Troubleshooting R/3 Printing Problems

General troubleshooting questions:

1. Check whether the user can print emails or a word document to determine wheth
er the problem is related to just R/3 printing. If the user is unable to per
form any printing then the problem possibly lies with the network connection or
actual printer.
2. Once it's determined that R/3 printing is the issue, check that the printer t
he user is trying to print to is set as the default Windows printer. R/3 prints
to whatever printer is set as default.
3. Ask the user if they having trouble printing a purchase order. If they are th
en instruct them to print a simple R/3 report to determine whether the problem i
s isolated to purchase orders. Follow the steps below to print a simple R/3 repo
rt:
a) The user must be logged into R/3.
b) Instruct the user to drill down on the | UCT - General User Menu | Re
porting | Financial Reports | and then double-click the | Budget/Actual Comparis
on | report.
c) Enter a fund number and click the 'Execute' button. A report will dis
play.
d) Click on the print icon and select 'All columns', the 'Print Paramete
rs' window appears.
e) Select the 'Continue' button. It may take a couple seconds for the re
port to print.
Only if the R/3 report printed should the call be transferred to the Purchasing
helpdesk. (It may be that the purchase order has been processed incorrectly).
If not, continue troubleshooting the problem.
4. If the user has the ability to print to a local and network printer, attempt
to print via R/3 to both. For each printer ensure that printer driver is set a
s default within Windows. If printing to one of the printers is successful, try
deleting the other printer driver and re-installing it.
5. If the user requests a print job via R/3 and nothing happens, instruct the us
er to do the following:
a) Check the make and model of the printer. If it's a HP695C DeskJet the
n change the driver to a HP5 DeskJet driver.
b) Check whether the SAPLPD pops up which normally minimizes to the task
bar.
**Note**
If it does not initiate when attempting to print ask the user to close all windo
ws programs. Restart the PC and log back into only R/3, reattempt to print. This
process will free up system resources which allows the SAPLPD to initiate the p
rint job. Below is a screenshot of the SAPLPD minimized, See attachment 1.
**End of Note**
c) If point (b) fails to load the SAPLPD, start it manually by double cl
icking LPD.exe
located:
If the GUI is installed locally:
C:\ProgramFiles\SAP\FrontEnd\SAPgui\SAPlpd.
Otherwise it can be started from M:\sap\sapgui\saplpd\saplpd.exe
d) If the SAPLPD loads but still fails to print, maximize it to track i
ts progress. The text from "Receive job..." and attachment 2 below is an exa
mple of a successful R/3 print attempt: Track the progress from the point "Recei
ve job for printer".
"Receive job for printer %DEFAULT% (Berkeley LPD protocol / RFC1179)
Job 000B3wUz.PRD for user XAPP_STDNT queued.
Start printing job 000B3wUz.PRD on printer HP LASERJET 4050 SERIES PCL 6
Print-job 000B3wUz.PRD, 1 pages finished.
Elapsed time 5.933 sec (0.026 sec. used by windows)"
- See attachment 2.
e) If errors such as the following appear within the SAPLPD:
- "Error: cannot open output file: errno-13 (Permission denied)
- "Error: Printer 'HP LaserJet 2300 Series PCL 6' File 'dfA450uctr3a.a'"
- "Error: Can not write .slp file for job 0U"
- "Error: BG: printfile failed, msg - 808 SAPLPD: Windows Problem, siehe
SAPLPD Protocol"
**Note**
The printer driver needs to be deleted and re-installed. If that fails uninstall
then reinstall the SAP GUI.
**End of Note**
6. If the user is able to print via other applications and R/3 printing is abnor
mal, e.g. Prints a black line along the side, etc.
a) Attempt re-installing the printer driver, should that fail try instal
ling a more generic printer driver,
e.g. If the user is using a HP LaserJet 4L or 4M then try installing the HP Lase
rJet 4 driver.
b) Should that driver fail please try another as this issue is directly
related to the printer driver.
7. If the user requests a job to be printed and no output is produced then assis
t the user in checking their spool request as follows:
a) Log into SAP R/3, select "System" from the top menu
b) Select "Own spool requests".
c) Check whether they have an "Error" in the "Status" Column as in attac
hment
d) If they do then double-click on the error in red.
e) The user will then view a screen as in Attachment 4.
f) Double-click the text: "Incorrect (Reason unknown)" to get the next b
ox as in Attachment 4.
g) If the user's information reads the same as in these two attachments
it's a network related reason for printing not occurring. They need to then repr
int the job or rerun it during working hours if possible.
8. If the user tries to print but receives the following error message: "Virus A
lert: The program has been modified code=2 please inform system administrator."
a) Then replace the 'SAPlpd' folder on the local PC with the 'SAPlpd' fo
lder found at the following location: M:\SAPGUI.620\GUI\WINDOWS\WIN32\sapgui\.
9. If all the above troubleshooting steps fail
a) Ask the user whether they are trying to print to a R/3 printer (eg. F
ND8).
b) Assign the call to the 'SLS' group and add a journal stating whether
the user prints to a R/3 or local printer.
c) Also add to the journal what make and model the printer is.
**End**