Print Server query

[Kroma]

I've just bought a D-link DP-301P+ parallel print server.

Everything seems to work fine with my HP 970cxi printer except for two
things:

1) The ink statistics will not show - I'm not too bothered about this.
2) When any of the PCs on my network are first turned on and print to the
printer (which is still 'off'), the printer refuses to power up. If then
powered up by hand, it prints some gobbledegook. If the printer is then
powered down again, it will then manage to power up automatically and print
when sent a new job. It is only the first job from a newly-booted PC which
fails to turn the printer on correctly.

I realise that it's easy to simply turn the printer on manually and then
send the job but I can't trust the other members of my household to remember
this (I can foresee hundreds of sheets of gobbledegook and empty ink
cartridges).

I've checked my firewalls and tried both LPR and RAW settings in the printer
setup to no avail.

Any ideas?

TIA,

Kroma

 

[Warren Block]

I've just bought a D-link DP-301P+ parallel print server.

Everything seems to work fine with my HP 970cxi printer except for two
things:

1) The ink statistics will not show - I'm not too bothered about this.
2) When any of the PCs on my network are first turned on and print to the
printer (which is still 'off'), the printer refuses to power up. If then
powered up by hand, it prints some gobbledegook. If the printer is then
powered down again, it will then manage to power up automatically and print
when sent a new job. It is only the first job from a newly-booted PC which
fails to turn the printer on correctly.

First, make sure you have the latest firmware. The website shows 3.10
from 2004, so you probably do.

On the web configuration page, make sure it's set to PJL Printer: No.

If that doesn't help, it's worth trying to adjust the port speed on the
same tab.

 

[Bennett Price]

Not sure but I think the problem lies in the fact that the PC has to
discover the printer as it is booting up. If the printer is off, the PC
booting up doesn't see it and (perhaps) can't send to it because it
doesn't exist. Once it knows about it, the printer can go away for a
while but still exists as far as the PC is concerned. Perhaps a refresh
(F5) on My Computer would accomplish this 'discovery.

 

[Ivor Jones]

Not sure but I think the problem lies in the fact that
the PC has to discover the printer as it is booting up.
If the printer is off, the PC booting up doesn't see it
and (perhaps) can't send to it because it doesn't exist.
Once it knows about it, the printer can go away for a
while but still exists as far as the PC is concerned. Perhaps a refresh
(F5) on My Computer would accomplish
this 'discovery.

Why would the computer need to see the actual physical printer on
booting..? Admittedly I only use network printers, but whenever I've
printed to a printer that isn't switched on, the machine spools the data
to a file and sends it to the printer when it does finally get switched
on. Maybe directly attached devices are different, I don't know, it's been
yonks since I used one.

Ivor

 

[Kroma]

First, make sure you have the latest firmware. The website shows 3.10
from 2004, so you probably do.

On the web configuration page, make sure it's set to PJL Printer: No.

If that doesn't help, it's worth trying to adjust the port speed on the
same tab.

Setting the PJL setting to 'no' made no difference but setting port speed to
'low' seems to have done the trick.

How come it printed ok for all but the first job when sent to high?

Anyway - thanks for solving the problem.

As an additional query - how can I enable the HP toolbox to see the ink
levels or is this asking a bit too much?

Thanks again,

Kroma

 

[Warren Block]

Setting the PJL setting to 'no' made no difference but setting port speed to
'low' seems to have done the trick.

How come it printed ok for all but the first job when sent to high?

I can only guess that the initial burst of data was too fast for the
printer's buffering.

Anyway - thanks for solving the problem.

As an additional query - how can I enable the HP toolbox to see the ink
levels or is this asking a bit too much?

Communication for information like that is almost never supported by
print servers. On the bright side, you may be able to remove the ink
monitor software.