Slow Printing

[Gongalong]

Hi folks,

 

We’ve got a couple of reasonably powerful Sharp MFDs – 2640N and 2630N. Although the former is older it prints much more slowly than the latter. Both are connected at 1Gb, confirmed in the printer interface, yet specifically when I watch the job stream from the print server to the MFD it’s markedly slower.

 

The print server is Server 2019, and the clients are Win 10.

 

Any ideas what it could be or how to troubleshoot further?

 

The slow MFD has been rebooted, just in case it was partly crashed.

 

I have logged it with Sharp support, but my experience with them isn’t that great for anything moderately complicated.

 

Thanks

[ShellfishClive]

What happens if you print a test job directly from the MFD using the touch screen? If that's slow then it's an MFD problem.

[chazzy2501]

download the job log, (just to test speed of the download) also check and uncheck printer protocols. (bonjour etc.) but also derpy things like check the patch cables etc. gigabit on a funky connection etc. Also that model does it offer wireless like the 2640n? Turn it off if possible.

[Gongalong]

Wireless is definitely off. I was watching the print queues on the server and for large (100MB+) jobs it was creeping along compared to the other machine.

 

I'll have a look at the cable as well.

 

I'll start with testing the same job from one PC to both machines and see how that goes - contact sheet jobs from the Photos app seem to be a good test, because that generates very large print jobs for high res photos.

[mikeprice]

If this is the case for all jobs then this may not help but I have seen printers acting differently due to fonts not being loaded - hence it needs to do far more work to print the document

 

this could be caused by either config problems or possibly by faulty memory

[Gongalong]

I've done some more testing:

 

- It's not anything network hardware-y.

- If I connect a PC directly on the network port it works fine.

- If I install the same driver and use the same port on our other print server it's fine.

 

So bizarrely it seems to be the print server. I've deleted the printer, and the driver, and recreated it, but I note it doesn't ask for the driver again. So that means it's pulling the driver from somewhere locally, although I guess I could manually install the driver then try swapping the printer over, on the assumption it's a different version.

 

It will be a right pain to rebuild the print server. I could map the PCs over to the other print server, but would rather keep it all organised.

[gds64]

Have you tried disabling your antivirus application on the print server (as a test)?

[Gongalong]

Actually, it doesn't have any! It's a freshly rebuilt server and I haven't got around to putting any on yet.

 

Other printers are fine, although they use different drivers.

 

It seems that some combination of this driver (which was migrated, along with all the other drivers) has caused this to break.

[gds64]

OK, so what happens if you print to the older machine using the driver for the newer? The older driver may not play well with Server 2019.

[Gongalong]

I've tried it by forcing the issue on the printer (it's not listed as a compatible model), but it still sends the job slowly.

 

Interesting that you mention the compatibility issue, because the server it's slow on is 2019, and the one where it's quick is 2016. I will test on another of our 2019 servers.

 

Both the working and slow printers have the very latest drivers from Sharp.

[Gongalong]

I've tested another two 2019 and 2016 servers. Slow on 2019, quick on 2016. Sounds like a bug! Will log it with Sharp tech support...

[2097]

Are you using vmware by any chance for the PS ?

 

Im wondering if by any chance you have the same problem as me and my exchange install with server 2019/vmware tools .

 

read my post here

 

Exchange 2007/2010- 2013 Migration - Slow loading of emails and mailbox ( Online mode)

 

Try the TCP ack registry modification first , if that fix's it then put it back to normal and insteaad modify the vmware tools as posted.

[Gongalong]

No, Hyper-V. I did notice a VM related issue on another server, a network setting called "Enable virtual machine queue" turned off on one random VM I was using for testing (Server 2016). With that turned off sending the print job was also slow. That wasn't the issue for the problem server though.

 

I logged with Sharp that I think the driver's at fault with Server 2019, and they suggested changing the queue type from RAW to LPR. That seems to have fixed it on 2019, but I still need to test fully.

[robyholmes]

No, Hyper-V. I did notice a VM related issue on another server, a network setting called "Enable virtual machine queue" turned off on one random VM I was using for testing (Server 2016). With that turned off sending the print job was also slow. That wasn't the issue for the problem server though.

 

I logged with Sharp that I think the driver's at fault with Server 2019, and they suggested changing the queue type from RAW to LPR. That seems to have fixed it on 2019, but I still need to test fully.

 

Sorry to bring back of old thread but I've got the same problem since updating to Server 2019. I've had a look in the print processor but I can't see LPR?

 

PS this is the PCL6 driver for the Sharp MX-5140N

Edited October 1, 2020 by robyholmes

[Gongalong]

If you go to the port and configure that, change the protocol from Raw to LPR there.

[robyholmes]

If you go to the port and configure that, change the protocol from Raw to LPR there.

 

What did you set for the queue name?

[chazzy2501]

Basic thing to check is that the bitmap compression is set to medium or draft, anything else and the prints come like treacle. Especially from the laptops.

[Gongalong]

What did you set for the queue name?

Set it to TEST

[robyholmes]

I found lp was shown online for some Sharp models so I opted for that. Maybe it doesn't matter what you set. All seems to be working so I'm going to trail it on one of our MFD's and see what happens.

 

Thanks