I cant help on the printer problems.

But certain types of semaphore file create problems when the user crashes.
When this happens the entry in the semphore file is not cleared and the user appears to the system as if he is logged in.

The semaphore file can be altered so that record locks are used on it instead of checking for a flag in the record.

Then when the user crashes the lock on the record will timeout.

Other methods I have seen involve creating an empty text files in your data area for each element you want to lock and locking them. This lock will also timeout if they crash.

Hope some of this helps



>Hi,
>
>I am looking after a legacy FPD2.6 app that is used by over 300 clients here in Australia.
>
>Most clients are running old slow computers, however, after updating a client with PIII 950's and an NT4 SP6 server I have been having lots of annoying little problems such as...
>
>1. The program uses a semaphore file so users cannot obtain concurrent updating on records. For some reason this semaphore is occasionally not cleared.
>
>2. Some LPT printers will work fine one day then play up the next.
>
>3. A 3yr old Canon Bubblejet printer (BJ210?) won't work on any of the new computers. Connect to our notebook or any other computer and it works OK.
>
>I know that as processor speeds have got higher I have encountered an increase in these annoying problems. Has anyone else encountered such problems and any ideas on a fix (other than re-writing the program).
>
>Regards
>Doug Johnston