Postscript driver problem

[Warren Singer <Warren_Singer -at- VOCALTEC -dot- COM>]

I have been experiencing some frustrating problems when producing the
postscript files for our FrameMaker and MS Word manuals. When I print the
postscript file and open it using Ghostview or convert it into a PDF using
distiller, pages are systematically missing certain letters, which for some
reason have been dropped. If I try reprinting to a poscript file again, the
exact same letters are missing. Usually, these are letters at the end of a
title or the last letter in a sentence.
There are two major fonts that we use for most of the manuals (Garamond for
the text style and Ariel for Titles) - I don't know if it could be a font
problem.
At the moment things are desperate, since I have over twenty different
manuals - some in FrameMaker and some in Word - that have to be printed by
the end of the month.

This problem started soon after I installed the latest version of
Framemaker (5.5.6) including the enclosed postscript printer files,
distiller files, acrobat files etc. I can't go back to the old version,
since all the files have been updated.
To try and solve this problem, I've tried the following, without success
(in order of desperation!):

1. I've tried restarting the PC and printing the files, making sure that no
other applications are open, in case this is a memory problem (my system is
a 277Mhz Pentium PC with Windows 95 and with 64 MB RAM and over 200 MB free
hard disk space. Usually there is at least 70% resources free when I print
- so this doesn't seem to be a memory problem).
2. I've tried fiddling with the postscript settings - for example making
sure that the option to "send fonts as outlines" is checked, and in the
font substitution table, checking that all the fonts are sent as outlines.
Also, I've selected "printing for portability" (which is supposed to help
in cases of memory problems). I've tried changing the settigns  as
recommended by our printing house.
3. I've tried reinstalling Framemaker and all the postscript files.
4. I've gone to the Adobe site and looked for information that could help -
there's lots of information, but nothing specific to my problem. The only
thing close was a description of a poblem of dropping letters when printing
from a PDF file to a normal printer.
5. I've tried installing the drivers from the Adobe download site, but this
only made things worse.
6. I've tried to create the poscript file on another PC, but it resulted in
the same problem.
7. I've tried printing in both Frame and Word, with similar results.
8. I've tried using different drivers. These include: HP LaserJet 4V/4MV,
Scitex Dolev 400 PS L2 , and Scitex Dolev 400 PSM L2 which are the drivers
that our printing house has recommended we work with. Other drivers don't
print properly or at all.
9. I've tried reinstalling the entire operating system and all program
files !!! (this included installing an absolutely new hard disk)


Our technical support department has not been able to help. Neither has the
printing house that we work with.

Any suggestions?
Sincerely,

Warren Singer

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=