LC III Printing Issues with StyleWriter II

[LesCharles73]

Hey everyone,

I just received a StyleWriter II from eBay and I'm having issues getting it to print. I have connected it to my LC using the serial cable and set AppleTalk to 'Inactive'. The StyleWriter II software was already on the machine but it was in the Extensions folder. I tried it there and got issues, so I moved it to the desktop and ...still the same issues.

Here's what it's doing:

When I go to print a Word document it initializes the printer, and everything seems to be running smoothly. The printer comes to life and sounds like it means business, but then the Mac starts Imaging the page. All is well until it hits 33% and everything grinds to a halt. I try to cancel the print job with no response from the Mac. Seemingly the only thing to do at that point is turn off the printer, wait for the on screen error message, and exit out that way.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit:

I tried printing a test page by turning the printer on and continuing to hold down the power (or "online") button. Nothing actually happened after it finished booting up (or at least I think it finished booting up. You hear the rollers move back and forth some, and they eventually stop). Could this whole thing be an issue with the printer, or was I just not doing the correct procedure for printing a test page?

 

[MacTech68]

Self Test should be initiated by holding down the power button only until it feeds a sheet of paper.

As for the printing crash, there could be many causes.

Have a look in your System Folder for a "Printmonitor Documents" folder and empty it's contents into the trash (if any).

Also, I would advise against having GX Printing drivers installed.

You could try going into the Chooser from the Apple Menu, re-select the printer and turn "Background Printing" Off, as a troubleshooting step.

Also note that if your clock battery (PRAM Battery) is flat, AppleTalk will default to the printer port every time you turn on the computer. A work-around is to use the modem port as it works fine and won't default to AppleTalk ON, on the Modem port.

It's also possible that your System Folder is incomplete. You should check for the presence of "Print Monitor" as an application inside the Extensions folder.

Try printing from SimpleText or TeachText instead of MSWord.

Note you can use the Stylewriter 1200 chooser driver to run a Stylewriter II (if it's installed).

Always reboot after making any of the above changes before testing.

 

[LesCharles73]

Thanks for the reply! I didn't know that about the PRAM battery. I removed mine due to its age, so I will make sure to only use the modem port - or be prepared to continually disable AppleTalk.

I am still leaning toward a printer hardware issue.

Self Test should be initiated by holding down the power button only until it feeds a sheet of paper.

That's kind of where I'm getting hung up. It never actually feeds a sheet of paper. If I let go too early, it'll finish its start-up cycle and sit and wait. If I keep holding the button, it'll finish its start-up cycle and sit and wait. If I press the power button for any length of time while on, it'll turn off. Now, when powering on, the carriage moves side-to-side a few times, and the rollers move forward and back, but this doesn't change whether I attempt to test print or not. It seems like the printer is ignoring the command since it doesn't even try.

I should say that I actually did get it to pass a sheet through once, but it didn't try to print anything. And I guess that was an anomaly because I wasn't able to get it to do it again. It'll probably be a "new" printer for me, sadly.

 

[MacTech68]

The printer may have a bad Cartridge - do you have a spare?

 

[LesCharles73]

Just thought I'd give a little update. I ended up just buying a second StyleWriter II off eBay (luckily they only go for about $15 each) and this one works perfectly.

Thanks for the help!

 

[MacTech68]

Well, that's an effective repair.