[Techtalk] OT but I'm desperate.... Windows....!

[Poppy]

On Sat, 2002-10-19 at 18:47, Michelle Howson wrote:

> >IOW, it sounds, oddly, like your printer is read only. Or something like
> >that. Can you print to file with the same driver and/or set up a dummy
> >printer (port=FILE)??  Just thoughts.... Hope this helps :)
> 
> Dummy printer?  guh?  Sorry this has gone almost completely over my 
> head.  Yet it does sound like something I should try.  Can you give me a 
> leettle more...?

Sure :)
Go into your printers screen, and set up a new printer (as basic as
possible... the one I use for troubleshooting at work is the HP LaserJet
III, but the LJ 4 should be comparable as long as it's a 4 and not like
a 4L or something extra)

When it asks what port your printer is on, instead of saying LPT1
(default), pick FILE from the list. Don't bother printing a test page.
Voila, you now have a "dummy printer" that prints just to a file on your
harddrive, which you can go in and delete later. Because it's a
different print driver, it may actually give you some idea of whether
it's all printers or just yours. =)


> >(reference: http://www.osr.com/ntinsider/1997/bsod/bsod.htm)
> 
> I had a different BSOD last night, unrelated to printing.  I'm pretty sure 
> it's because of the doctored version of Kazaa I'm using, as it threw up an 
> error just before the crash.  That time it was IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.  I 
> went and tried to read about it at that website, but again, it mostly went 
> over my head. If anyone can translate it into medium-techie I'd appreciate 
> it.  Can be offlist if you'd prefer.

Sure :) I can translate. Just in case you're not familiar with how IRQs
work, I'll start from the beginning :)

Every device on your system ultimately is connected to a chip which
monitors them so the CPU doesn't have to spare processing time to
monitor the various cards/connections. Everything is assigned a
particular port on this chip, known as the IRQ number. (Trivia: IRQ
Stands for Interrupt ReQuest)   When the chip detects either data or a
question coming in from one of the devices, it taps the CPU on the
shoulder and lets it know that there's a message coming in. Based on the
IRQ number, the system can look up how to communicate with that device.

The IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD message essentially means that the
Interrupt chip tried to pass a message to the CPU from Device X using an
interrupt that's supposed to be device Y. Since it caused a BSOD rather
than a recoverable error message, it sounds like it's more serious than
your average device incompatibility.

IRQ conflicts you should be able to check out in device manager. If you
need a list of default IRQs in most Windows systems, let me know, I'm
pretty sure I have one around here somewhere.

At least, I think I've got that right. It's 2 AM here, and I just got
in, so I'm quite possibly misinterpreting what I'm reading.

--Poppy


-- 
Poppy,				  sylph at cyber-dyne.com
Friend of the Penguin
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