warranties, and confers no rights. |
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