Network Printers

[Trenton_Lister]

During Easter we installed a new Network Printer into one of our computer suits. On initial test it worked fine. However once you get two or three people log in and then try to print, the job goes into the queue and sits there without printing. At first we thought they had simply failed, but have lately found out that if the job is left in the queue, 30-60 minutes later the job will sometimes then print off.

We have looked over the settings and tweaked a few minor settings, but still this problem alludes us.

Any thoughts as to why this problem accures?

[dgsmith]

You may also want to post the specific printer model so others could say whether they have had similar experiences with that type?

[stariq]

Do the jobs get paused?

[Trenton_Lister]

Good point. HP LaserJet P1505n

[Trenton_Lister]

Status says Printing. Then after a minute it goes to Error - Printing.

[Joe_Pineapples]

Is this printer installed locally to all the clients, or is it shared through a server?

Also, is this for all printing jobs, or is it only when certain types of print job are sent (eg photos). In schools I find that people using the Windows Photo Printing Wizard often send huge amounts of data to print that can timeout or take ages to spool to my server, and hold up the print queues.

[Geoff]

1) Check for driver & firmware updates.
2) Try using a different driver. I find Postscript > PCL5 > PCL6.
3) Disable bi-directional printing support
4) Disable 'Advanced Printing features'.

[Trenton_Lister]

It is installed on the server as and shared through the network, then assigned to the room via a printer script. Same as our other two printers, although they are different types. Pretty much just word we've been using to test it with nothing but text on. 1k files.

[dhicks]

Any thoughts as to why this problem occures?

Has there been some update to Windows' printing system? I seem to be having a similar problem - an HP 2600N that has been working okay is suddenly refusing to print. I can't think of any reason why, other than it knows it's the A-level deadlines today. The printer hasn't changed its IP address, the server can ping the IP address and get a reply, the driver hasn't changed, I can even send a test print, it's just the sixth former's 55-page Word document won't print. I don't think it's the size of the document, either, as we printed it to a 4600N connected to the same server just fine.

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David Hicks