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Printing via "Standard TCP/IP Port"


modicr

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Try this ...
Thanks supem, this is a major find. The HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98 works great on my HP Color LaserJet 2605dn under Win98SE. The network printing software for the 2605dn (dn=duplex+networking) on the HP driver CD is not for Win98SE, only for WinXP. For Win98SE Hewlett Packard had provided only printer drivers for a USB cable connection of the HP2605dn, which I could only get to work Ok after extreme fiddling.

Up to now, in order to have a Network Printer, I had the HP2605dn connected to my eMule computer, which is continuously running, and had it set as shared in a peer-to-peer network and then set up Network Printer icons in the Printers folder of the printer clients with the Add Printer Wizard.

Now, with the HP Standard Port Monitor, I can print to the HP2605dn connected via an Ethernet cable to the router, after assigning an IP to the HP2605 (via the front panel of the printer). Printing to an IP under Win98 works fine: duplex (=automatic 2-sided printing) works fine, color and B&W work fine.

One question: What are the benefits/disadvantages of printing to a printer connected to the router vs. to a printer connected to a print server computer? Up to now having the printer attached to a print server computer has worked fine for me, but now there are 2 choices :rolleyes:

Another question: I am trying to enable printing from a DOS window under Win98 with the HP Standard Port Monitor by clicking on Capture Printer Port in the Details tab of Printer Properties. What exact UNC Path should I enter into the field Path? I always get the msg: Cannot access + entered UNC Path.

I have set the IP of the HP2605 to 192.168.1.100. Network Neighborhood displays the HP2605 printer as NPI191D57 (displaying a computer icon for the NPI191D57, not a printer icon). My router, a Netgear WNR854T, in its router-control html page, under Attached Devices, does not list the HP2605 printer, only the other computers in the peer-to-peer network, but the printer can print ok under Windows. I have tried many combinations, like \\NPI191D57\192.168.1.100 or \\192.168.1.1\NPI191D57 (192.168.1.1 is the IP of the router), but they just gave me the above error msg. The question is: what is the print server name, and what is the share name of the printer. The HP2605 has still the defaults: Host Name=NPI191D57, Domain Name=blank, WINS=0.0.0.0 (nothing entered). HP Standard Port Monitor hat added the port "IP_192.168.1.100 (HP Standard TCP/IP Port)". When I double-click on NetHood, then double-click again on NPI191D57, an empty window "NPI191D57" comes up, no printer icon with a share name. When I enter in a DOS window: net view \\NPI191D57, the reply is:

Shared resources at \\NPI191D57

There are no entries in the list

BTW, the HP2605 came up in Network Neighborhood, under the name NPI191D57 and as a computer icon, about 10 minutes after I changed in the router setting:

- RIP (Router Information Protocol) Direction from None to Both

- RIP Version from Disabled to RIP_1

Maybe the appearance of the computer icon in NetHood was enabled by the above 2 changes. When I printed to the HP Standard Port Monitor under Windows before, I had not noticed this icon.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem, so that I can get the HP Standard Port Monitor to print from a DOS window?

Edited by Multibooter
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PrintFil can capture IP port
Thanks Roman. My main concern is not DOS printing, but that I may have entered a wrong network setting into the printer or the router, and that this wrong setting may raise its head somewhere down the line.

I am able to print under Win98SE, with the printer driver extracted from the HP CD, from a DOS window to a local (=physically attached) printer and to a remote Network printer attached via USB cable to a peer-to-peer print server computer. But I cannot print from a DOS window, by means of the HP Standard Port Monitor, to a network printer attached to the router. I assume I did not properly enter the network settings for the HP2605 printer or for the router, and it might just take a few tweaks to get it right, but I am at the end of my know-how.

Eventually I will look at a Win98 version of "Install HP Network Printer Wizard', maybe it's the successor version to HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98 and just requires the entering of the printer IP for IP based printing?

Edited by Multibooter
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... and it might just take a few tweaks to get it right...
The problem is solved, it just took a little trick :rolleyes: I can now print under Win98SE from a DOS window to my HP Color Laserjet 2605dn connected to the router (i.e. IP based printing via HP Standard TCP/IP Port). From a DOS window it works even better than when the printer is connected to the USB port of the computer (The HP2605 printer doesn't have a parallel LPT connector, only USB and Ethernet).

The Capture Printer Port button in the Details tab of Printer Properties does NOT work with the port type "HP Standard TCP/IP Port" because there just exists no standard UNC path to the HP2605 printer connected to the router, nothing which could possibly be entered into the field "Path" in the window Capture Printer Port. I was looking for something that didn't exist :wacko:

And here is the trick which allows to print from a Win98 DOS window under port type "HP Standard TCP/IP Port": When you create the "HP Standard TCP/IP Port", instead of using the port name suggested by the "Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard" (e.g. "IP_192.168.1.100") use LPT2, LPT3 or LPT4 (LPT5-9 don't work in a DOS window under Win98SE). That port (e.g. LPT2) is then the port name for printing, under both Windows and a DOS window, when the HP2605 printer is connected to the router via Ethernet cable.

Using this trick, printing from a DOS window is better with a laser printer connected to a router (via Ethernet cable) than with a laser printer connected to the computer (via USB):

- printing from a DOS window starts immediately

- the last page of a DOS printout (e.g. DIR>LPT2) prints immediately, it is NOT stuck anymore for a minute or more in the printer buffer; instead it gets printed immediately

- there is no need to Capture Printer Port to enable DOS printing, which may be cumbersome since an entered Capture Printer Port setting is in effect only until Windows shutdown, unless you select in the "Capture Printer Port" window "Reconnect at logon", which may have its own issues.

- in short: when printing from a DOS window, the laser printer has become as responsive as an old dot matrix printer connected to LPT1 :rolleyes:

Maybe this trick also works for the automatically created port names USB001 and USB002 (Virtual printer ports for USB), by renaming their occurences in the registry. Maybe this could bring about more responsive printing from a DOS window, when the laser printer is connected to the computer via USB cable ... :unsure:

Edited by Multibooter
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Also for non-HP printers under Win98?

The Readme, accessed via Start -> Programs, states as system requirement: "HP Jetdirect print servers with a firmware revision of x.03.16 or greater". But the HP Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor may possibly also work with printers with an Ethernet connector from other manufacturers since \System\Hptcpmon.ini lists the following manufacturers: Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, IBM, Intel, Canon, Emulex and Xerox.

Decision: Which version of INPW to use under Win98?

The "HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98" which supem found is actually a predecessor of the "HP Install Network Printer Wizard" ("INPW"), which adds the port "HP Standard TCP/IP Port" plus creates a printer icon in the Printers folder.

I have tested various versions of INPW and have decided to use v4.0 under Windows 98SE instead of the much older "HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98" [=v2.10]. I chose v4.0 over v3.04 because the installed \USWin98\System\Hptcpmon.dll ("Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor DLL") is v2.50.00.006 of 15-May-2004, more recent than the one installed by INPW v3.04 (v2.40.00.17 of 31-Jan-2003)

Experience with various versions:

v7.1.04: is for WinXP. The Installer makes an opsys check and stops to install when it detects Win98

v5.0: rejected since I could not get it to work under Win98, even if HP stated Win98 as system requirement. Whenever I right-click on the printer icon created by INPW in the Printers folder (and also at the end of the installation) this err msg comes up: "SPOOL32 caused an invalid page fault in module HPTCPMON.DLL [=Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor DLL]", and the system is frozen afterwards. BTW, this is a typical symptom of last versions of software for Win98: they are full of never fixed bugs.

*v4.00: the version I decided to use, works fine

v3.06: not test-installed

v3.04: rejected: works fine, no system crashes, but older dlls

v2.10: is the "HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98": rejected, works fine, but older dlls

NOTE: Before installing/uninstalling a version, ALWAYS delete leftover junk in C:\Temp AND uninstall a previous version

Download locations of various versions:

v7.1.04: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software10/C...1/inpw_enww.exe

v5.00: http://h50177.www5.hp.com/local_drivers/27584/hpjsi_en_5.exe

v4.00: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/eng/helppoint/ict/...es/hpjsi_en.exe also available at driverguide.com, but with paid membership

another download location, different file name, but otherwise identical: http://it.cas.psu.edu/Training/HowTo/util/hpjsi_en_v4.exe

v3.06: http://members.driverguide.com/driver/deta...driverid=191177 (free membership required)

v3.04: http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~liu/hpjsi_en.exe

v2.10: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/networking/software/hpspm98.exe (="HP Standard Port Monitor for Windows 95/98")

What are the benefits/disadvantages of printing to a printer connected to the router vs. to a printer connected to a print server computer?
Up to now I have identified 2 advantages of connecting the printer to the router (i.e. IP based printing via HP Standard TCP/IP Port) for a home network:

- very responsive printing from a Win98 DOS window

- easy control of printer status, printer configuration and toner status via the browser (e.g. Opera or Firefox) by just entering the IP of the printer into the URL field. When the printer is connected via USB cable to the computer this is not possible; you have to push a whole bunch of buttons on the front panel instead.

Edited by Multibooter
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Testing completed: IP based printing under Win98 with HP Install Network Printer Wizard v4.0 works fine when printing web pages from Opera v9.60, also when using FinePrint v5.85, which has its own printer icon in the Printers folder. The FinePrint icon just passes any output to it on to another printer icon which has an HP Standard TCP/IP port assigned. Green light for the HP Standard TCP/IP port type installed by v4.0 :thumbup

Edited by Multibooter
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  • 5 years later...
  • 11 months later...

The other day I have purchased a print server  (IC104 by SEH here from Germany) and it works perfectly !!

And with the 'net use' command I assigned LPTs for some old apps to print. So far so good.

But after a reboot these connections are lost. I googled a little bit and found the persistent switch but this seem

to not work on 98SE. So I put a little batch file in autostart that creates these ports during each boot.

But I was wondering if there is not a way to make it persistent under 98SE ?

Maybe with a file from WinME ? Net.exe ? Has anyone ever tested this ?

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[...] And here is the trick which allows to print from a Win98 DOS window under port type "HP Standard TCP/IP Port": When you create the "HP Standard TCP/IP Port", instead of using the port name suggested by the "Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard" (e.g. "IP_192.168.1.100") use LPT2, LPT3 or LPT4 (LPT5-9 don't work in a DOS window under Win98SE). That port (e.g. LPT2) is then the port name for printing, under both Windows and a DOS window, when the HP2605 printer is connected to the router via Ethernet cable.

Using this trick, printing from a DOS window is better with a laser printer connected to a router (via Ethernet cable) than with a laser printer connected to the computer (via USB):

- printing from a DOS window starts immediately

- the last page of a DOS printout (e.g. DIR>LPT2) prints immediately, it is NOT stuck anymore for a minute or more in the printer buffer; instead it gets printed immediately

- there is no need to Capture Printer Port to enable DOS printing, which may be cumbersome since an entered Capture Printer Port setting is in effect only until Windows shutdown, unless you select in the "Capture Printer Port" window "Reconnect at logon", which may have its own issues.

- in short: when printing from a DOS window, the laser printer has become as responsive as an old dot matrix printer connected to LPT1 :rolleyes:

[...]

Have you tried the above? I have a Lexmark E352dn connected through a switch to my home LAN, named it LPT4, assigned it a fixed IP (this is important since the DHCP server would assign random IPs on reboot and 9x machines don't like that), installed the required drivers and it works perfectly.

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Hi Drugwash, I have not tried the HP solution yet because I would like to find a way within Windows first. In my registry there is a section 'network -> persistent' with an entry for LPT1 !!

Do you know if I can just enter there the networkpath to the printer ? Not that I corrupt anything ...

(Net.exe from ME does not support persistent as well. Net.exe from XP does not run on 98SE)

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Honestly I don't know - I'm not familiar (anymore) with DOS utilities and commands.

 

The HP package adds the ability to create TCP/IP ports, which Windows 9x natively lack in. The trick of using a printer name such as LPT1 - LPT4 allows a more straightforward way of connecting to the network printer, as the LPT* naming convention is reserved and prioritised.

 

However, if the motherboard has a parallel port built in and is enabled in BIOS, that name cannot be assigned to a network port. Also, other applications may have created similarly-named ports, so you'll have to check and see which name is available within the 1-4 range (since 5-9 don't work - in DOS windows - according to Multibooter's quote above).

 

If you want to pursue the 'net' solution you may try to duplicate the registry entry using LPT2-LPT4 for printer name/path, since LPT1 may be hardcoded for the built-in parallel port. Alternatively disable the parallel port in the BIOS and use that entry for the network printer. Just make sure you backup the registry before modifying anything.

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I tried to install the HP tool (4.0) but it failed with a message I have not seen so far.

 

"Installation Support File C:\windows\temp\{ ... }\isrt.dll could not be installed. Access is denied."

 

ISRT.DLL is a XP file, right ?

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