Very strange network printer problem

[randle]

Hi,

 

I have a very strange problem with network printers here which has been a problem for a long time now but I've never really been able to pin down or explain the issue until now as think I can describe what's happening consistently

 

To be clear from the start I have an RM network but don't think this is playing a factor in this issue.

 

I have a number of network printer queues installed on an 2008 R2 server which have both x64 & x86 drivers installed. Test prints from these directly on the server go through fine. When sending a print from the client, the job goes to the print queue on the server and shows to be processed and deleted like normal however the job doesn't appear to get to the printer. If I then change the driver, the jobs start reaching the printer again until 15 minutes later, since changing the driver, when this behaviour starts again.

 

I thought maybe it was the printer driver I'm using but happens when swapping between PCL 5c, PCL 6 and PCL Universal drivers also.

 

There are no on-screen or event log errors to help out on the server or client and the model or manufacturer does'nt appear to make a difference as this has happened for various since first noticing this.

 

The fact that this prints fine after initially changing the driver for a short period before stopping is what stumps me the most. Has anyone had a similar problem to this or know what may be the cause?

[MatthewL]

Do you have any print management software on the server like PCounter, Safecom, PaperCut?

[randle]

I use RM Print credits but that's currently disabled on the printer I'm testing this on.

[MatthewL]

Do you have any paper size restrictions, is there a log file to see any rejected jobs?

 

I know with PCounter we have ours so if the paper is letter size it rejects it, only accepts A3, A4 and A5.

[Edu-IT]

Do you have any paper size restrictions, is there a log file to see any rejected jobs?

 

I know with PCounter we have ours so if the paper is letter size it rejects it, only accepts A3, A4 and A5.

RM Printer Credits isn't really that advanced.

 

Could you disable RM Printer Credits entirely, just to be sure it's not that?

[randle]

@MatthewL: The jobs sent after this stops printing are exactly the same documents so any paper size restrictions would have stopped the jobs from printing in the first place also. The jobs don't behave like they're being rejected...They process in the print queue like a normal, they just don't get to the printer by the looks of it.

@Edu-IT: This is something I will disable entirely tomorrow but as mentioned above, the printer and user are currently not under the printer credits jurisdiction!!

Edited November 7, 2012 by randle

[bossman]

@randle:

 

What printers are they and are the drivers digitally signed as I did have a similar problem, windows 7 is very finicky with digitally signed drivers and sometimes what happens is the local print spooler keels over and the job is held in the ether until deleted.

 

I am sure there is an update to stop the print server spooler from taking up too much processing also, forget which one but it is a recent one.

 

Have you had problems mapping the printers also?

 

I also have printer credits enabled and this has had no effect whatsoever so I would discount this, for piece of mind though you could disable the printer creduts services.

Edited November 7, 2012 by bossman

[Chris_]

Is this issue with Kyocera printers?

[Oaktech]

Or Samsung?

 

I have a problem on an RM network with a similar issue, if you try to send more than one copy of an office document it all looks like it's working but it passes a 0byte job to the queue which just gets deleted. I've tried all available printer drivers (standard driver, samsung universal driver (b&w only), generic PCL6 (colour) generic PS (colour).

[Chris_]

Or Samsung?

 

I have a problem on an RM network with a similar issue, if you try to send more than one copy of an office document it all looks like it's working but it passes a 0byte job to the queue which just gets deleted. I've tried all available printer drivers (standard driver, samsung universal driver (b&w only), generic PCL6 (colour) generic PS (colour).

 

ML-3710ND by any chance with CC4?

 

I found it was only students that couldn't print multiple copies. Staff could print multiple copies ok. I think Samsung eventually released an updated driver that worked.

[SHimmer45]

if its a kyocera print and your using a KX driver try changing this to one of the "classic" KPDL/PCL drivers as the performance is soo much better, not quite as snappy as a 2003 server (in my experience) but driver selection is so much mpore important when it comes to performance.

 

also HP have published recommended drivers for certain printer models under 2008R2 to improve performance.

Edited November 8, 2012 by SHimmer45

[randle]

@bossman: They're Ricoh printers and all drivers are signed. I won't install non signed drivers as that's just adding to the problems!!

 

All drivers are set to shared isolated so don't share the process with the print spooler on the server

 

No problems mapping printers, just printing

 

Interestingly when excluding this and another printer from RM Printer Credits monitoring they start working again after about 15 minutes or so (Not straight away).....Looks like RM Printer Credits could be the cause here!! I'll need to discuss this with RM support and see what they have to say!

 

Could be that moving to PaperCut will come at just the right time!!! I'll let you know what the outcome is of further tests.

 

Cheers