Printing Problem

[Guest]

Hi,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.

We run XP Pro and XPe on our Point of Sale devices and are having problems
with the printing. Our Point of Sale app passes the print job off to Windows
which then manages it through native Windows printing. The problem we have
is that we're getting a large number of jobs stuck in the print queue. When
I examine the queue I see one stuck in a "Deleting" state holding all
subsequent jobs back.

Googling seems to find that the most popular method of fixing this is
restarting the Print Spooler server which does fix the problem but isn't
practical in a POS environment when we're actively trying to keep the user
*away* from the OS.

Is this a known issue with XP Pro\XPe? Is there a better way to handle
this? Am I better looking for third party Print Server software for this?

Thanks,

Andy.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.

We run XP Pro and XPe on our Point of Sale devices and are having problems
with the printing. Our Point of Sale app passes the print job off to Windows
which then manages it through native Windows printing. The problem we have
is that we're getting a large number of jobs stuck in the print queue. When
I examine the queue I see one stuck in a "Deleting" state holding all
subsequent jobs back.

Googling seems to find that the most popular method of fixing this is
restarting the Print Spooler server which does fix the problem but isn't
practical in a POS environment when we're actively trying to keep the user
*away* from the OS.

Is this a known issue with XP Pro\XPe? Is there a better way to handle
this? Am I better looking for third party Print Server software for this?

As someone who works with a large scale print control solution on both
Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003, I know this frustration
firsthand. There are probably a couple things you can try to remedy
this problem. A couple question's first:

1. Are the printer driver for the POS machine up to date?
2. A re you currently running Service Pack 2?
3. What kind of printer or print device is this?
4. Is this print queue on the POS machine or a server?
5. Are the printer driver PS, PCL5e, or PCL6?
6. Check the setting on the printer driver's Advanced tab > Print
Processor and ensure it is set to WinPrint for Print Processor and
Default Data Type set to RAW. Be sure to write down the original
settings if you are changing them from something else should it mess
up the print output.

You could try getting the fix from this article
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905519/en-us) for free from Microsoft
as it is within the domain of the problem you're seeing.

Also a bit on the fringe but possibly related, this KB Article might
help as well: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Guest]

As someone who works with a large scale print control solution on both

Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003, I know this frustration
firsthand. There are probably a couple things you can try to remedy
this problem. A couple question's first:

1. Are the printer driver for the POS machine up to date?
2. A re you currently running Service Pack 2?
3. What kind of printer or print device is this?
4. Is this print queue on the POS machine or a server?
5. Are the printer driver PS, PCL5e, or PCL6?
6. Check the setting on the printer driver's Advanced tab > Print
Processor and ensure it is set to WinPrint for Print Processor and
Default Data Type set to RAW. Be sure to write down the original
settings if you are changing them from something else should it mess
up the print output.

You could try getting the fix from this article
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905519/en-us) for free from Microsoft
as it is within the domain of the problem you're seeing.

Also a bit on the fringe but possibly related, this KB Article might
help as well: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203

- Thee Chicago Wolf

Thanks for the reply.

The printers in question are Epson TM-T88III and TM-T90s. The drivers are
up to date and the OS is on SP2. The print queue is on a POS machine but
this also acts as a print server for some other POS machines. One POS
machine has to be nominated to manage each printer. Print processor is
already set to WinPrint and RAW.

I'm unsure if the driver is PS or PCL, didn't notice anything on the install
or properties which states either. I'm running the Epson Advanced Printer
Driver, the ATM301e.

Thanks for the links, the first one sounds promising. Ours is a
temperamental issue so it's maybe not exactly the same tho but I'll apply for
the hotfix anyway.

Andy.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

The printers in question are Epson TM-T88III and TM-T90s. The drivers are

up to date and the OS is on SP2. The print queue is on a POS machine but
this also acts as a print server for some other POS machines. One POS
machine has to be nominated to manage each printer. Print processor is
already set to WinPrint and RAW.

I'm unsure if the driver is PS or PCL, didn't notice anything on the install
or properties which states either. I'm running the Epson Advanced Printer
Driver, the ATM301e.

Thanks for the links, the first one sounds promising. Ours is a
temperamental issue so it's maybe not exactly the same tho but I'll apply for
the hotfix anyway.

No problem. It's tough to say whether it's PCL or PS by looking at the
driver description on the Advanced tab of the printer properties. The
only way to know is if you had the actual driver set or if somewhere
in the printer properties box on either one of the tabs or the
sub-menus in printing preferences or printing defaults there is an
"About" button or an "About" tab that will detail this. On HP printers
is does tell you if it's PCL or Postscript.

You can request the hotfixes from Microsoft here:
https://support.microsoft.com/contactus2/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1410&WS=hotfix

Enter the Article Number as KB905519
Product and version affected: Windows XP SP2
Platform is x86
English
Lastly, put in a valid e-mail address.

Turn around time is anywhere from a couple hours to 8 hours. They send
a link to the e-mail address you supplied and you can click the link
to download the file. It is password protected but they tell this to
you in an e-mail.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

I'm unsure if the driver is PS or PCL, didn't notice anything on the install

or properties which states either. I'm running the Epson Advanced Printer
Driver, the ATM301e.

I also forgot to mention that you could also try disabling "Enable
advanced printing features" on the POS machine Advanced tab to see if
it helps. If it's already disabled, don't enable it.

- Thee Chicago Wolf