Network Printer

[Seikel778]

Recently I have not been able to print to a HP Officejet Pro 8500 A910 network printer from PDF-Xchange Viewer. I can print from other programs, including other PDF readers to the printer, and I can print from PDF- Xchange Viewer to a laser jet connected to the computer. The documents are listed in the print queue, but they do not print. Resetting the printer has no effect.

Does anyone have a solution.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Seikel778,

Are you using the latest build of our Viewer?
Also do you have the "Print as images" option selected, And can you please monitor how big the print jobs get when you send them to the printer?

Also please make sure that you have the latest drivers for your HP printer installed on your computer and that it is turned on and awake when you try to print to it.

Best,
Stefan

[Seikel778]

I have done that. It seems to be working now, but I have used a lot of paper and ink in testing. I will keep using it as required and see how it works. Some additional comments: 1) On occasion, the job would print but it would not be removed from the print queue; 2) Although the size of the PDF file might be relatively modest, the indicated size of the job sent to the printer would be huge, for example a 2 page 1.5 MB file might be 93 MB when sent to the printer -- this may have been similar with another reader.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Seikel778,

By "I have done that." you mean enabling the "print as image" option?

Glad to hear that helped, and if this does not put much stress on your network - please keep this option enabled for a while until we release v3 of our Viewer that will not suffer from the same printing issues.

Best,
Stefan

[Seikel778]

Stefan:

I tried to go about this methodically, making one change at a time and then testing, but was a little pressed for time so my precedure may have gotten compressed. I think it was this sequence:

1) Update PDFx from build 201 t0 205 -- but that did not seem to solve the problem.
2) Checked Print as Images option -- it had not been checked. BTW, one of the PDF files I was having problems with was an image file since the pages had been compiled from a scanned document.
3) Rebooted printer and computer.
4) Downloaded and installed the latest printer driver, although I am not sure what version was previously installed.
5) Uninstalled PDFx Viewer using Revo Uninstaller, downloaded installer from Softronic (Tracker website was down for maintenance), but this took me back to build 201.

I was able to get one of the problem documents, the PDF image file which I mentioned, printed over the network, but I am not sure the problem has been completely resolved. I do not have the time at the moment to do more complete testing.

My network capacity should be up to the tasks. We have a hardwired home network with a recently installed 10/100/1000 Netgear 18 port switch, although our computer NICs are still 10/100. I don't know whether the internal wiring is CAT 5, 5e or 5E, but since it was only installed about 4 years ago I think it should be at least 5e. Although we have seventeen outlets in the apartment, there are only three computers connected, and no more than two of them are accessing the home network at any given time (plus at times two iPhones connected via wi-fi). At present the network printer is connected to the AT&T UVerse Gateway (router/modem/hub(switch?)/WAP which is connected to the home LAN and the twisted pair phone line. Perhaps it would be better if I connected the network printer directly to the home LAN. At present our UVerse ADSL connection is giving download speeds of only 6-8 mbps due to limitations of the internal wiring in our older apartment building. However, I am looking forward to the near future when we will have a 1 gbps connection via optical fiber, but that will not affect the network printer and still be subject to the limitations of our 100 mbps NICs, but that is not too shabby.

[Nico - Tracker Supp]

Hi Seikel778,

Thank you for the information provided.
We have had issues before with Network printers when Windows drivers were configured as 'Network printer' instead of a 'TCP/IP node'.
This is something you definitely want to try (to configure the driver as a TCP/IP node instead of a Windows Network printer).
Thanks.

Sincerely,

[Seikel778]

Hi Seikel778,

Thank you for the information provided.
We have had issues before with Network printers when Windows drivers were configured as 'Network printer' instead of a 'TCP/IP node'.
This is something you definitely want to try (to configure the driver as a TCP/IP node instead of a Windows Network printer).
Thanks.

Sincerely,

Okay, how do I get there? I am not sure how my driver is configured at the moment, and I have tried everything I can think of to determine that. It seems to be configured now a a Network Printer, but before it was configured as a printer with an IP or Mac address.

Here is the information which I can find:

Status: Connected
Host Name: HP2D8CDE
IP Address: 192.168.1.66
Hardware (MAC) Address: 68B5992D8CDE

Network Protocols
To operate properly on a TCP/IP network, the device must be configured with valid TCP/IP network configuration parameters, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address that is valid for your network.
The device supports two versions of this protocol: version 4 (IPv4) and version 6 (IPv6).
IPv4 and IPv6 can be enabled individually, or simultaneously.
Enable both IPv4 and IPv6

The device supports raw IP printing through TCP Port 9100. This HP-proprietary TCP/IP port on the printer is the default port for printing. It is accessed by HP software (for example, the HP Standard Port).
Enable TCP Port 9100 Printing

Does that information help?

Oliver

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Oliver,

So is there a check box near the "Enable TCP Port 9100 Printing" - and have you checked that?

Best,
Stefan

[Seikel778]

Hi Oliver,

So is there a check box near the "Enable TCP Port 9100 Printing" - and have you checked that?

Best,
Stefan

Yes. The following, which appear under Advanced Settings, are enabled

Bonjour with 9100 Printing as the highest priority serice – the alternative is LPD
SNMPv1 Reas-Write Access with no community names
WINS, with on WINS server addresses designated
SLP
LPD
TCP Port 9100 Printing
Do Not Redirect to HTTPS
WS Discovery and WSD Print
Syslog
IPP

The only Advanced Setting that is not enabled is DHCPv4 FQDN

I must admit that I do not understand what most of that is about.

I just successfully did a print job from PDFx. The document both printed and did not remain in the print queue after printing. So, all is well, at least for the moment.

Oliver

[Nico - Tracker Supp]

Hi Seikel778,

Thanks for the update.
Please keep us posted if you have any issues.
Thanks.

Sincerely,