This tends to be
most complicated of 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 in 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 of fundamental questions that should be asked early in a problem investigation. POSTSCRIPT TECHNIQUES/QUESTIONS:
- Is it actually a PostScript file that you are sending? If printer prints out an endless stream of ASCII text, printer is receiving PCL data. Get correct PostSript driver for your printer.
- Reprint job, this time selecting "print to file" in print dialogue box. It will create a *.prn file. Open it using Notepad and make sure that first line of file starts with "%!". This signifies that it is PostScript.
- What printer driver was PostScript file created with? Make sure you have 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 were results?
- Has this exact same file been printed on a second PostScript printer? What were results?
- Was there a PostScript Error page? What did error page say? Look up errors at: http://www.prepressure.com/ps/dbase/overviewerrors.htm
- Try to distill 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 distill file, see which page it faults on. Go to that page in document and try removing all of graphics.
- Have you tried recreating PostScript and resubmitting file?
HP/PCL TECHNIQUES/QUESTIONS: - What printer driver was pcl file created with? Make sure you have 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 were results?
- Has this exact same pcl file been printed on a second PCL printer? What were results?
- What are specific image errors viewed by customer? A PCL file will continue printing incorrectly and will not leave an error page.
- Have you tried recreating PCL and resubmitting file?
Performance:Performance related issues are usually result of incorrect customer expectations. There are actually 3 parts to print performance. The time that it takes job to get to printer, time that it takes for printer to process job(RIP) and time that it takes for printer to actually print job once it has received it. Let's look at each of these separately.
TRANSFER TIME:
This really has nothing to do with printer at all. If jobs are taking a long time to get to 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, consider fact that you actually have a parallel connection to printer which has a slower transfer rate than a network connection. The parallel connection from print server to 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 is process of printer converting file sent into image data that printer uses to "paint a picture" on page. If this process appears to be slow, first thing to consider is size of file being sent. If you are sending a 5mb file, it is going to take some time to process. Note: In order to view true size of file being processed by printer, you must print to file and then find size of file after it has been run through driver. PostScript files can be as much as 3x larger than original file. Send over a simple notepad file with word "test" on it and see if there is a significant difference. Find out if 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 by manufacturer does not include transfer or processing time. It only includes print engine speed once job is processed. If printer handles multiple paper sizes, print speed probably is referring to speed for smallest paper size. If you are printing on pages larger than 8.5x11 inches, 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.
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