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Printing Troubleshooting Guide
by Jason Sprague
With most printers, over 50% of all problems are customer fixable. This guide
was created to help bail you out when you get stuck on tough printing problems.
NOTE: If you need specific information or help with a particular printer, please
contact the printer manufacturer.
You troubleshoot printing issues like you would any other computer/network
related problem. You start at a general point and rule out the possibilities
until you have the specific cause. The first question that you need to answer
is: "Is the problem hardware, software, network or performance related?".
Hardware
First make sure that the printer is on and that it is in "ready" position.
Make sure that there are no error messages on the LED's or LCD if applicable.
Now complete the following steps:
1. Any printer worth owning, can print an internal test or configuration
page. This is absolutely the first thing that you want to do, even if you think
that the hardware is not the issue. Make sure that the page will print and it
looks good. If it prints go to step 3 - If it won't print, go to step 2.
2. Test page didn't print? Any error messages? Try cycling power on the printer
and try again. If it still doesn't print, many printers have a special reset
often referred to as an NVRAM reset. NVRAM stands for Non-volatile RAM and is
where a printer may store a variety of information including network settings,
ripped print jobs and more. Sometimes a piece of corrupted information from a
bad print job can "confuse" a printer and cause it to hang. Sometimes an NVRAM
reset will flush this bad information and restore the printer. It may also wipe
all of your network/printer settings so you should contact the printer
manufacturer before doing this. If this procedure doesn't fix the problem, then
call for service.
3. Your test page printed? Good! Take a good look at it and see if there are any
print quality problems (i.e. spots, streaks, etc). If the test page looks fine,
then you are probably dealing with a network or software problem. If there are
visible problems, then keep reading. Before doing anything else, consult your
manufacturers documentation for a list of recommended cleaning procedures before
moving to the next step. Almost all printers have "consumable items" or CRCs.
These are parts of the printer that are customer replaceable and have a
lifespan, which means that they aren't intended to last forever. On a laser
printer these may include a fuser, photo-receptor, scorotron charger, toner
cartridges and more. It is a good idea to keep spares of these parts on hand for
troubleshooting reasons. You can save a lot of time and headache waiting for a
technician, by swapping these parts one at a time and seeing if it cures the
problem. Make sure that you run about 20 test pages after inserting a new CRC
and see if there is improvement. Sometimes hardware failures can leave messes
that have to be "mopped up" with quite a few test pages. If these steps do not
cure the problem, then contact the manufacturer for further assistance.
Network
When troubleshooting networking problems with printers, you will typically
follow the same lines of reasoning that you would troubleshooting a PC
networking issue especially with newer models of printers. The very first thing
to do is narrow down the scope the problem. Is it only an issue for 1 PC,
multiple PCs or all of them. Once you have answered this question, the following
steps should get you on your way.
ISSUE IS AFFECTING 1 OR SOME PCs:
1. If it is just one PC, make sure that the PC is functioning properly on the
network. Can it see file servers, print to other printers, ping other devices,
etc. If the answer is "no", then it is not a printer issue. If the answer is
"yes", continue reading. Do print jobs make it to the printer? Most printers
have an LED or LCD message that will signify that the printer is processing a
job. Try the driver test page that can be printed from the properties dialogue
box for the printer. Does this print? If "no" go to step 2. If "yes" then it is
probably a problem.
2. If you are at this step, it means that nothing will print from 1 PC. This is
most likely a configuration problem. Make sure that you can communicate with the
printer at a protocol level. For example: if the printer has an IP address, can
you ping it? If it is AppleTalk, does it show up in the chooser? Many printers
have an internal "configuration page" that can be printed that will list the
network addresses and available protocols. This can often be found on an LCD
when applicable. If the answer is "no", go to step 3. Find out what is acting as
the print server for the printer. Some printers act as their own print server
and others will print through a Novell queue, Windows LPR port or jet direct
box. Try sending the test page and see if it makes it to this device. Does the
job show up in the Novell queue? Does it appear in the NT queue? If the job
doesn't appear in the queue, go to step 4. If the job is making it to the queue
but not to the printer, Make sure that this is the same queue that the other PCs
are printing to. If so, then quite frankly there is something very goofy going
on if this is the only PC having the problem. Get the classifieds and look for
another job.
3. If you are at this step, it is because the PC cannot communicate with the
printer at a protocol level, but can communicate with all other devices and
other devices can communicate with the printer. Not sure what to tell you here.
May be a routing/addressing issue of some kind. Consult your local network guru.
4. If you are at this step, it is because the print jobs are not making it into
the queue on the print server. We will assume that the PC is able to connect to
the print server via an appropriate protocol (if not, then it is not a printer
issue). This is almost always a driver configuration issue. It usually means
that the driver is not pointing to the correct port, print server or queue. Go
to another PC and check the network settings for the printer in question. Go
back to the ailing PC and delete the printer. Reinstall the printer and insert
the correct network path, port or queue, depending on how you are connected.
5. Sometimes permissions problems can cause weird printing behavior. Make sure
that this user has appropriate permissions to use this resource.
ISSUE IS AFFECTING EVERYONE:
1. Make sure that you can communicate with the printer at a protocol level.
For example: if the printer has an IP address, can you ping it? If it is
AppleTalk, does it show up in the chooser? Many printers have an internal
"configuration page" that can be printed that will list the network addresses
and available protocols. This can often be found on an LCD when applicable. Make
sure that these settings are correct. If you are able to communicate with the
printer, go to step 2. If not, then make sure that the printer is on the
network. Check cabling, network addressing/configuration, etc. Check the cabling
by connecting a known working device to the network drop that the printer is on
and see if you are able to communicate with it. If not, then get a new cable. If
you can see another device on this drop, their may be a hardware problem with
the printer. Although it is rare, network cards do fail.
2. Find out what is acting as the print server for the printer. Some printers
act as their own print server and others will print through a Novell queue, NT
port or jet direct box. Send a test page from the print server to the printer.
Does this print? If "yes", go to step 3. If "no", continue reading. If the test
page doesn't print from the print server, it means that the print server
probably isn't properly configured for that printer which would obviously
prevent anyone else from being able to print to it. Check the type of printer
port or queue that you have configured and make sure that it is correctly
pointing at the printer.
3. If you are at this step, it is because nobody can print to the printer except
for the print server. Make sure that the printer is shared on the server and
appropriate permissions have been set. Try sending the test page and see if it
makes it to the queue on the print server. Does the job show up in the Novell
queue? Does it appear in the NT queue? If the job appears in the queue, go back
to step 2 as something is either wrong at the print server or all of the PCs are
pointing to the wrong queue on the print server.
Software:
This tends to be the most complicated of the 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 the 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 the 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 the printer
prints out an endless stream of ASCII text, the printer is receiving PCL data.
Get the correct PostScript driver for your printer.
* Reprint the job, this time selecting "print to file" in the print dialogue
box. It will create a *.prn file. Open it using Notepad and make sure that the
first line of the file starts with "%!". This signifies that it is PostScript.
* What printer driver was the PostScript file created with? Make sure you have
the 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 the results?
* Has this exact same file been printed on a second PostScript printer? What
were the results?
* Was there a PostScript Error page? What did the error page say? Look up errors
at:
http://www.prepressure.com/ps/dbase/overviewerrors.htm
* Try to distill the 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 the
file, see which page it faults on. Go to that page in the document and try
removing all of the graphics.
* Have you tried recreating the PostScript and resubmitting the file?
HP/PCL TECHNIQUES/QUESTIONS:
* What printer driver was the pcl file created with? Make sure you have the
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 the results?
* Has this exact same pcl file been printed on a second PCL printer? What were
the results?
* What are the specific image errors viewed by the customer? A PCL file will
continue printing incorrectly and will not leave an error page.
* Have you tried recreating the PCL and resubmitting the file?
Performance
Performance related issues are usually the result of incorrect customer
expectations. There are actually 3 parts to print performance. The time that it
takes the job to get to the printer, the time that it takes for the printer to
process the job (RIP) and the time that it takes for the printer to actually
print the job once it has received it. Let's look at each of these separately.
TRANSFER TIME:
This really has nothing to do with the printer at all. If jobs are taking a
long time to get to the 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 the fact that you
actually have a parallel connection to the printer which has a slower transfer
rate than a network connection. The parallel connection from the print server to
the 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 the process of the printer converting the file sent into image
data that the printer uses to "paint a picture" on the page. If this process
appears to be slow, the first thing to consider is the size of the file being
sent. If you are sending a 5mb file, it is going to take some time to process.
Note: In order to view the true size of the file being processed by the printer,
you must print to file and then find the size of the file after it has been run
through the driver. PostScript files can be as much as 3x larger than the
original file. Send over a simple notepad file with the word "test" on it and
see if there is a significant difference. Find out if the printer's memory is
upgradeable. 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 the manufacturer does not include transfer
or processing time. It only includes print engine speed once the job is
processed. If the printer handles multiple paper sizes, the print speed probably
is referring to the speed for the smallest paper size. If you are printing on
pages larger than 8.5x11 inches, the 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.
About the Author
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.
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