Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2021 November 6

= November 6 =

Running my code consumes too much RAM memory my computer doesn't have
I have written a code (in Free Pascal), but when I tried to run it in my computer, the computer collapsed, because its RAM memory is limited (Actually 3 GB, 64 bits). Is there any website, having sufficient RAM memory, where I can - both send my code (which includes no "read" instructions) - and receive the output? 185.24.76.176 (talk) 20:45, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Do you know if your program has a bug that consumes memory continuously? It would be best to prove the program works, say with a smaller scale computation on your own computer, before wasting effort and money using a cloud service. There may be a memory leak that will use all the memory, no matter how big. Some debugging output statements as your program goes may give you a clue as to what is going on. Another option would be to upgrade your computer RAM memory to say 8 GB. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:45, 6 November 2021 (UTC)


 * I agree about trying a smaller version. Try to figure out why your program is using a lot of memory.  Besides a memory leak (not common in Pascal, I don't think), could the program be calling a procedure recursively and not getting out?  Also, 3GB is awfully small, especially if you are running 64-bit Windows.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:54, 7 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Does your program fail to start running or does it start running and then crash? If it is the latter, does your system tell what line caused it to crash? If it is the first, then you are probably trying to allocate too much memory. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 14:27, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Installing a USB printer in Windows 10
I've recently obtained a secondhand Dell desktop with Windows 10. The desktop has no LPT1: parallel port, but it has oodles of USB ports. My Brother HL-1250 has a USB port too, so I've connected the two together that way. But the desktop simply doesn't recognise that the printer is connected. In XP (and indeed in Windows 3.1.1) I knew how to install a new printer, and succeeded in doing this several times. But I just can't work out how to do it in Win 10. I got as far as Settings → Devices → Printers & Scanners, but under "USB Printing Support" it says "Driver is unavailable". If I click "Add a printer or scanner", it searches for a while and comes back empty. What now? -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 22:30, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Have you tried downloading a driver from Brother? Looking at the set up guide it only lists Windows 3.1 to 95/98 & NT 4.0 so it may simply be too old for 10 to recognise. DuncanHill (talk) 22:38, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
 * This is strange. The printer should be supported by a driver built in Windows 10. Ruslik_ Zero 20:34, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Indeed: but I can't get Windows to detect the printer. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 23:24, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
 * If you have Control Panel > Device Manager open, and then plug in the USB cable, does a new USB device appear? If not, your cable or usb port(s) are dead. --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:26, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Assuming this is Start → Windows System → Control Panel → Device Manager, what am I looking for in there? In Win 95 through XP I plugged in the cable and I would get a box saying "New device detected" or something like that, is that also supposed to happen with Win 10? Please bear in mind that (i) I am very much unused to Windows 10, which is just so very different from previous versions and (ii) I need to log out of myself and log in as Admin to get to Device Manager, I similarly need to log out of Admin and log in as myself to return to this page, so it is very difficult to check for new comments. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 22:21, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Is it Windows 10 or Windows 10 S? If the latter, the printer won't work. DuncanHill (talk) 22:28, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't really know -  I sometimes wish that I was still using MS-DOS 6.22 -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 22:38, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * In Device Manager you should check whether a USB device appear after you connect the printer. Ruslik_ Zero 08:39, 9 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Appears where? There is a list of 20 or so items, such as Audio inputs and outputs; Computer; Disk drives; etc. and I would say that a USB printer could potentially be covered by at least six of them. Each one has a right-pointing chevron to its left that opens up a further list, some of those yield further sub-lists. Which one am I supposed to be looking in, how far do I drill down? -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 11:33, 9 November 2021 (UTC)

The Brother support page says that the driver is built in with Win 10. I'm not familiar with Win 10 at all, but here are some basic standard troubleshooting questions: HTH, I miss DOS 6.22 as well (after a fashion) MinorProphet (talk) 01:22, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) Did the printer work previously?
 * 2) Can you print out a test page?
 * 3) Can you connect it with the same cable to any other computer which does recognise it?
 * 4) Alternatively, can you use the cable to connect another device to the PC? As suggested above, try a new cable.
 * 5) Are you using any sort of USB hub? This may cause problems.
 * 6) Can you connect any other USB device at all, eg mouse, keyboard, mobile phone? To the same port as you are using for the printer?
 * 7) You say it's a second-hand Dell - is it a genuine clean install of Win 10, perhaps from a local PC dealer?
 * 8) Device Manager should show 'Print Queues'. Are there any other printers listed? if so, it may be worth deleting them.
 * 9) Have you run Windows Automatic Update? eg
 * 10) Have you followed Micro$oft's own instructions?
 * 11) Have you considered changing the user account type to Admin so you don't have to reboot all the time?
 * 12) Later edit: Is the Print Spooler service running? Windows key → Run → enter msconfig to start the System Configuration utility. Switch to the Services tab, find Spooler service, should be started, if not check the box and click Apply. Should be configured to start automatically (perhaps in Properties).
 * The printer has worked woth other PCs, both with parallel and USB cables. None of thm used Windows 10 - they used XP or Win 7. I can't print a test page if the device isn't being listed. No USB hub. Yes the port works wioth the mouse and the keyboard. Win 10 was clean-installed by the vendor. I've got 4 print queues (Microsoft Print to PDF, Microsoft XPS Document Writer, OneNote for Windows 10, Fax), which I think are generic - I don't want to remove these because they may affect the system in ways I don't know about and certainly cannot fix. I am really out of my depth now, I appreciate the help but when I find that screenshots on Brother's website and Microsoft's also do not look at all like the screens that I have, then it's simply beyond me. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 13:23, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * The link for the test page I gave you shows how to use the Brother's own built-in test page, not the Windows one. It's just to make sure that the printer itself is functioning internally (you never know). I'm out of ideas as well - I can only recommend you take the PC and printer to the vendor and ask if they can hook up the Brother to another Win 10 machine to replicate the problem; or try another printer on your PC, or explain why your PC is responding differently, if at all. Best of luck, >MinorProphet (talk) 13:58, 13 November 2021 (UTC)