printer

[dethangel]

I have a big problem, i am a consultant for a large oil refinery, so we have quite a large network

here is the problem (its really wierd, get ready):

i have 2 users that when they print from a program called trays, it prints wingdings, so i said, ok lets just delete wingdings from her computer (no one uses that crap anyways) so i deleted wingdings (1,2, & 3) from her local hard drive, and it printed fine UNTIL she rebooted, when she rebooted, it added the fonts back (through group policy)

SO i once again deleted the fonts from her PC and then created 3 text files called wingding.ttf, wingdng2.ttf, and wingdng3.ttf, which of course would not be able to be opened as useable font files, so it would go to a default font, which, after rebooting proved to be correct (group policy wont replace existing files, no matter what they contain)

however, once rebooted it defaulted to a font called outlook.ttf, which is also a nonsense font, so, i deleted it, then created another text file called msoutlook.ttf, i havent had her reboot yet to see if it is going to find another crazy font to try

my question is, is there a known fix for this? or am i just going to have to go through every crazy font till i get lucky and find one that works?

btw we use ms office 2000 and windows 2000 service pack 3, and no there is no chance we are going to upgrade to windows XP, but we will be getting MS office 2k3 soon (not sure if that would have anything to do with it though)

 

[digital_darknes]

Hm - good question. Well im not sure on the awnser to your question but that was a good idea you had in replaceing the files with txt files.

 

[Inaris]

What printer are you printing to? Type, model and firmware are helpful, as well as driver revision...

Why do you add font's through policy? and why not have the policy modified to not replace those fonts if they are missing.

Check these keys to see if something might give you an idea...

HKLM/software/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/FontSubstitutes/MS Shell Dlg

HKLM/software/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/FontSubstitutes/MS Shell Dlg 2

Good Luck

 

[Apokalipse]

try downloading a font you like, rename it to the font it is currently using (and replace it), so it thinks it's using the same font

 

[dethangel]

apok, youre a genius, i didnt even think of that, ill just copy arial or times (whichever one she likes) and rename it to wingdings, BTW it is a HP Laserjet 5000 Series PCL 5E, B&W, the firware is what came on the Printer, as we dont upgrade printer firware (it is printer # 66 out of about 200, and there are only 4 of us consultants that work here)

Inaris in answer to your question, it is the MSOffice group policy that applies the fonts, and we cant edit it, because it is in the software build for MSOffice 2k

thanks for the help!

 

[dethangel]

ok that fixed that problem, now i have another one (with a different printer) when the user prints to a HP LaserJet 2200 Series PCL 5e, it prints some letters on top of each other, at first i thought maybe her printer had a problem (because if it did, we would just replace it), so to verify that the printer was the problem, I changed the TCP/IP port on the printer (printer 099) to the TCP/IP port of another 2200 printer (printer 123), and had her print the document, which printed with the same result

SO, I had her print to another type of printer (an HP LJ 5000 Series) and she DIDNT have the problem, do you think it could be drivers? the only reason i dont think it would be is that on an entire document there are only about 6 mistakes

ill post a pic as soon as i can scan the document

 

[dethangel]

ok here is the pic, note the extremely crappy handwriting (mine)

 

[Inaris]

Looks like it is one of two things.
Either there is a driver problem in the traslation from PS to PCL (if you are using a PS driver), or the font that is being used is not translating certain characters to the print driver being used.

Try switching fonts and see what happens.

 

[Forceflow]

if the words that are printed over each other occur in patterns that may mean a mechanical problem. just to check run the printer "cartrage allignment" option in control panel. I run that after installing new ink cartrages, to make sure they are straight.

unlikely but its possible.

 

[dethangel]

it couldnt be a mechanical problem, because it was on 2 different printers and im sorry i was misinformed, when i personally printed it on a HP 5000, it does have the same problem, so i think it may be software, any1 know if there is a known issue with MS office 2k?