Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!sbi!zeuswtc!hera!hacker
From: hacker@hera.Sbi.Com (Bill Hacker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: DMA Underrun with NextPrinter
Summary: PROBLEM RESOLVED!
Message-ID: <647@waycool.hera.Sbi.Com>
Date: 4 Jun 91 21:12:08 GMT
References: <622@waycool.hera.Sbi.Com>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Fulcrum - Salomon Brothers, NY
Lines: 39

In article <622@waycool.hera.Sbi.Com>, hacker@hera.Sbi.Com (Bill Hacker) writes:
> 
> When I try to print, I might get a small portion of the page printed,
> a blank page, and then a third page will run halfway through the
> printer before it stops abruptly and a dialog box pops up reporting
> an I/O error on the printer.
> 
> I looked in /usr/adm/messages and found:
> 
>      localhost npd[96]: PrintSpooler couldn't read sequence file 
>               /usr/spool/NeXT/Local_Printer/.seq
>      localhost mach: np0: spurious packet received, cmd = 87
>      localhost mach: np0: DMA Underrun; Reprinting Page
>      localhost npd[96]: NextPrinter write failed: I/O error
> 
> I occasionally will get a correctly printed page, but only rarely.
> 
> 

It turns out there is a known problem with certain NeXTstations driving
certain NeXTprinters causing this problem.  My dealer had to swap cpu boards
in the station to resolve the problem.  I don't have details on the exact
circumstances that cause the problem, but if you have symptoms like the ones
I described above, it's not the printer, it's the cpu board in the NeXTstation.

I'm pleased to report that a NeXT representative saw my problem on the net,
recognized it, and sent me e-mail to help resolve it.  By that time, my
dealer (PCSI, a small dealer in New York City just starting to sell the NeXT)
had talked to NeXT and found out what was going on themselves.  Still, it was
very comforting to get a direct response from NeXT at a frustrating time.

So, now my system is fully functional.


-- 
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Bill Hacker               Fulcrum                 212-747-8360
                          Salomon Brothers Inc    hacker@hera.sbi.com
                          New York, NY