We are having much trouble printing to networked printers now that we have started to convert workstations to Windows 98. We are running Novell 3.2 / AREV 3.12. Our application has been serving our business superbly for 8 years. This is a large system with about 60 workstations and about 30-40 concurrent users. It uses Novell's ENDCAP and CAPTURE commands very heavily. The few stations that we have converted to Windows 98 are having many no luck printing reports. ENDCAP's tend to cause the AREV sessions to hang with a blue screen that says "Exception error at 0D x…." (and sometimes the WINDOWS session also hangs necessiting rebooting). CAPTURE's don't cause errors, but the print jobs don't seem to come out anywhere (they aren't even viewable in PCONSOLE). I've read thru the on-line discussions that others are having the similar problems but nobody seems to have a solution. Our AREV application and other software mix runs beautifully with Windows 3.1, but since much of the newer windows software will
run only on 95/98, we have no choice but to begin the transition. Our AREV application, however, is the mission critical application. Are we faced with a complete re-write of our application in the area of printer re-direction???? Please say it ain't so.
P.S. Yes, we are running the NLM on the server.
Are you using Bindery / NDS login at the workstation?
What exact version of the Netware Client are you running?
Steve
We have a lot of customers sites who use NetWare and Windows 98. This combination works fine, but there are a few things to pay attention to.
First, we have had less trouble with the Novell Client version 3.1 than the earlier versions. DO NOT install service pack 1 or 2 for this client.
Second, when you install the Windows 98 printer drivers it asks you if you want to print to DOS applications. If you answer Yes, you will have problems. There are two approaches you can take. Either will work. First, delete your current printers from Win98. Then, reinstall them. When asked if you want to print from DOS applications:
1. Answer No, and everything will work fine
2. Answer Yes, and Windows 98 takes control of LPT1. It won't let you redirect to LPT1, so change your capture statements to use another port, such as L=3, then set up your printer environment in AREV to use LPT3.
Also, you mentioned ENDCAP. What version of NetWare are you using? If you have also upgraded to a more recent version of Novell, you need to issue CAPTURE /ENDCAP. ENDCAP no longer exists as a separate command. The newer version of CAPTURE also take up much more memory, so you can't use PC EXIT CAPTURE, you's want to use SUSPEND EXIT CAPTURE.
Dan
If you have changed machines, the problem may be with the hardware
setup of the machine.
Try setting CACHE SYSTEM BIOS and CACHE VIDEO BIOS to NO -
sometimes this will solve mysterious problems with AREV,
especially if you're having crashes of INDEXING or large
processing programs. As always, make sure that WRITE BEHIND CACHING
in My Computer is turned off.