[cups.general] very strange dot-matrix printer problem: randomly wrong print result (ghostscript-esc p2)

[张韡武]

This problem is really wired, I have been trying to figure it out for
two weeks. The dot-matrix printer I have (Epson LQ-300K) behave very
strangely:

1) both LQ-24 driver and LQ-570+ driver (in SuSE 10.1. Actually they are
all using 'epson' driver in ghostscript) work correctly once they
installed. All resolutions supported by printer works (except 360x180
which I didn't test because I never need to use this resolution). The
result is correct for all of PDF file, OpenOffice docs, images and plain
text documents.

2) if I print Novel test page right after installed it in cups, 
     1. the novel test page only print the upper 1/5 section
     2. then eject paper, asking for another piece of paper
     3. print some junk text on it (one or two lines, sometimes only a
        few character), go to step 2 (eject paper...), and loop forever
        (ask paper forever, print a few characters or a few lines for
        each paper)
The novel test page when printed wrongly is scanned below (only half
page scanned, the lower half is emtpy)
gopher://sdf.lonestar.org/I/users/weiwu/incorrect_aphabetic_300dpi-scanned_180dp-printed.png

3) sometimes, novel test page can be printed correctly:
gopher://sdf.lonestar.org/I/users/weiwu/correct_novell_test.png
However no matter what resolution I select, novel test page seems always
come out (wrongly or correctly) in 60x60 dpi;

4) Once novel test page are printed wrongly, the printer can never print
correct page unless reinstall the printer. Usually the wrong pages have
several lines of text arranged wrongly, some text gets lifted to the
left or right side for several centimeters, sometimes it wrap around in
small area. This is very bad for me because my job is to print
datasheets, keeping all data aligned is very important.
Typical example of wrong page:
gopher://sdf.lonestar.org/I/users/weiwu/incorrect_aphabetic_300dpi-scanned_180dp-printed.png

5) Sometimes, a wrong page is printed even if I don't print novel test
page, but some normal document. Once printer ever produced a wrong page,
it will never get any following page / jobs correct, even if I change
the driver (e.g. from LQ-24 to LQ-570+), stop/start printer, plug-unplug
cable, restart computer. The only known way to restore to normal status
is to follow this procedure:
     1. remove the printer from cups, 
     2. shutdown computer, shutdown the printer
     3. unplug and plug back the printer
     4. start printer, start coputer, 
     5. add printer to cups.

6) for openoffice spreadsheet and simple text document (e.g. from
gedit), usually several lines in a page are printed wrongly, (3 lines to
30 lines), however if excel file, or webpage is being printed, usually
most everything are wrong (text shifted and lifted, junk characters and
dots etc).

7) when printer start to produce wrong pages, immediately unplug it and
plug it to a Windows computer, print result is correct. Then share this
printer on Windows, on SuSE change printer port to smbshare of Windows,
print from SuSE to the printer connected on Windows, the result is still
wrong, exactly like if it's connected to local port;

8) 1-7 happens no matter what font is selected on printer panel, no
matter what print resolution it is (tried 180x180 120x60 60x60)

9) in ghostscript it didn't say Epson LQ-300 is a supported model, omni
ghostscript said clearly on website that Epson LQ-300 is among supported
model, however if I use OMNI driver, the print result is far from
correct (much much worse then ghostscript). Meanwhile, Epson didn't
release Windows driver (or at least not on Epson website) for LQ-300
model, many Windows users simply use driver for other models and said it
works just fine (I asked my friends).

What really make me feel strange is that it seems the printer driver
could "remember" when it enter "print wrong page mode", e.g. it can
produce 100 pages correctly, once it produced a single wrong page, it
will always produce wrong page, even if we ask it to print the pages it
had printed correctly.

I hope I have done my homework (I spent two weeks hook on this printer),
now can some expert let me know how to fix it or how to go on? At least
there might be a way to restore to 'normal mode' from 'wrong mode' once
printer produced a wrong page, without re-installing the printer.

If asked in wrong list, please tell me which list to post to.

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