Printing problem

[WithoutMotive]

I'll apologise in advance if this is a bit vague but I can't really say much else about it

 

We have two Konika Minolta bizhub printers in the school and recently the server has had great problems spooling to them. In the print queue for both printers, the first job spools then sits in an error state. If we delete this job the next job does the same.

 

Sometimes, if we restart the job it either errors or it prints with no problem and it can carry on without a care in the world for some time. Otherwise, it'll return an error again.

 

It's only with these two printers. Other printers in the school are fine.

 

We have rebooted the server. We've also rebooted our second server in case it was something to do with replication.

 

Bit lost now, really

[lasercat]

Perhaps there is a problem with just the konika driver? If the other printers are fine using thier drivers, thats what I'd try next. I'd see if there was a later version on thier website.

[Michael]

As already mentioned - update to the latest drivers, update the firmware on the printers, but also, check to see whether the printer is host based or not. Host based printers is where all printer processing is performed on the computer and not on the printer. This can create problem(s) similar to what you describe.

 

Unticking Bidirectional support resolves this issue, which can be found within the Printer Properties.

[WithoutMotive]

Right,

 

The drivers are the latest but I replaced them just in case.

The Bidirectional Support tick box is greyed out so I'm guessing it's not supported.

 

I can't actually tell if it's made a difference because both printers had started working as normal before I'd done anything.

 

We'll soon see. Thanks for the suggestions, anyway.

 

UPDATE: It seems like it's not just those two printers. Other printers are now doing the same thing. I'm now completely lost.

Edited April 8, 2008 by paulsharpe
Update

[contink]

Ok.. it's more likely to be your print spooler directory or something else on your print server.

 

You might want to try:

- restarting the "print spooler" service

- checking the system drive (where I assume the spooler directory is) for free space

- defragging the system drive (I believe this has come up as an issue in the past - ie: lack of contigious space though I forget why)

- moving the spooler directory to a disk with more space

- beating one of the printers senseless with a hammer (it won't print again but you'll feel better)

 

- oh and check your network connections..

[Michael]

It may also be worth considering load balancing your network printers (creating multiple print servers) if you have a lot of printers or if the server currently used as a print server is low on resources or is old.