Re: Cannot Correctly Preview Fax in Fax Console

Perhaps most of the time the problem is "end user error" but not this time.

There are two related problems -
1. The preview of a fax is not correct - only the first page or two are
correct; the other pages are missing or show up as unrelated images.
2. After I send the fax, the copy in the sent folder is also not correct -
only the first page or two are correct - just as with preview.

Just today I was also able to contact the company I faxed when I ran into
this problem. I expected that they would have received a corrupt fax but
they did not. The fax they received (a coverpage and 3 document pages) was
fine, even though I could not correctly view the fax in my sent folder.

At this point, I am confident that this is not "user error". I am also
confident that it is not a problem with faxing from Acrobat Reader since the
fax was sent and received correctly. (As I have done with earlier versions
of Acrobat Reader.)

The issue appears to be with the fax console/printer. Perhaps one of the
fx*.dll files is corrupted. The issue is not affected by the application
that calls the fax printer - 3 separate apps all have the same preview
problem (with both .doc and .pdf files).

You apparently haven't run across any problem like this and are trying to
treat it as a run of the mill problem. Frankly, I am amazed that you can say
"I'm not sure I'm seeing anything here that isn't expected behavior" when it
is clearly bizarre behavior.

Since it doesn't fit into anything you've seen, maybe the problem is a
corrupted file on my system. I was trying to pin it down and provided a
great deal of specifics in my previous posts and my post to Hal (above).
I'll probably compare my fx*.dll files with those of a friend's machine that
is also running Xp and see if the problem is there. Those seem to be the fax
console/printer .dll files.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Acrobat _Reader's_ rendering capabilities have varied with each version and
have not always been robust enough to permit printing to the fax printer
unless a separate printto verb is defined. Word's rendering capabilities
have always been sufficient and still are.
It's been rather hard to wade through your post, but as I understand it your
problem is not with rendering or sending the fax, right? Your only problem
is in previewing the fax, right? Most of the time that is a problem with end
user error, i.e., not using the correct arrows in Picture viewer to advance
to the next page correctly. I'm not sure I'm seeing anything here that isn't
expected behavior.
No version of Outlook has fax capability, and that hasn't changed in Outlook
2007.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"BoulderMan" <BoulderMan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:95304357-94C2-421C-AC3F-927ACF123B59@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't know how you can say that since I've routinely faxed from Acrobat
Reader as I recall, although I did update it within the last year. Also
you
can see Reader generating 3 pages before calling up the fax console.

As I stated I also could not print to the fax from Word 2007 which I would
assume should work since I routinely used Word 97 for faxing using the fax
accessory.

One reason I am suspicious of the Office 2007 installation is that I've
found Office to change file associations and default system settings
without
warning - for example Office 2007 installation prevented me from using
Access
97 that was installed in another directory (Office 97), although my Word
97
and Excel 97 were still available. (Access seemed to be removed, not
merely
no longer linked to the shortcut). Office 2007 also changed my default
email
program without asking. Finally, even the Student Teacher trial edition
of
Office 2003 on my machine when I bought it would often override the file
associations of my Office 97 Professional Word and Excel without asking
when
Word 2003 would open .doc even though Word 97 was set as the associated
app.

Are you going to maintain that Word 2007 also doesn't have rendering
abilities?

Does Outlook 2007 (which I've never used but which became the default
email
client) have faxing abilities? If so maybe it could be used as a work
around.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

I knew there was more to this story. Printing to the fax printer requires
that the originating application have the necessary rendering
capabilities.
Adobe Reader does not.
If you now send a fax using a supported method, what is your problem?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"BoulderMan" <BoulderMan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2BE66277-6757-474E-A07A-678AA2BFBFFD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have used the fax printer Windows accessory many times. In this
instance,
I first tried printing from Adobe Reader while viewing a 3-page .pdf
file.
I
go to print and select fax as the printer. The Fax console comes up.
I
selected an addressee from the address book, I then selected a cover
page
and
filled it in. I choose to send the fax now, normal delivery. On the
page
where I can actually send the fax, I chose the "Preview Fax" button to
look
at the fax before sending.

To my surprise, a message popped up saying cannot view the fax. This
never
happened before, over the many years I've used the fax printer.

I chose to send the fax anyway since I figured it was ok. It seemed to
be
sent fine - 4 pages were sent which would be correct: a cover *** and
3
document pages. I then tried to view the fax in the sent folder and
got
the
message indicating no application for opening .tif files. At this
point I
went into Windows Explorer, set up the association of .tif files with
Windows
Picture and Fax viewer. I then was able to view the fax. The first
page
was
just fine, i don't recall if the second was fine or not, but the
remaining
pages came up as bit map files unassociated with the document. I then
located those bit maps in the same TEMP directory I mentioned earlier.
That
temp directory also included the correct first page of the fax as a tif
file.
The other sent files were .bmp files.

Deleting the displayed .bmp files only resulted in other .bmp files
from
that same directory being displayed. It is as if the fax console
preview
is
generating only one (or two) .tif file page(s) and then using other
files.

To try to fix the problem, I contacted HP support. And tried several
things -
1. Removing the fax accessory using Windows Add/Remove components and
then
adding it back in.
2. Running System File Checker(SFC) utility to verify and correct
defective
protected system files.
3. Running msconfig to configure the system to not run any startup
programs
and to only run those services that are from Microsoft. This
configuration
allowed the fax printer to be accessed without using non-Microsoft
services
or any startup apps. (I did not try to get a minimal set of Microsoft
services however.)

When none of this things seemed to significantly affect the problem, I
ran
chkdsk which did seem to find and remove some minor index issues - I
think
one or a few files. This did not affect the problem.

I confirmed this same problem using Word 2007 trying to print a
multipage
document to the fax.

I have not tried to print from any other apps other than Acrobat Reader
and
Word 2007.

Other than this fax printer problem, the system seems stable. I've had
it
several years and have run antivirus and antispy programs. Only the
anti-virus program is resident but I disabled it during some of these
checks.

The first indication that something was different was when I could not
Preview the fax before sending it.

The reason I am somewhat suspicious about updates is that a year or so
ago,
a Microsoft patch conflicted with an HP program on my HP machine and
caused
Windows Explorer to not work properly at all. A subsequent patch from
Microsoft corrected the problem, likely because it affected so many
users.
Since the fax printer is probably less frequently used, it might not
show
up
as a major problem. I only use it occasionally but never had a problem
before.

I am an EE and I've done years of software, firmware and some hardware
development. So I don't think this is user error. I do not however
claim
to
be an expert on Windows XP internals but I consider myself a competent
user.

I do not know how the fax accessory files are generated. It looks like
there are about a dozen fx*.dll files that I suspect comprise the fax
accessory. I do not know if they are rebuilt when the fax accessory is
removed and added. And I don't know exactly how the SFC utility works.
I
would hope it would check all the current windows files against the
installation files. But perhaps it only checks protected or hidden
files
and
not the viewable files. And so the fx*.dll might have some corruption.
Note
however, that nothing locks up or otherwise acts suspiciously.

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

This sounds more like end user error. Your suspicions have not been
confirmed by the rest of us. Provide more information, including your
file
association for TIF and the steps to repro your problem.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"BoulderMan" <BoulderMan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3875583D-3634-4DB3-8A10-E16B5AC860D0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Fax Console appears to work fine and comes up when I print to
the
Fax
Printer from an application such as Adobe Reader or Word 2007.
However
when
I go to preview the fax in the Fax Console, only the cover page, the
first
document page or cover page and first document page are correct.
The
remaining pages are bitmap images from the hidden directory
C:\Documents
and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp. Somehow, the fax console is
only
converting one document page and then mistakenly somehow selecting
bitmap
images from that directory.C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local
Settings\Temp as other document pages.

The fax printer used to work fine. I suspect some Microsoft or
other
updates or installation of Office 2007 might be related to this
problem.
Disabling non-Microsoft services and all startup programs using
msconfig
did
not affect the problem. Running SFC did not help.

Any suggestions?




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