Why are my network printers so slow?

[Guest]

We installed two printers on the LAN, the installations went smoothly. These
printers had been connected to the networked computers via parallel ports -
now they are both directly connected to the LAN.

Now, however, the printer response time is very slow. For example, just
trying to open the Properties for either printer can take around 30 seconds!
Sending a simple document also seems to take the initial 30 second dead time
before the printer begins printing.

When the printers were connected via their parallel ports, they both
responded
immediately, so I'm sure the problem is with the LAN, but where???

No firewalls or antivirus software is installed anywhere on the network.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Guest]

We have the same problem with network printers. We had good response time
with Wind 98 going to the same printers and network as we do now with XP Prof
with SP 2. We are in a teaching lab with 13 PCs, we did not change anything
except put in new PCs with XP Pro and SP2.

Now it takes up to 30 sec for any print function, e.g., Print, Print
Preview, Page Setup. This occurs for any Office 2003 products and Outlook
Express, etc. There is also a delay when openning Word or Excel since they
must be checking the default Printer status.

Our LAN network uses CISCO 2900 Series XL switch with Win 98 SE serving as
print server for 2 HP deskjet printers.

We tried defining a local LPT printer port as suggested on an item on the
Internet but it did not help.

We need help as it really slows down our classes.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[GTS]

Sorry I have no answer on this, but you're not alone. I'm guessing you're
running SP2? There have been various reports of this problem, and two of
my clients are experiencing it only on some workstations . I've seen the
theory reported that
a subtle bug in SP2 GDI32.DLL may involve a memory conflict with certain
video drivers, but nothing concrete. Microsoft really needs to get to work
and get a fix out for this.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the responses. At least now I know I'm not losing my mind (what
there is left of it, anyway ;-))

Yes, XP Pro SP2. And to think I waited for SP2 in the hopes problems like
this would have been resolved...

I did some more searching around the 'net on this problem. It seems pretty
common. Unfortunately, I could find no solutions.

C'mon, Microsoft. We need you now!