Topic: Chord grids won't print

Hi,
I cannot get the chord grids to show on my song printouts, even though they appear on the Print Preview.
I use IE7 with XP SP2 (kept updated), and have a HP PSC 1215 all-in-one printer.

I thought at first it was because I didn't have "Print background colors and images" checked in Internet Options/Advanced, but I still have the problem.

An on-line check of my printer driver from the HP website reported no problems - it is the latest version and seems OK.
I have also run various PC/registry-cleaning software packages, but to no avail - I still can't get the chord grids to print.

I know other people have had this problem. If anyone knows how to fix it, I would be very grateful.

Thanks,
Tom

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi Tom,

I too have a HP printer and I am unable to print the chord grids using the HP software.

In the Control Panel, Printers and Faxes have added another printer (the same one of course with a different name) but I used XP's built in software for it. I found that with the XP's software it will not only print the chord grids and it prints faster too.

Whether this will work for you I do not know, but it is worth a try.

Roger

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi Roger,
Thanks for the reply. Could you spell out exactly what you did, and which XP driver you used? 

Thanks,
Tom

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi Roger,
Please ignore my previous post. I tried the HP-recommended alternative driver for my printer (the Deskjet 3420), which I had to download as it wasn't in XP's list of drivers(!), ...but that didn't print the chord grids either! And other XP drivers I tried didn't even start the printer.

So it looks like I am going to have to live without the niceity of chord diagrams on my song prints. Ah well!

Cheers,
Tom

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi Tom,

Sorry I did not get round to replying before but I will tell you the method I used as I did not have to download seperate drivers. (Also I did have to set up another one myself as I had forgotten how I had done it smile).

1/ Go into Control Panel and change the name of your printer to something like Original Printer (you will change it back later}.

2/ Click Add Printer.

3/ On Local or Network Printers, untick Automatically Detect Plug and Play Printer, click next.

4/ Select the port your printer is conected to (normally LPT1 but in my case it is USB0001), clicl next.

5/ Select the Make and Model of your printer and click next

You should now have a second printer showing in your control panel. you can now change its name to Chordie Print and give your Original Printer back its proper name.

Although I only have one printer I have set up three printers in my control panel, my original printer (with HP software), a Photo Print one (with HP software but configuered for photo printing), and my Chordie Print one (with the built in XP software). I then only have to select the printer for the job it is to do without having to change the settings.

Roger

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Re: Chord grids won't print

Thanks for that, Roger, it's pretty much what I ended up doing.

The only thing I would quibble with is your #5 - surely you should select the make and model of the *alternative* printer driver you want to use?  Or you could right-click an existing (spare) printer in the "Printers_and_Faxes" window and select Properties/Advanced tab/New_Driver...  This brings up the "Add_Printer_Driver_Wizard" to allow you to change the driver by selecting one of XP's built-in ones - or you could click "Have Disk.." and browse for the location of a downloaded driver.

Anyhow, like I say, I didn't have any joy ultimately with my attempts.  Out of interest, which driver did you use to print the chord grids?

Tom

Re: Chord grids won't print

Tom - why don't you try downloading FireFox and giving it a shot? It's a free, easy download, faster and safer than IE. Plus there are great add-ons available (also free) like ad block plus that work great. I use FF and have never had a problem with printing chord grids.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Rule No. 1 - If it sounds good - it is good!

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi Tom,

Topdowns suggestion may work for you.

As for my suggestion you must select the actual Make and Model that you have to get the correct drivers that are already built into Windows XP and don't select have disk let Windows look for it's own, but on saying that it looks like it may not work for you. And I doubt if the driver for my HP 990c would work for your 1215.

Roger

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Re: Chord grids won't print

Hi topdown,
Well I'll be...!!!  Firefox prints the chord grids perfectly to my normal printer (no change of driver needed)!!

So it's "Goodbye IE7", and "Hello Firefox"!!!

Thanks so much,
Tom

Re: Chord grids won't print

Glad you got sorted, a pat on the back for Topdown.

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Re: Chord grids won't print

No sweat guys - glad it worked. I'm a big fan of FireFox, and not so much a fan of the evil empire Microsoft.

Rule No. 1 - If it sounds good - it is good!