PRINTING PROBLEM WITH RICOH AFICIO 1224C!

[Zafar]

HI,

 

I HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP ME!

 

i HAVE RECENTLY PURCHASED A RICOH 1224C - MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER. I HAD TO GO OUT AND BUY A USB TO PARRALEL CABLE. oNCE THIS WAS DONE I PLUGED IN AND WINDOWS XP RECOGNIZED IT AND SAID 'READY TO USE', HOWEVER WHEN I PRINT A DOCUMENT IT ONLY SEEMS TO PRINT OUT A SCRPIT/HTML, 7 PAGES WORTH!

 

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHERE I AM GOING WRONG. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AS SIMPLE AS PLUG IN AND PRINT.

 

I HAVE CHECKED TO SEE IF ALL THE NESESARRY DRIVERS ARE INSTALLED, WHICH THEY ARE. THE USB TO PARALLEL ID WORKING AS IT DOES PRINT, BUT NOT WHAT I ACTUALLY SEND THROUGH MY PC.

 

ANY HELP OR IDEAS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

 

THANKS ZAFAR

[MkII]

There are a few references on the web about those USB to parallel converters - have you checked those?

[Zafar]

No, not yet but will do a search now. A common problem?

[mac_shinobi]

what printer driver are you using ( post script ) ?? Does the copier have post script installed as a printer language on the copier itself ??

 

I would suggest using PCL 5 - never used a convertor cable ie usb to parallel - normally just use a USB A to B or normal Parallel or network interface assuming the copier has a network interface that works.

 

Am curious - why are you using a convertor cable ?

[Zafar]

Hi,

 

Well the printer has to interfaces - ethernet port and parallel. The ethernet port i would assume needs to go through a network connection? or router etc..., i am not to clued up on these things, so i decided to buy the usb to parrallel cable.

 

My PC recognised it straight away and it prints but not what i am asking it to!

 

I dont know what a post script driver is or what printer language the copier is using.

 

Should i been istalling these drivers? I thought windows xp automatically did this all for you?

 

Thanks

[mac_shinobi]

 

Hi,

 

Well the printer has to interfaces - ethernet port and parallel. The ethernet port i would assume needs to go through a network connection? or router etc..., i am not to clued up on these things, so i decided to buy the usb to parrallel cable.

 

you would have it connected like so if you use the ethernet port

 

Router --> Network cable --> Copier

 

In the settings on the copier ensure all the network settings are set to automatically obtain an ip address

 

press user tools button ( 123 with a diamond shape on it, generally at the very top left or right and is one small physical button )

 

Press system settings

 

Normally a tab that states Network Interface or Interface settings ( press this )

 

You should get one at the top left the states IPv4 Address or Machine IPv4 Address ( press this )

 

Set this to automatically obtain an ip address - this should then set the subnet mask to auto obtain as well --> Press ok

 

Underneath this there should be gateway address ( press this ) --> set to auto obtain again and press ok

 

Then Press DNS Config or DNS Configuration / DNS

 

Not sure if you can set this to auto obtain, if not then set DNS Server 1 to the ip address of your router ( you can find this out by doing an ipconfig /all on your PC )

 

start --> run --> cmd

 

press enter / return

 

in the command prompt type

 

ipconfig /all

 

notice the space between ipconfig and the /all

 

press enter after typing this command and there should be one that states default gateway ( generally something along the lines of 192.168.X.Y )

 

This is the ip address of your router , generally speaking.

 

Your computer should connect to another port on the router whether this is via a network cable or via a wireless connection.

 

 

 

My PC recognised it straight away and it prints but not what i am asking it to!

 

I dont know what a post script driver is or what printer language the copier is using.

 

Should i been istalling these drivers? I thought windows xp automatically did this all for you?

 

Thanks

 

With printing you get different printer languages ie PCL 5 and 6, Post Script etc

 

Ricoh have there own one RPCS which I think they are trying to dis continue in a sense and combine with PCL 5 or something like that.

 

PCL 6 is very buggy so I ignore this driver, Post Script is normally on the copier only if you requested this at the time of purchase which you can establish by printing off a configuration page on or from the copier

 

user tools button ( 123 / Diamond Shape physical small one button ) --> printer features --> Configuration Page

 

It literally states Configuration Page with nothing else pre fixed or post fixed to it, as there are sometimes other types of configuration pages ie

 

PCL Configuration Page

RPCS Configuration Page

 

etc - these are not the ones you want.

 

On the configuration page it should state under the system reference section

 

Printer Language PCL 5c or e [x.y.z] PCL XL [ a.b.c ] etc

 

Where x.y.z or a.b.c are numbers ( which you can ignore

 

PCL XL is PCL 6 and PCL 5 is either normally PCL 5 e or PCL 5c

 

This shows you what printer languages you have on the copier and hence which printer languages you are able to use

 

With regards to drivers - you are much better off downloading the exact driver from the ricoh website , extracting it and using the driver from the ricoh website - ensuring to extract it into a folder on your desktop or somewhere that you know where it is so not a temp directory

 

Ricoh Website - Download | Ricoh Support Europe

 

I would suggest either using the hostname of the copier ( again on the config page, near bottom right hand corner ) or use smart device monitor for clients, from the download page, scroll to the bottom, should be an option for smart device monitor for client and smart device monitor for admins,

 

The clients version is the one you require for the printing side so that it will always find the copier on the network

 

The Admins version is to administer the MFD with regards to if you enable and use user codes on the copier to see who has done what with ref to printing, copying etc

 

The admin version has other functionality ie being able to configure scan to email assuming said copier supports scan to email and some other bits.

Edited December 2, 2010 by mac_shinobi

[Zafar]

Thanks for all that info I will try this tomorrow when back in the office.

 

Thanks again!

[Dos_Box]

OK, the 'printer' you have described is actually a very large photocopier, and I would suggest that connecting via parallel is NOT the recommended way o doing things. I would stuick to setting up on you LAN and connecting VIA IP. If anything the parallel port may be for additional copier modules and diagnostics rather than a direct printer connection. As the others have said, PCL5 is proberly the best to use when printing.

 

http://www.copiersplusinc.com/images/ricoh-1224C.jpg

 

Your 'printer'.

[Zafar]

Hi,

 

The printer language is RPCS [2,5,1], PCL 5c [1.11]. i HAVE CONNECTED THE PRINTER DIRECT TO OUR WIRLESS ROUTER AND IT PICKED UP THE IP ADD, SUB NET, GATEWAY, BUT I STILL CANT PRINT, DO I NEED TO SET UP A NETWORK OR SOMETHING SIMILAR?

[mac_shinobi]

Download which ever driver you want to use either RPCS or PCL 5c and add it as a standard tcp / ip printer using either a raw port or LPR port, if you use an LPR type port then the que name will be Print or PRINT or lp which is LP but in lower case

 

The drivers are self extracting exe's which I would suggest you create a folder on your desktop or C drive ( somewhere you can find easily ) and extract the driver into this folder.

 

In the dialog that requests an ip address you can enter in the ip address or hostname of the printer ( assuming your DNS is working correctly on your router ) and also assuming the copier picked up DNS ( DNS on the copier side of things would only effect scan to folder / scan to email and the likes, not printing as far as I can see but I could be wrong )

 

Also the ip address it states on the configuration page you printed off ( ignore any pre fixed zeros ) ie if the ip address was

 

011.022.033.044

 

Then this would be

 

11.22.33.44

 

so if the copier was getting 192.168.001.021

 

Then this would equate to 192.168.1.21

 

Also as my above post the hostname should be at the bottom right hand corner - if you try and ping the hostname of the copier and this responds then I would use the hostname of the copier to print to instead of the ip address due to you using DHCP on the copier so if the ip address changes then DNS will still allow you to print as it will translate the hostname into the correct ip address regardless of the ip address changing on the copier - if this makes sense ??

 

Anyway hope this helps, forgot to mention

 

When it prompts for the driver

 

Click on Have Disk --> Browse --> navigate to the folder you where you extracted the driver to --> open the Disk 1 folder --> Select the inf file generally named something along the lines of OEMSETUP.inf or RPCS.Inf or PCL5c.inf or PCL5e.inf, sometimes the inf file can have a random name but it is the inf file you left click on once, then click the button at the bottom right that states Open

 

This will take you back to the previous dialog window where you click ok ( you will see the full path to the inf in the text field ) and then select the correct make, model and type of driver for the copier and click next and continue with the printer installation.

 

So if you downloaded the RPCS driver you should see something along the lines of

 

Ricoh Aficio 1224C RPCS

Ricoh Aficio XXXXC RPCS

 

Where XXXX is another model which is in the same family of copiers. Obviously you would select the Ricoh Aficio 1224C RPCS as apposed to the other model, same applies for the PCL5c driver , you would select the one that stated Ricoh Aficio 1224c PCL5c

 

@ Dos box - yes it is a copier and being able to go into printer features and print off a config page indicates it can be used as a network printer - hence why I suggested to use the network printing functionality if possible.

 

Thanks for the input as I wasn't able to respond earlier today as was very hectic at work.

 

Also any feedback ref the guides - sent you a pm yesterday I believe ??

[Zafar]

Hi and thanks for all your help.

 

I managed to install the correct driver as instructed and got the parallel to usb printing correctly now, although the ethernet cable router to my wireless hub did not work. I am sur i am doing something wrong. The ip address is recognised on the printer automatic but cant seem to get the it working with the router to print.

 

I am just happy that i can print now.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help.

[mac_shinobi]

no problem - I would try and ping the ip address of the copier ( that the copier is meant to have or is getting ) and ensure you can ping the copier, if thats the case then you would just add the printer as a normal standard tcp/ip printer using the correct driver and correct ip address either with a RAW or LPR port, using the correct que name if using LPR as the port type.