Correcting Severe Output
Problems
In a severe output problem, your printer or fax machine printed something, but the result is illegible. The wrong character set may have been used (for example, Dingbats was printed instead of alphanumeric characters). Line breaks, page breaks, or the text layout may be incorrect. Uninterpreted printer command language statements may have been printed. Or the printer may produce blank paper.
If a severe problem occurs, check for the following settings:
· Was the correct device type specified in the output device definition?
To do this, call transaction SPAD, or choose Tools ® CCMS ® Spool ® Spool Administration. Enter the name of the output device in the Output Device field on the Devices /servers tab and choose enter. On the next screen, choose Goto ® Device Type.
The printer name definition for a Kyocera printer specifies device type HPLJIIID for a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer.
· Does the emulation specified at the printer match the emulation specified in the device definition?
Many printers support several emulations. That is, the printers are able to understand multiple printer languages. The printer can be switched between emulations either by an incoming print job or by way of the printer control panel. For example: A correctly-configured Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4M printer can be switched between PostScript and PCL-5 emulations.
Do the following:
1. Check the emulation at the printer as well as in the SAP System. You may be able to use the printer control panel to determine the emulation that is active at the printer. Or you may need to print a test sheet to see what the emulation setting is.
2. Once you have determined which emulation is active at the printer, check whether the emulation in the defined device type is the same.
Choose Tools ® CCMS ® Spool ® Spool Administration. Enter the name of the output device in the Output Device field on the Devices /servers tab and choose enter. On the next screen, choose Goto ® Device Type.
3. If the emulations do not match, try to determine why. Is the default emulation at the printer set incorrectly? Can the printer default be changed without causing problems for other output requests? Did output requests from other users change the emulation at the printer?
If the printer default cannot be changed, can you change the SAP output device definition to match the printer default?
You can specify that the SAP System sets the printer to the correct emulation at the start of each output request. To do this, copy the SAP device type. Then, in the INIT (printer initialization) action, enter the required print command to switch the emulation. Look in your printer manual for the command to enter. The SAP System automatically restores the default emulation at the end of a print request.
For more information, see Editing Device Formats.
You specify that your Hewlett-Packard printer starts in PCL-4 emulation mode (Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer command language). However, the printer definition in the SAP System specifies the device type POSTSCPT for the printer. That means that the SAP System is sending PostScript code to a printer that is expecting commands in the PCL-4 language.
You can solve the problem in any of the following ways:
· Change the default emulation setting at the printer so that it starts in the correct emulation mode.
· Specify a compatible device type in the SAP device definition.
· Edit the SAP device type format so that the printer automatically switches to the correct emulation at the start of an SAP print request.
· Is the correct character set specified in the WIN.INI file (WinCharSet parameter) for the Windows printer with device type SWIN (SAPWIN)?
Using the WinCharSet parameter, you can specify the character set and font to be used with SWIN (device type) printers. Generally, the WinCharSet parameter should not be included in the WIN.INI file or, if included, it should be set to 0.
If all SWIN output requests are printed using the wrong character set (Dingbats, for example), check the WIN.INI file. If the parameter WinCharSet is included, remove it from the file.
For more information, see Setting the Character Set for SWIN and SAPLPD.
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