PS errors printing slides, Vista, 07, need compatible printer list

[Don Grier]

Our school has Office 2007 Pro Academic Open license edition updated to SP1
on Dell Vostros running Vista Home basic. Most times, when a student sends a
powerPoint project to the printer, we get a printed Postcript error on our
network Samsung ML-2152n 's. The error is as follows

ERROR: limitcheck
OFFENDING COMMAND: eofill

STACK:

We get the same error using the Samsung Vista PCL 6, Postscript and GDI
(also PCL) drivers. We don't get the error from XP SP2 machines running
Office 07. I understand the error indicates the document is too complex to
fit in printer memory. The presentations are straight out of the textbook
and not very complex. I've installed the PDF export module, which "flattens"
the document and expidites printing (I'm used to exporting to PDF from
InDesign, PhotoShop for the Mac). The instructor says the students are still
getting errors, which indicates the students aren't willing to use the
workaround.

The admin wants to buy new printers for the lab anyway. How much buffer
memory do I need to print any presentation without errors or the workaround?
Can anyone recommend a specific model of monochrome network laser that you
have used without problems with Vista and Office 07.

 

[Dale]

Don,

I don't have the experience with Vista, but our entire corporation runs on
HP models
4240N 4250N for B&W and 4700N for color jobs. Never gotten an error and my
users have cranked some pretty intense jobs into these units.
Hope that helps.

Dale

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Our school has Office 2007 Pro Academic Open license edition updated to SP1
on Dell Vostros running Vista Home basic. Most times, when a student sends a
powerPoint project to the printer, we get a printed Postcript error on our
network Samsung ML-2152n 's. The error is as follows

ERROR: limitcheck
OFFENDING COMMAND: eofill

STACK:

We get the same error using the Samsung Vista PCL 6, Postscript and GDI
(also PCL) drivers.

You get PostScript errors using a PCL driver? Something's not right there.

We don't get the error from XP SP2 machines running

Office 07. I understand the error indicates the document is too complex to
fit in printer memory.

I don't believe that's quite correct. It's been a long time since I ran into
one of these but it was possible to produce it, at least on some devices, with a
single gradient filled shape on a slide. In other words, the complexity of the
slide hasn't much to do with it.

One reliable example was a bit of clip art that was quite popular, a drawing of
a businesswoman. She had earrings on, only one was visible, and it was a
gradient filled circle. Problem was that the earing was so teeny on output that
the interpreter was asked to fit 200+ gradient steps into < 100 device pixels.
Instant limitcheck/eofill error every time.

Look for tiny gradient filled shapes.

Try the divide and conquer approach on a single slide known to produce the
error; delete half the shapes, print. If that doesn't error, go back to your
other copy of the slide, delete the other half of the shapes, print ... and so
on until you've narrowed it down to the shape(s) that cause the explosion.

Obviously this isn't something you can do as a routine. Or more than once,
probably, before madness sets in. But it could give you an idea of what feature
in PPTs cause the PSExplosions.

 

[Don Grier]

Thanks for the feedback. Steve, I'll try to ID the offending graphic, but
all these prjects are out of a textbook and I doubt the instructor will want
to modify them. As far as I can tell, my export to Acrobat workaround always
works (the number of students printing appears to be a factor), but my
instructions got erased from the board and even my student assistant didn't
know about it.

I'll see if the text publisher has a forum, if it is in the graphics that
come with the book (Office 07 oriented), I'd think other schools would have
encountered the error. I'm puzzled that it doesn't effect the Office 07/XP
workstations.

The admin wants to shift the Samsungs to another room anyway. I just wanted
to make sure their wasn't a list of printers know to be more compatible with
07 before ordering new ones.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks for the feedback. Steve, I'll try to ID the offending graphic, but
all these prjects are out of a textbook and I doubt the instructor will want
to modify them.

Understood ... but knowing what causes the problem can help solve it when it crops up
elsewhere, and I'd certainly let the publisher know of the problem.

As far as I can tell, my export to Acrobat workaround always

works (the number of students printing appears to be a factor), but my
instructions got erased from the board and even my student assistant didn't
know about it.

I'll see if the text publisher has a forum, if it is in the graphics that
come with the book (Office 07 oriented), I'd think other schools would have
encountered the error. I'm puzzled that it doesn't effect the Office 07/XP
workstations.

Different drivers/different graphics subsystem ... I'm not surprised that there are
differences.

The admin wants to shift the Samsungs to another room anyway. I just wanted
to make sure their wasn't a list of printers know to be more compatible with
07 before ordering new ones.

Not that I know of, but one thing you may want to check on is whether the new
printers have genuine Adobe PS or an emulation. Acrobat is The Real Thing,
naturally, and the fact that it works where another PS implementation doesn't may
point The Finger at a possible problem.