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Q216212: How to Configure Printing to PPA Printers Through Jet Direct

Article: Q216212
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): winnt:4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbprint
Last Modified: 07-SEP-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

Printing to Print Performance Architecture (PPA) printers through Jet Direct
boxes is fully supported, as long as the Jet Direct box is properly configured.

MORE INFORMATION
================

There are numerous error messages that can be generated from the an incorrectly
configured Jet Direct box. A couple of common errors for an already defined
printer, where the configuration was reset for a Jet Direct device, would be
either of the following:

  The parameter is incorrect for [Printer name].

  unable to connect

Problems can be as simple as a printout that is not formatted correctly to an
inability to set up a remote port for the Jet Direct printer device. Common
practice in trouble shooting printer problems should include a check on the Jet
Direct's configuration.

Each Jet Direct card will have its own method for verifying and changing the
configuration of the Jet Direct devices. The steps are generally found in the
owner's manual and most vendors now have Web sites where this information and
any updates may be found at. For example Hewlett Packard's Web site has
important information on configuration of its devices.

Properly configured means the following:

- Configure the HP Jet Direct device for Centronics, and verify that the box
  has been power cycled if the configuration was changed from either Bitronics
  or MLC mode.

- For Windows NT 4.0, the the driver must be a unidirectional driver. This is
  generally the case for Windows NT with PPA printers.

Windows NT 4.0 will not support connecting a PPA device directly to the Windows
NT computer. Using third-party OEM drivers that print to an external Jet Direct
box and following the directions above will allow Windows NT to print to a PPA
device.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  Q153958 No Support for Print Performance Architecture under Windows NT

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbprint 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400
Version           : winnt:4.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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