Unable to print in Line 50

[jeggerleg]

I don't use the program personally but have been charged with the task of installing Line 50 on a new computer.
It's an old version admittedly, (5.02) but is more than enough for our needs. It was in use on an equally old comp' running Windows 2000 and I have installed it on a brand new comp' running XP Pro. The install seemed to go OK, and the lady who uses the program has religiously backed up and checked data. Not for the life in me can I get it to print. We have two printers attached to the new comp' and they both print happily from other programs. From Sage, when I select "run" after choosing the appropriate template I'm faced with a dialogue informing me of "invalid margins". This happens with both printers and after a week of trying to solve the problem I'm no nearer.
From the print error dialogue I've tried all the options - fix, fix all and ignore to no avail. This also usually throws up a general protection fault and a system restart is needed to get back into Sage.
The printer is an Epson dotmatix which I installed a year or two ago to replace an identical printer. Needless to say the templates for our stationary have been reinstalled from the backup.
I have no idea where to go from here in order to solve the problem

Any ideas??

[brucedenney]

Print to preview first, then select print and see if it works.

[jeggerleg]

Tried that and unfortunately I get the same result. Invalid margins even when I just try to print preview.

[jeggerleg]

Another point of note is that after selecting "print" and then "edit" instead of run, the same invalid margins dialogue appears.

[brucedenney]

The problem is that "the print margins are invalid" in your report.

If you edit the report, you should be able to alter the margins for the report so that they are compatible with the minimum margins that the printer drivers on the new operating system are demanding.

[jeggerleg]

Unfortunately I am unable to edit, the invalid dialogue appears and in turn tells me about the top, bottom and left and right margins and whichever option I choose I always get a general protection fault. There is a similar thread in this forum from 1997 detailing similar tales of woe.
I have now appeared to solve the problem by copying the Sage folder from a working installation on another machine and overwriting the folder on the problem machine. I know this shouldn't work and that few Windows programs have everything self contained in their own folder, Forte Agent being one of the few exceptions in my experience. Should it work do you think?

Thank you for your help and suggestions so far.

[brucedenney]

Considering it is 12 years old, I think it is a miracle you have managed to get it to work at all.

I think it might have been a 16bit code from Windows 3.11 so I expect the shift to Windows 7 and 64bit will be the death of it.

If it is only on one computer, then I would consider Instant Accounts V2012 which at £120 RRP would do most if not all of what V5 would do and is compatible with win 7 64 bit etc etc.

[jeggerleg]

The really annoying thing is that now I have managed to get the program to work perfectly and to print as expected on an old machine running Windows 98, on another running XP Home with service pack 2, and to run on the new machine running XP Pro with service pack 3. The only thing I can't manage to do is to print from the latter machine in Sage, although it prints happily from other programs. Surely there must be a simple reason for this. If the program simply wouldn't work as it wouldn't in Windows 7 for example, I would accept the inevitable and tell the directors of the company they should simply fork out for a newer version. I would then probably have the angst of trying to import the data from the admittedly ancient copy of Sage we have.

[brucedenney]

I would guess that the issue is printer drivers, you may need 16bit drivers for V5 to work.