I have seen formatting issues with dot matrix printers & print issues with HP LaserJet printers.

The forms do not align in 8.1 but work in 8.0 on the dot matrix printer.

HP LaserJet printers queues are empty with no print jobs but work OK in 8.0

Print servers see the same results as above as when directly connected via USB.

Something has changed - is there a way to print in a 'legacy format' to bring these back to life.

Any help appreciated.

Check compatibility status of your printer on:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/Home

Contact HP support for more help:

http://support.hp.com/

Thanks for the reply even if it is obvious.

The issue is breaking stuff in 8.1 but it works in 8.0.

This is not supposed to happen in a "update" scenario.

Also I hear you cannot go back to 8.0.

You could contact HP support and discuss this issue with them. Also, take a look at Troubleshooting Hardware Compatibility Issues on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

• Proposed as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, November 05, 2013 10:43 AM
• Marked as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, November 22, 2013 2:41 AM

You could contact HP support and discuss this issue with them. Also, take a look at Troubleshooting Hardware Compatibility Issues on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

• Proposed as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, November 05, 2013 10:43 AM
• Marked as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, November 22, 2013 2:41 AM

Are these devices attached locally or are they on the network?

Are there any failure events in the Print-Service Administrative logs?  If nothing there, enable the Print-Service operational logs and try printing again and see what logging is generated.

I expect event 805 and 307 for successful print events even if the forms are not lining up properly.

What print drivers are in use?  Open a powershell window and get the driver names and send them back

get-printerdriver *|select Name

I am having the same problem, the fonts appear to be stretched, my printer is an LX 300 + II directly connected (I have tried both usb and parallel), I have attached images showing the difference between windows 8 and 8.1 Windows Printer Test Page using default LX 300 driver. I have tried different Epson dot matrix drivers and all the Print Quality Settings. The driver I got the best results with was the Epson ESC/P 9pin V4 Class Driver but with that I am unable to customise paper size. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello,

OKI and Epson have confirmed there are problems with Windows 8.1 and 9-pin matrixprinters such as the OKI ML-1120 and Epson LX-300+.  24-pin matrixprinters don't have any problems.

Because it is a problem with all 9-pin matrixprinters from all manufacturers and brands it is clear that Microsoft is to blame and they will have to fix this.

Best regards,

Werner

Hi Werner.

Microsoft does not create the print drivers for other companies. Each company that makes hardware is responsible for providing and testing the drivers for that company's product line.

Printer driver compatibility is often a problem when changing to a new OS. It can take some companies quite a while to release compatible drivers for a new OS. Sometimes they never do update the drivers.

Keep checking back with the printer manufacturer for updated drivers.

Peace

Ed

• Marked as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, November 22, 2013 2:40 AM

Hi Werner.

Microsoft does not create the print drivers for other companies. Each company that makes hardware is responsible for providing and testing the drivers for that company's product line.

Printer driver compatibility is often a problem when changing to a new OS. It can take some companies quite a while to release compatible drivers for a new OS. Sometimes they never do update the drivers.

Keep checking back with the printer manufacturer for updated drivers.

Peace

Ed

• Marked as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, November 22, 2013 2:40 AM

Having the same problem as nanddc, same model of printer as well.  I use it for work and really need a solution ASAP please.

solution needed ASAP please !!!

The issue here is exposed when devices that support non-square resolutions such as 120x144 or 1200x1800, use the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) to render content to page.

Currently the companies that manufacture these type of devices have made contact with MS through the process their respective companies have with MS support.  The group that needs to address this issue has been alerted.  The support team is engaged with the graphics team due to information that they obtained through their communication channel.

If anyone here has a support contract with Microsoft, reporting the issue through that channel is the process to get traction on this graphics issue.

Having the discussion in this forum will provide additional context for the group that provide support but the forum will not be the primary source for the issue.  

When additional public information becomes available, I will post it here. 

I have just experienced similar problems using an Epson FX-880 dot matrix after upgrading from windows 8.0 to 8.1.   in particular printing quickbooks pro invoices the preview and actual print came out in very condensed mode with apparently no correction.  had been printing through a desktop XP machine connected to same network as windows 8.0/8.1 machine successfully until changed to 8.1

still no 100% solution, but in case it helps anyone, chose printer/driver via windows 8.1 as Epson ESC/P 9pin V4 Class Driver    and now shows OK on preview in quickbooks and prints OK, EXCEPT- prints 2 small lines at top of page ---      284.4 @EJL     which I've seen some stuff elsewhere as a driver mismatch error could cause this.   anyway- not a permanent solution, but by rolling the page down 2 lines I can at least print my quickbooks invoices for now. 

if anyone finds a windows 8.1 compatible driver for Epson FX-880 or a better solution please post here

thanks

• Proposed as answer by Francisco Moreta Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:27 PM
• Unproposed as answer by Francisco Moreta Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:27 PM

I have just experienced similar problems using an Epson FX-880 dot matrix after upgrading from windows 8.0 to 8.1.   in particular printing quickbooks pro invoices the preview and actual print came out in very condensed mode with apparently no correction.  had been printing through a desktop XP machine connected to same network as windows 8.0/8.1 machine successfully until changed to 8.1

still no 100% solution, but in case it helps anyone, chose printer/driver via windows 8.1 as Epson ESC/P 9pin V4 Class Driver    and now shows OK on preview in quickbooks and prints OK, EXCEPT- prints 2 small lines at top of page ---      284.4 @EJL     which I've seen some stuff elsewhere as a driver mismatch error could cause this.   anyway- not a permanent solution, but by rolling the page down 2 lines I can at least print my quickbooks invoices for now. 

if anyone finds a windows 8.1 compatible driver for Epson FX-880 or a better solution please post here

thanks

This is a good temporary solution for the LX-300+II as well!  Just tried it and the printing is much much better.  Still hoping that there will be an official solution for it though.

Ed, I'm afraid I have to completely disagree with you.

I have been in the IT field for about 25 years, and this is definitely Microsoft's problem. I am having the same issue on my daughters laptop. It was an 8.0 laptop with a working printer, she installed the 8.1 upgrade, which is a "point release" and the installed network printer stopped working. Print from an application, and no error messages, no print job. Print a printer test page and you get the message that the print queue is full. There are ZERO jobs in the queue. As a temporary work around I downloaded the 8.1 driver for a different model HP printer on the network that had never been installed on her notebook, fresh install, same problem.

The thing is that this 8.1 "point release" isn't a point release. Rollback is a matter of restoring a previous image, not uninstalling an update.

I would be sympathetic to your position if this were a situation of trying to use an XP Pro printer and driver on Vista or Windows 7. This is more akin to saying that it's HP's fault that their XP Pro driver isn't service pack 3 compliant.

I call it like it is, and Lord knows I've defended Microsoft in the past more than a few times, but they own this foul up.

I will say that had my daughter told me before she did the update, I would have immediately imaged the machine first. Since kids are kids, and by the way she's 18 and very sharp, she trusted Microsoft, so no image to roll back to. Unless I find an answer, I'm looking at restoring to factory and re-installing every bloody application. By the number of posts on this issue I'm seeing in Google searches, she is far from alone.

• Edited by FletcherChristian Tuesday, December 17, 2013 5:20 AM

Ed, I'm afraid I have to completely disagree with you.

I have been in the IT field for about 25 years, and this is definitely Microsoft's problem. I am having the same issue on my daughters laptop. It was an 8.0 laptop with a working printer, she installed the 8.1 upgrade, which is a "point release" and the installed network printer stopped working. Print from an application, and no error messages, no print job. Print a printer test page and you get the message that the print queue is full. There are ZERO jobs in the queue. As a temporary work around I downloaded the 8.1 driver for a different model HP printer on the network that had never been installed on her notebook, fresh install, same problem.

The thing is that this 8.1 "point release" isn't a point release. Rollback is a matter of restoring a previous image, not uninstalling an update.

I would be sympathetic to your position if this were a situation of trying to use an XP Pro printer and driver on Vista or Windows 7. This is more akin to saying that it's HP's fault that their XP Pro driver isn't service pack 3 compliant.

I call it like it is, and Lord knows I've defended Microsoft in the past more than a few times, but they own this foul up.

I will say that had my daughter told me before she did the update, I would have immediately imaged the machine first. Since kids are kids, and by the way she's 18 and very sharp, she trusted Microsoft, so no image to roll back to. Unless I find an answer, I'm looking at restoring to factory and re-installing every bloody application. By the number of posts on this issue I'm seeing in Google searches, she is far from alone.

• Edited by FletcherChristian Tuesday, December 17, 2013 5:20 AM

The graphics rendering fix impacting 9pin devices is in this Win 8.1 Rollup release

Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: January 2014

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2911106

specifically

2914011       (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2914011/            )     Update resolves a Windows Store app issue and a printer issue

in case it helps anyone-

Had been waiting for the January Windows Update but did not come as part of automatic updates?

I did the manual windows update, selecting OK to update KB2911106 per above post and then removed and reinstalled Epson FX880 printer in add devices and printers, selecting FX-880 driver and now print seems to be OK again.  no longer get the 284.4 @EJL on the top of each invoice printing page.

as per my previous post a few above here, we print from a windows 8.1 machine via local network to the Epson FX-880 connected to a Windows XP machine.  so was a 'manual' add as a local port printer, but now the (on the list of drivers) correct FX-880 driver seems to work.   before had to use the Epson ESC/P 9 pin V4 class driver

has anyone successfully connected an older serial cable dot matrix Epson FX-880 directly to a Windows 8 or 8.1 desktop machine?

Estimados,

Yo tena que dar una solucin como sea, he intentado enviar impresiones a travs de Windows 8.0 por la red pero nada, he intentado probar con otros drivers y peor, luego de ver ste foro he logrado configurar la EPSON LX-300+II en Windows 8.1, para lo cual hacemos lo que el compaero anterior ha dicho, agregar la impresora como Epson ESC/P 9pin V4 Class Driver, y luego ir a Propiedades de la Impresora, en la pestaa general pinchar en Preferencias, Opciones Avanzadas, y en calidad de impresin escoger la 240x144dpi.  Se hace lenta la impresin pero se ha resuelto. en tamao de letras y escala que mucho necesitamos.

saludos, Francisco Moreta (Ambato-Ecuador)

Funciona bien este driver para documentos, pero no permite crear o imprimir en otros formularios o tamaos de papel, solo permite 2 tipos de papel (Carta y Legal) nada mas. Por lo que la impresora queda limitada a la impresion de documentos, cualquier otro tipo de formulario o tamao de papel no se puede configurar en ella. Al menos aca se utiliza este tipo de impresoras para imprimir etiquetas autoadhesivas de 12.5 cm x 3.82 cm, o en papel de 3 tantos, los cuales no se pueden configurar.

Saludes, Douglas Marin, Costa Rica.