CPA4002: Verify alignment on printer

What it means

Printers that feed continuous forms, such as label stock or pre-printed invoices, need the paper lined up with the print position. IBM i can stop and ask the operator to check that. The question is CPA4002, sent by the printer writer to its message queue, and the writer waits for an answer before it prints.

IBM's support document says the message appears only for writers whose printer device description has FORMFEED set to *CONT or *CONT2. It is sent the first time the writer starts. It is sent again when the next spooled file has a different page length from the one before it. IBM works out page length from the printer file's page size and lines per inch, so 66 lines at 6 lines per inch is 11 inches.

Nothing is broken when CPA4002 appears. It is a planned stop. It becomes a problem when nobody answers it, because every spooled file behind it waits too.

Common causes

• The printer writer was started on a continuous-forms printer, so it asks for alignment before its first spooled file.
• The next spooled file has a different page length from the last one, for example a 6-inch label after an 11-inch report.
• The printer device was re-created, renamed or moved to a new controller, so reply list entries that match on the old device name no longer answer the message.
• Printer files or the writer ask for alignment through their own settings, so the operator is asked even when the forms haven't changed.

How to find the problem

1. Run WRKWTR. A writer in MSGW status is waiting for a reply. Option 7 shows the message.
2. Look in the writer's message queue, usually QSYSOPR or the queue named on the writer, with DSPMSG.
3. Check the device with DSPDEVD and look at the form feed setting. CPA4002 only appears for *CONT and *CONT2.
4. List reply list entries with WRKRPYLE and check whether one exists for CPA4002 and whether its compare data still matches the device name.

How to fix it

• Line up the paper and reply I to print with the current alignment. IBM also describes G, to go on with the new page length, and C, to cancel the writer.
• Answer it automatically with the system reply list. IBM's example is ADDRPYLE SEQNBR(200) MSGID(CPA4002) CMPDTA(PRT01 21) RPY(I), which matches the device name starting at position 21 of the message data. CMPDTA(PRT 21) covers every printer whose name starts with PRT.
• Make sure the writer jobs use the reply list. IBM names job descriptions QSPLPRTW, QSPLAFPW and QSPLRMTW, which need INQMSGRPY(*SYSRPYL). Check them with WRKJOBD.
• Update reply list entries when you rename or re-create a printer device, and check the compare data position after a release upgrade, since IBM warns the offset can change.
• Look at the ALIGN settings on the printer files and on STRPRTWTR if the message appears more often than the forms really change.

What it looks like

Verify alignment on printer PRT01.

DSPMSGD MSGID(CPA4002) MSGF(QSYS/QCPFMSG)

Technical reviewer: Albert Joseph, WND Software.

Last reviewed 2026-10-18 by the WND Software team. Written in our own words. For the full reference, check IBM’s documentation for your IBM i release.