This is my first laser, so go easy!!

This is a networked printer set up with the standard HP PCL6 drivers on XP
home....

Its using the standard windows print spooler

When printing word docs, web pages, emails etc it fires up almost
immediately (within a second) of pressing the print button.

If printing a pdf from either IE, Acrobat, or the Scansoft pdf pro 4, it
takes bloody ages, and then only prints 1 page at a time before resting. The
task manager shows no massive CPU useage, and nothing appears to be hanging.

During it sitting, watching the print spooler, the job is being 'transfered'
but only very slowly..

If i print a complex 20 page pdf, it will take 20mins or so! (i.e. a couple
of mb )

I've not played with any settings as yet.

TIA

Tim..

Tim.. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> This is my first laser, so go easy!!
>
> This is a networked printer set up with the standard HP PCL6 drivers on XP
> home....

"Standard HP PCL6 drivers" meaning the ones that came with XP, or new
ones you downloaded from HP for that printer?

> Its using the standard windows print spooler
>
> When printing word docs, web pages, emails etc it fires up almost
> immediately (within a second) of pressing the print button.
>
> If printing a pdf from either IE, Acrobat, or the Scansoft pdf pro 4, it
> takes bloody ages, and then only prints 1 page at a time before resting. The
> task manager shows no massive CPU useage, and nothing appears to be hanging.

This suggests a generic PCL driver that thinks the printer has very
little memory.

It might also suggest an Ethernet autonegotiation problem, but that
would make all printing slow.

As a test, FTP one of the PDFs directly to the printer. It may not
print at all, or may print quickly.

> During it sitting, watching the print spooler, the job is being 'transfered'
> but only very slowly..
>
> If i print a complex 20 page pdf, it will take 20mins or so! (i.e. a couple
> of mb )
>
> I've not played with any settings as yet.

First, make sure you have the latest drivers for your printer.

Then check the driver settings to make sure that the printer is using
all the memory it has.

Then, try a PostScript driver.

Adobe has steadily made Acrobat Reader worse and worse. It's worth
trying an earlier version if you can find one. Version 5 was okay,
downhill since. There's also Foxit and maybe others for Windows.
IE uses the Acrobat plugin for PDFs, and maybe other programs do too.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:28:11 -0000, in comp.periphs.printers "Tim.."
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>This is my first laser, so go easy!!
>
>This is a networked printer set up with the standard HP PCL6 drivers on XP
>home....
>
>Its using the standard windows print spooler
>
>When printing word docs, web pages, emails etc it fires up almost
>immediately (within a second) of pressing the print button.
>
>If printing a pdf from either IE, Acrobat, or the Scansoft pdf pro 4, it
>takes bloody ages, and then only prints 1 page at a time before resting. The
>task manager shows no massive CPU useage, and nothing appears to be hanging.
>
>During it sitting, watching the print spooler, the job is being 'transfered'
>but only very slowly..
>
>If i print a complex 20 page pdf, it will take 20mins or so! (i.e. a couple
>of mb )

Sounds like Acrobat, et al is set up to print as an image in the Advanced
Print Setup in the print dialog box.

Check File => Print click on the Advanced button to bring up the dialog
box. Uncheck print as image if checked.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:28:11 -0000, in comp.periphs.printers "Tim.."
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>This is my first laser, so go easy!!
>>
>>This is a networked printer set up with the standard HP PCL6 drivers on XP
>>home....
>>
>>Its using the standard windows print spooler
>>
>>When printing word docs, web pages, emails etc it fires up almost
>>immediately (within a second) of pressing the print button.
>>
>>If printing a pdf from either IE, Acrobat, or the Scansoft pdf pro 4, it
>>takes bloody ages, and then only prints 1 page at a time before resting.
>>The
>>task manager shows no massive CPU useage, and nothing appears to be
>>hanging.
>>
>>During it sitting, watching the print spooler, the job is being
>>'transfered'
>>but only very slowly..
>>
>>If i print a complex 20 page pdf, it will take 20mins or so! (i.e. a
>>couple
>>of mb )
>
> Sounds like Acrobat, et al is set up to print as an image in the Advanced
> Print Setup in the print dialog box.
>
> Check File => Print click on the Advanced button to bring up the dialog
> box. Uncheck print as image if checked.


Ahh but... If I uncheck "print as image" all i get is afew dots and lines on
the sheet....???


Tim..