T
Tim
Hi there—hope you can help me with a funky (but highly annoying)
printer problem.
I am running a machine whose OS is Windows XP (Media Center edition,
SP2), connected to an HP Laserjet 2100 via a USB-to-parallel port
adapter. I frequently have to print Adobe 9.0 pdf documents with a lot
of superscript agate type, but my print jobs have been relatively
flawless for the past 3 years with this setup.
I recently upgraded my browser to Firefox 3, and at the same time,
upgraded to Adobe reader 9.0. Shortly thereafter, the pdf’s would
sometimes (not always) begin printing out in “gibberish” with wacky
font substitutions. I did some online research and learned this is a
somewhat common bug to the new Firefox 3, and since I did not find a
decent fix, I simply began using IE 7 as my browser to do these print
jobs. This immediately solved the problem—but only for about a month.
This evening, my pdf’s as downloaded via IE7 began to print in the
same gibberish fashion that Firefox 3 was doing—again, not all the
time, but ALWAYS when I tried to stack 2,3, or 4 small print jobs atop
each other in quick succession.
I then…
1) Ran Windows update—got a bunch of security updates, but no new HP
drivers that I was aware of.
2) Tried to download driver updates directly from HP, but when I ran
the “detect drivers automatically” function, repeatedly got the error
message “cannot determine the driver status for your printer.”
3) Tried to manually select what driver(s) I needed from the list, but
I am clueless as to which I need…There are 7 options, ranging from PCL
type 5e and 6 drivers, plus 3 versions of “universal print
drivers” (PCL5, PCL6, and Postscript).
I am on the fence between picking a driver(s) to install, or maybe
deleting the printer from my Windows “printers” list, then plugging it
back in and seeing if plug & play automatically fetches the drivers
for me.
But really, I am up against my technical limits here, and could use a
point in the right direction. Any advice on what I should do next
would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tim
printer problem.
I am running a machine whose OS is Windows XP (Media Center edition,
SP2), connected to an HP Laserjet 2100 via a USB-to-parallel port
adapter. I frequently have to print Adobe 9.0 pdf documents with a lot
of superscript agate type, but my print jobs have been relatively
flawless for the past 3 years with this setup.
I recently upgraded my browser to Firefox 3, and at the same time,
upgraded to Adobe reader 9.0. Shortly thereafter, the pdf’s would
sometimes (not always) begin printing out in “gibberish” with wacky
font substitutions. I did some online research and learned this is a
somewhat common bug to the new Firefox 3, and since I did not find a
decent fix, I simply began using IE 7 as my browser to do these print
jobs. This immediately solved the problem—but only for about a month.
This evening, my pdf’s as downloaded via IE7 began to print in the
same gibberish fashion that Firefox 3 was doing—again, not all the
time, but ALWAYS when I tried to stack 2,3, or 4 small print jobs atop
each other in quick succession.
I then…
1) Ran Windows update—got a bunch of security updates, but no new HP
drivers that I was aware of.
2) Tried to download driver updates directly from HP, but when I ran
the “detect drivers automatically” function, repeatedly got the error
message “cannot determine the driver status for your printer.”
3) Tried to manually select what driver(s) I needed from the list, but
I am clueless as to which I need…There are 7 options, ranging from PCL
type 5e and 6 drivers, plus 3 versions of “universal print
drivers” (PCL5, PCL6, and Postscript).
I am on the fence between picking a driver(s) to install, or maybe
deleting the printer from my Windows “printers” list, then plugging it
back in and seeing if plug & play automatically fetches the drivers
for me.
But really, I am up against my technical limits here, and could use a
point in the right direction. Any advice on what I should do next
would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tim