Slow network printing in Windows XP

[Anders Blomkvist]

We have a HP LJ4000TN printer connected using 10HD to a
switch. The printer is configured using TCP/IP-port to a
printserver running 2003 Server which is connected to the
same switch using 100FD. The printserver is sharing the
printer using latest PCL6 driver from HP. We've disabled
SNMP, Bidirectional communication and advanced features
for the printer and set all trays to A4 format.
The clients use either W2K Pro or XP Pro - they are all
connected to the switch using 100FD and are updated with
the latest SP's and patches from Microsoft.
Problem:
The print performance on the XP clients are half the one
on the W2K clients - 8ppm vs 16ppm. Also the time from
print start to first page finish differs a lot - 24s vs
15s. According to printer specs from HP correct values
should be 16ppm and around 12-13s.

We've set the LPT_Timeout under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/WOW
from 15s default to 3s without and change.

What other configuration changes can be made on in the XP
environment to enhance printer performance?

 

[Colin Nash [MVP]]

Try creating a port on one of the clients that points to the print device's
IP. (In other words, bypass the 2003 server.) This will let you narrow the
problem down for troubleshooting purposes.

On a related note, are you noticing that it is taking longer to spool the
document from XP (have a look at the print queue on the server) ? Or does
the problem seem to occur after the job is spooled?

 

[Anders Blomkvist]

Spooling is quite fast - of course it depends on wether we
choose to begin printing after first page spooled or after
entire document has spooled.
We've configured a new printer using a TCP/IP port to the
printer JetDirect card with same PCL6 driver and there is
no change in performance. So it seems the problem is not
related to the printserver but rather the XP client
(remember the W2K client is twice as fast with the same
setup).