Printing Troubleshooting Guide

Written by Jason Sprague


Continued from page 1

This tends to berepparttar most complicated ofrepparttar 107166 3 types of problems and we would have to write a novel to cover everything. Unfortunately, we just don't have that kind of time, so we are going to try to give you some tips to get you headed inrepparttar 107167 right direction. When investigating software printing problems there are many useful techniques and questions that need to be asked. The first one is to find out which Page Description Language(PDL) is being used. The 2 most common are PostScript(by Adobe) and Printer Control Language(PCL by HP). Below are some ofrepparttar 107168 fundamental questions that should be asked early in a problem investigation.

POSTSCRIPT TECHNIQUES/QUESTIONS:

  • Is it actually a PostScript file that you are sending? Ifrepparttar 107169 printer prints out an endless stream of ASCII text,repparttar 107170 printer is receiving PCL data. Getrepparttar 107171 correct PostSript driver for your printer.
  • Reprintrepparttar 107172 job, this time selecting "print to file" inrepparttar 107173 print dialogue box. It will create a *.prn file. Open it using Notepad and make sure thatrepparttar 107174 first line ofrepparttar 107175 file starts with "%!". This signifies that it is PostScript.
  • What printer driver wasrepparttar 107176 PostScript file created with? Make sure you haverepparttar 107177 latest and greatest one. Consult your printer manufacturer.
  • What application was used to create this file? Do all applications do this?
  • Have you tried an alternative printer driver? And what wererepparttar 107178 results?
  • Has this exact same file been printed on a second PostScript printer? What wererepparttar 107179 results?
  • Was there a PostScript Error page? What didrepparttar 107180 error page say? Look up errors at: http://www.prepressure.com/ps/dbase/overviewerrors.htm
  • Try to distillrepparttar 107181 original file using Acrobat Distiller. If a PDF file is created, you should be able to print it, other wise, you will probably get a PS error.
  • PS errors can often be caused by corrupt graphics. When trying to distillrepparttar 107182 file, see which page it faults on. Go to that page inrepparttar 107183 document and try removing all ofrepparttar 107184 graphics.
  • Have you tried recreatingrepparttar 107185 PostScript and resubmittingrepparttar 107186 file?
HP/PCL TECHNIQUES/QUESTIONS:
  • What printer driver wasrepparttar 107187 pcl file created with? Make sure you haverepparttar 107188 latest and greatest one. Consult your printer manufacturer.
  • What application was used to create this file? Do all apps. do this?
  • Have you tried an alternative printer driver? And what wererepparttar 107189 results?
  • Has this exact same pcl file been printed on a second PCL printer? What wererepparttar 107190 results?
  • What arerepparttar 107191 specific image errors viewed byrepparttar 107192 customer? A PCL file will continue printing incorrectly and will not leave an error page.
  • Have you tried recreatingrepparttar 107193 PCL and resubmittingrepparttar 107194 file?
Performance:

Performance related issues are usuallyrepparttar 107195 result of incorrect customer expectations. There are actually 3 parts to print performance. The time that it takesrepparttar 107196 job to get torepparttar 107197 printer,repparttar 107198 time that it takes forrepparttar 107199 printer to processrepparttar 107200 job(RIP) andrepparttar 107201 time that it takes forrepparttar 107202 printer to actually printrepparttar 107203 job once it has received it. Let's look at each of these separately.

TRANSFER TIME:

This really has nothing to do withrepparttar 107204 printer at all. If jobs are taking a long time to get torepparttar 107205 printer, check your network traffic. You may have to get a network sniffer or network monitoring software to check this. If you are using an external print server such as a Jet Direct box, considerrepparttar 107206 fact that you actually have a parallel connection torepparttar 107207 printer which has a slower transfer rate than a network connection. The parallel connection fromrepparttar 107208 print server torepparttar 107209 printer is a bottleneck. Some printers are now supporting 100baseT connections which may help in this area.

PROCESSING TIME:

The processing that occurs on a printer is called Raster Image Processing(RIP). This isrepparttar 107210 process ofrepparttar 107211 printer convertingrepparttar 107212 file sent into image data thatrepparttar 107213 printer uses to "paint a picture" onrepparttar 107214 page. If this process appears to be slow,repparttar 107215 first thing to consider isrepparttar 107216 size ofrepparttar 107217 file being sent. If you are sending a 5mb file, it is going to take some time to process. Note: In order to viewrepparttar 107218 true size ofrepparttar 107219 file being processed byrepparttar 107220 printer, you must print to file and then findrepparttar 107221 size ofrepparttar 107222 file after it has been run throughrepparttar 107223 driver. PostScript files can be as much as 3x larger thanrepparttar 107224 original file. Send over a simple notepad file withrepparttar 107225 word "test" on it and see if there is a significant difference. Find out ifrepparttar 107226 printer's memory is upgradable. This can help with processing times. Most printers have different print quality settings specified by dots per inch(DPI). File sizes will typically be larger when higher resolutions are selected.

PRINT TIME:

The print speed that is quoted byrepparttar 107227 manufacturer does not include transfer or processing time. It only includes print engine speed oncerepparttar 107228 job is processed. Ifrepparttar 107229 printer handles multiple paper sizes,repparttar 107230 print speed probably is referring torepparttar 107231 speed forrepparttar 107232 smallest paper size. If you are printing on pages larger than 8.5x11 inches,repparttar 107233 print speed will be slower. If it is a color printer, find out if there are different speed capabilities for color and monochrome. Most printers have different print quality settings specified by dots per inch(DPI). Printers will typically print slower in higher resolutions.

7 Seconds Resources, Inc. publishes helpful technology web sites including mcmcse.com, a premier destination for free computer certification training materials. Our sister site, TechTutorials.com provides a database of thousands of free technology tutorials.


DB Integration - software for combine MS Access databases

Written by Valery Semchukov


Continued from page 1
schemas onrepparttar basis ofrepparttar 107165 coincident subschemas of two databases. Also it will be possible to integrate databases ofrepparttar 107166 .mdb format and ofrepparttar 107167 format ofrepparttar 107168 other databases of DBM. For instance, you can combine MS SQL and Oracle database, andrepparttar 107169 final database will be MS Access. Inrepparttar 107170 next version it will be possible to bring out similarities of two databases inrepparttar 107171 automatic mode, not to definerepparttar 107172 semantically similar databases and schema. Also you may suggest which features you do wantrepparttar 107173 next versions of this software to have. Allrepparttar 107174 suggestions will be taken into consideration and realized as it will be possible. You can download demo version from our site: http://www.novaprof.com

Head Software Developer in Novaprof Inc.


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