issue with spooler - maybe - maybe not - i don't know

Sending a PCL5 file to a windows print queue that points to a brand new HP LJ P9050 printer attched via TCP/IP gives me an "error - printing" message when watching the windows print queue after exactly 128kb. Error does not happen all the time, normally can send one file and subsequent sends (even of the same file) result in the same error.

What I have tried thus far:

1) swap out the network cable
2) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL5e drivers
3) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL6 drivers
4) stop and start the spooler (net stop spooler net start spooler)

The way our system works is as follows:

a) I create a Standard TCP/IP port that points to the IP address of the printer using the drivers of the printer.
b) The software we use as print manager then creates a windows printer with Standard/Text Only drivers which points to the port defined in (a)
b) When the software goes to print, it sends the print job to the windows printer which then passes it to the windows port in pass through mode. This means (in our world) no transformation of the print, and since it's HP PCL5 that we are printing, it should print fine.

We have a number of brand new HP9050 printers, some local and some remote. By this I mean, some are in the same building as the server and some are not. The ones in the same building are set up the exact same way as the one I am having a problem with, which just so happens to be installed in a remote location about 300 miles away.

I can ping the printer using the IP address/dns entry and I can see it via the embedded web server so I'm sure it's not the hardware. And since I am using the same HP PCL5e drivers on other printers without issue (compounded by the fact that I also tried the PCL6 drivers at the suggestion of an HP techie) I do not believe it to be the drivers.

The only thing that I can think of is that the print spooler is having a problem with the job either due to time or content. I lean more towards time because I can print the exact same file locally without any problems.

My question is (and I don't mind googling as I have done a fair amount of it) where can I turn on some sort of logging so that I can see more details than just "error - printing". I see nothing in the event log of the server and nothing on the printer (which doesn't suprise me considering it's not getting out of the server to the printer).

I have been battling with this issue for almost 2 weeks now. The last thing I had the person who is in the local location do is to swap out the memory, to put the original memory back in the printer thinking that the memory I replaced it with (a 500 MB stick) might be bad.

Any suggestions would be very welcome as I am quite well mired down in this.

Thanks

On 2010-02-10, Chris P. Bacon < _com> attempted to be clever by saying:
> Sending a PCL5 file to a windows print queue that points to a brand new HP LJ P9050 printer attched via TCP/IP gives me an "error - printing" message when watching the windows print queue after exactly 128kb. Error does not happen all the time, normally can send one file and subsequent sends (even of the same file) result in the same error.

Pardon my error... this line should read "....brand new HP LJ9050...." rather than the "...LJ P9050.." which I orignially typed. I'm sure most who read this will know what I meant in the original, but I would prefer to be as accurate as I can so that the information provided to me is accurate as well.

>

On 2010-02-10, Chris P. Bacon < _com> attempted to be clever by saying:
> Sending a PCL5 file to a windows print queue that points to a brand new HP LJ P9050 printer attched via TCP/IP gives me an "error - printing" message when watching the windows print queue after exactly 128kb. Error does not happen all the time, normally can send one file and subsequent sends (even of the same file) result in the same error.
>
> What I have tried thus far:
>
> 1) swap out the network cable
> 2) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL5e drivers
> 3) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL6 drivers
> 4) stop and start the spooler (net stop spooler net start spooler)


It turns out that the "Error - Printing" message shows up when we try to send to a local printer (local meaning in the same building) so I tried to send
to our remote printer thinking that if I saw the same message in the windows print queue that I did locally then there would be no problem since
the file printed fine each time. And I was correct. The file printed fine each time, no restarts. So I'm thinking that the "error - printing"
is an indication that the spooler is not able to send to the printer because it's busy, but is a message to "wait" for a few minutes, kind of
like a stop sign in the road.

And since no one else had anything to add to this thread, I will update it anyway so that anyone reading will know and benefit from my 2 week long
torture experience

Have you tried turning off bi-directional support under the ip port of the
printer? I had it with a 2600n model.

"Chris P. Bacon" < _com>
wrote in message news:4b77383c$0$12420$...
> On 2010-02-10, Chris P. Bacon
> < _com> attempted to be
> clever by saying:
>> Sending a PCL5 file to a windows print queue that points to a brand new
>> HP LJ P9050 printer attched via TCP/IP gives me an "error - printing"
>> message when watching the windows print queue after exactly 128kb. Error
>> does not happen all the time, normally can send one file and subsequent
>> sends (even of the same file) result in the same error.
>>
>> What I have tried thus far:
>>
>> 1) swap out the network cable
>> 2) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL5e drivers
>> 3) recreate the queue with a fresh set of HP PCL6 drivers
>> 4) stop and start the spooler (net stop spooler net start spooler)
>
>
> It turns out that the "Error - Printing" message shows up when we try to
> send to a local printer (local meaning in the same building) so I tried to
> send
> to our remote printer thinking that if I saw the same message in the
> windows print queue that I did locally then there would be no problem
> since
> the file printed fine each time. And I was correct. The file printed
> fine each time, no restarts. So I'm thinking that the "error - printing"
> is an indication that the spooler is not able to send to the printer
> because it's busy, but is a message to "wait" for a few minutes, kind of
> like a stop sign in the road.
>
> And since no one else had anything to add to this thread, I will update it
> anyway so that anyone reading will know and benefit from my 2 week long
> torture experience
>
>