Symptom:

Sometimes, you cannot set up the connection to SAPSprint (see Note 894444).
This happens whenever the PC issues a previously received list with device type SAPWIN, or when another application on the PC hands control over to SAPSprint too rarely.
the error appears in the system log as 'Connect failed'. It appears in the SAPSprint log as
Error: socket_read: l_rc = -1
or as
Error: lpxxslpd: read on socket ...
An NILIB message normally appears just before it, for example:
'***ERROR: NiPRecv: errno: 132'.

The spool work process tries to rescue the situation by repeating the transmission twice after a short wait (the default is five minutes). Nothing can be printed on the affected PC during the waiting period!
If all three attempts fail, the print request is marked as faulty and must be triggered manually later.

Other terms:
SAPLPD

Reason and Prerequisites

Device type SAPWIN lets the Windows driver prepare the print data for the connected printer. Some of these drivers are slow, and do not pass control to other tasks while they are preparing a page. Since the TCP software in Windows does not receive control either, the connection request is not answered, and the spool work process reports a problem.
Solution

The problem can be solved only partially, as the main problem, the poor printer driver, is outside our control.

The only way to reduce the problem is to reduce the time required by the printer driver. There are several ways to do this:

* If your printer understands Postscript, PCL or Prescribe, you can change the device type in R/3 from SAPWIN to the relevant type. Then R/3 takes over the data formatting and relieves the computer because now it only has to transfer the data.

* Try other printer drivers for the printer.

* Configure the printer using the host spooler in UNIX and access it using access method 'U' from the SAP system. The host spooler then generates a separate process for each printer that can wait for the connection "as long as necessary". While this does not speed up the printer output, it avoids the terminations and delays in the SAP editor.