NT Driver, AutoCAD and 3rd Party Driver Option
Try this typical e-mail before you contact us.

If you continue to have dificulties after reviewing the Frequently Asked Questions for Mutoh Plotters (Autocad for Windows NT), please follow this information carefully before contacting the 3rd party driver solution we suggest.

E-Mail for XP500 series for Windows 95, 3.1x NOT for Windows NT, 2000 & 98

We have no Windows 98, NT or 2000 System Printer drivers ( for several reasons ) and at present we have no driver in the 'works'. Autocad is the CAD program of choice for 95% of our customers and the Autocad drivers are working fine. If you do not have Autocad or in general want a Windows System Printer for NT then try the Hewlett Packard drivers that are offered by Microsoft these could be a good bet. You may experience page sizing problems and stocker pen position errors but those are all known possible problems depending on the CAD application you are using.

These drivers are Windows "SYSTEM PRINTERs" and as with any Windows "SYSTEM PRINTER" they must print the 'test page' found under the printers section properties of the driver. We have not confirmed that any Microsoft drivers work perfectly for all applications so check them out and experiment with them to see if they will work.

We have had good reports from customers using a Third Party driver so if you are interested then contact:

Design Automation Inc. Phoenix AZ
602-955-2223
Winline 95
Winline 98
Winline NT  has true type fonts

**** Remember that any Windows System Printer driver must print the Microsoft printer test page before you spend money on another third party Windows System Printer driver.  If your current Windows driver does not print the 'test page' then you may not have a driver problem.  If you should attempt to use any third party driver do so only after the third party driver company confirms that they have heard of your current printing anomlly and that their driver will 'fix' the problem.  Click BACK on our browser and check out the other 'free' help pages before you buy a non-refundable third party driver package.  See the sections about 'errors ...' and 'no errors reported' and 'Other info ...' to confirm proper hardware setup and known print anomallies.  The emulation of the plotter is critical to which HP compatible driver will work so pay attention to these pages that are mentioned in the preceeding sentence. 

If IP-500, IP-530, F-910, F-920 then Windows System Printer driver HP 7585 A or B may work.

If XP-500, 501, 510, 511, RT-500 then Windows System Printer driver HP 7585 A or B should work or maybe HP-7580. These four must be in plotter emulation MHGL HP-758x.

If XP-510, 511, RT-500 then Windows System Printer driver or third party HP drivers for HP Draftmaster SX or RX or MX or Pro could work with the plotter in emulation MHGL MHGL/2.

If Windows System Printer drivers 'test page' does not print but there are errors displayed on the plotter then consult the Microsoft help menus for printers paying particular attention to the serial IRQ of the port you are connected to since the plotter requires a dedicated IRQ that cannot be shared with any other devices ( fax / modem, network card, etc. check them all ).  See other sections below also.

Windows wants to see serial connections 9600, 8,n,1 protocol Xon/Xoff make sure that the plotter and your Windows comport settings agree. XP models use Default 4 in the plotter.  As a side note: (DOS programs used to be set for 9600, 7 data bits, even parity and 1 stop bit but of course Windows wants to see it differently. These parameters are Default 3 in the plotter). If you cannot get around having to use two different sets of parameters then try using different 'users' ( the plotter function that allows for entirely different sets of parameters to be retained in the plotter and then selected by choosing "User" 1,2,3, or 4).

The language of the driver and emulation as well as communication settings are the usual reasons that errors occur.

If those items are correct and errors are still reported from either the computer software or the plotter then recheck all IRQs for sharing (which the plotter cannot share its IRQ) and computer comport connectors to ensure connection to a valid functioning port. Remember that the cable must be a 'null modem' cable. Always buy a 25 to 25 cable and if you need it stepped down to your serial port 9 pin connector then use a standard serial 'mouse' adapter.

If you never get any error messages on the plotter then you must question the connectivity of your plotter to the computer.  These can be one of three possible things.
 

1. The Comport of the computer.  Is it enabled and/or the correct Com1 or Com2?
    
   
2. The cable and/or adapter.  Are you using a 'null modem' cable and a standard serial mouse adapter?
   
   
3. The plotter transmit and receive circuitry.  Has the plotter, computer, or building been hit with a large voltage spike of some kind?   Like maybe lightning or a power surge (a brown out).

• Get to a DOS prompt   C:\>
  
  

• At the C:\>  Type Copy config.sys com1 or com2 and when you press ENTER the plotter should give you an error message. This confirms continuity of the port, cable and receiving chips in the plotter. If you get no error then you must question all three of those items.

  Without the continuity 'error' message then all other attempts at setup will be useless. All suggestions included in this e-mail assume that you have continuity between the plotter and the computer.

You are really pushing the limit if you are trying to get any of the IP-500, 530, F910, 920 plotters to work in Windows NT. Microsoft is making it more and more difficult for these old plotter to keep working. ALWAYS get the plotter working locally first then try to that workstation across the network. If it does not print then consult your Microsoft or other Network resources.

1. "Line stitching" or nervous lines, where the plotter draws a long horizontal line as a series of short dots rather than one long continuous line is almost always due to the pen width settings. Check the pen widths in your software and make them all zero instead of .010 as you should find them to be.
   
   
2. Drawing a border box where the horizontal lines of a border box plot OK but tries to print the wider vertical lines as a series of horizontal short strokes instead of a couple of long vertical lines.  This seems to be associated with way that border lines fill ( polyline fills ) Autodesk does report this problem and   they have no fix for this problem except to say don't make the border that way.   Maybe try a series of single line with boxes, each one slightly smaller than the previous.   Otherwise consult Autodesk.
   
   
3. Some drivers misuse the page sizes so there could be problems with both orientation and paper sizes.  Just work with it until you get the hang of it.  You may have to tell the driver 'portrait' even if you are looking at your image and it is obviously in 'landscape'.  Some practice may be required to master this.
   
   
4. Stocker position errors.  This problem is only a nusiance but you would tell stocker position 1 to be a red pen and the plotter would go to position 4 instead.  Simply make a chart to show where you need to put the pencils or colors to have them print properly.  This is unfortunately due to the shift in drivers to the inkjet style of printers.