Printing PDF files to networked printers

Also posted on Adobe Forums:
---------------------

More and more users in my office are reporting the inability to print PDF
documents using Acrobat 6 Standard to printers (tcp/ip network)

We have about 30 people using this, 10 or so cannot print any PDF files. The
document will spool, dump the to print queue and then off to oblivion. The
following error is recorded in the print server event log:
----
EventID 45 - Document failed to print due to GDI/Driver error in rendering.

Then

Even ID 61 - The document Reports.PDF owned by johnsmith failed to print on
printer HP5500PS. Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 259. No
more data is available.
----

It used to work though, and people on the same OS (xp pro sp2) printing to
the same network printer, with the same drivers can while otheras can't.

In fact, a fellow in our office said he was printing a document in version
6.0 on Friday morning, left the document open and in the afternoon tried to
print it again -- now it wouldn't work. In addition, no pdf files print from
his workstation anymore.

I've tried getting updates for adobe from this site, I've tried rebooting
the print server, I've tried different drivers (newer, pcl vs ps etc.). The
only thing I haven't done yet is delete the printer from the server and
recreate it (which I just thought of now). However, that doesn't explain why
people using the same software / drivers are able to print while the guy
next to him cannot. When the person is unable to print a PDF document, he /
she is unable to print it to *any* printer.

The same people who cannot print PDF files to the printer are able to print
from (as far as I can tell) any other program to the same printer.

Gahhhh!!!
--------------

Thx for any suggestions!

tsc

Hi tsc,

Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not printing
the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the spooler service
before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they print other documents?
Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are the
user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between users that
can and can not print .pdf?


Some of the ideas here may help...
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1

http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
(*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
others...*)

--
HTH,
=d=


Dana Brash
MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA



"TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
news:419a15ea$...
> Also posted on Adobe Forums:
> ---------------------
>
> More and more users in my office are reporting the inability to print PDF
> documents using Acrobat 6 Standard to printers (tcp/ip network)
>
> We have about 30 people using this, 10 or so cannot print any PDF files.
The
> document will spool, dump the to print queue and then off to oblivion. The
> following error is recorded in the print server event log:
> ----
> EventID 45 - Document failed to print due to GDI/Driver error in
rendering.
>
> Then
>
> Even ID 61 - The document Reports.PDF owned by johnsmith failed to print
on
> printer HP5500PS. Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 259.
No
> more data is available.
> ----
>
> It used to work though, and people on the same OS (xp pro sp2) printing to
> the same network printer, with the same drivers can while otheras can't.
>
> In fact, a fellow in our office said he was printing a document in version
> 6.0 on Friday morning, left the document open and in the afternoon tried
to
> print it again -- now it wouldn't work. In addition, no pdf files print
from
> his workstation anymore.
>
> I've tried getting updates for adobe from this site, I've tried rebooting
> the print server, I've tried different drivers (newer, pcl vs ps etc.).
The
> only thing I haven't done yet is delete the printer from the server and
> recreate it (which I just thought of now). However, that doesn't explain
why
> people using the same software / drivers are able to print while the guy
> next to him cannot. When the person is unable to print a PDF document, he
/
> she is unable to print it to *any* printer.
>
> The same people who cannot print PDF files to the printer are able to
print
> from (as far as I can tell) any other program to the same printer.
>
> Gahhhh!!!
> --------------
>
> Thx for any suggestions!
>
> tsc
>
>

Hello Dana,

Thanks for the reply. It is all PDF documents, document1.pdf will print for
one guy, where as document1.pdf will not print for the other (using same
printer / drivers / os). Yes, when the user cannot print PDF files, they
can print to the same printer / driver from any other application -- it is
only PDF files that are not being printed. They get sent to the print
server, I can watch them spool and wait in line in the queue (they are not 0
bytes), but when it's their turn to print, they just vanish. Nothing on
printer, the print status message doesn't pop up in the toolbar on the
client and the two event ids are logged on the print server (id 45 and 61).

User permissions are identical for the users. I have the problem now on my
workstation when I log on using my user id or the administrator account.

There is an option in Acrobat version 6.0 under print options > advanced to
print the document as an image. When this is selected, the document will
print. The downside to this is the document is literally 50x larger and it
takes sooooo long to spool.

I am going berzerkazoid here as this used to work fine and more and more
people now are unable to print PDF documents. For the heck of it I verified
that our AV client software is all running and up to date as now I'm
grasping at straws as to what the cause of this could be.

I'm about to call Adobe support here but I've got a sneaking suspicion
they're going to tell me to pound sand since it leaves the workstation and
gets to the server queue and the events are generated on the server.



"Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
news:u9KHh%23$...
> Hi tsc,
>
> Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not printing
> the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the spooler service
> before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they print other
> documents?
> Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are the
> user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between users that
> can and can not print .pdf?
>
>
> Some of the ideas here may help...
> http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
>
> http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
> (*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
> others...*)
>
> --
> HTH,
> =d=
>
>
> Dana Brash
> MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
>
>
>

TheSingingCat wrote:
> Hello Dana,
>
> Thanks for the reply. It is all PDF documents, document1.pdf will
> print for one guy, where as document1.pdf will not print for the
> other (using same printer / drivers / os). Yes, when the user cannot
> print PDF files, they can print to the same printer / driver from any
> other application -- it is only PDF files that are not being
> printed. They get sent to the print server, I can watch them spool
> and wait in line in the queue (they are not 0 bytes), but when it's
> their turn to print, they just vanish. Nothing on printer, the print
> status message doesn't pop up in the toolbar on the client and the
> two event ids are logged on the print server (id 45 and 61).
>
> User permissions are identical for the users. I have the problem now
> on my workstation when I log on using my user id or the administrator
> account.
>
> There is an option in Acrobat version 6.0 under print options >
> advanced to print the document as an image. When this is selected,
> the document will print. The downside to this is the document is
> literally 50x larger and it takes sooooo long to spool.
>
> I am going berzerkazoid here as this used to work fine and more and
> more people now are unable to print PDF documents. For the heck of
> it I verified that our AV client software is all running and up to
> date as now I'm grasping at straws as to what the cause of this could
> be.
>
> I'm about to call Adobe support here but I've got a sneaking suspicion
> they're going to tell me to pound sand since it leaves the
> workstation and gets to the server queue and the events are generated
> on the server.
>

How big/complex are the PDF files, and how much memory on the printers in
question?
>
>
> "Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
> news:u9KHh%23$...
>> Hi tsc,
>>
>> Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not
>> printing the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the
>> spooler service before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they
>> print other documents?
>> Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are
>> the user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between
>> users that can and can not print .pdf?
>>
>>
>> Some of the ideas here may help...
>>
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
>>
>>
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
>> (*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
>> others...*)
>>
>> --
>> HTH,
>> =d=
>>
>>
>> Dana Brash
>> MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
>>
>>

Have you tried deleting and recreating the printer on the server?
Have you got all the latest updates installed for Acrobat?
Can you try printing from Adobe Reader 6.0.2

It'd be interesting to see what Adobe says. They should help you resolve
the problem, particularly since all other documents are printing. This
would indicate to me that there is a problem in how Acrobat is generating
the print job.

The way you describe that the problem is appearing does sound very much like
virus activity. Could it also be perhaps some type of automatic update on
the clients that is causing this?

--
HTH,
=d=


Dana Brash
MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA



"TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello Dana,
>
> Thanks for the reply. It is all PDF documents, document1.pdf will print
for
> one guy, where as document1.pdf will not print for the other (using same
> printer / drivers / os). Yes, when the user cannot print PDF files, they
> can print to the same printer / driver from any other application -- it
is
> only PDF files that are not being printed. They get sent to the print
> server, I can watch them spool and wait in line in the queue (they are not
0
> bytes), but when it's their turn to print, they just vanish. Nothing on
> printer, the print status message doesn't pop up in the toolbar on the
> client and the two event ids are logged on the print server (id 45 and
61).
>
> User permissions are identical for the users. I have the problem now on
my
> workstation when I log on using my user id or the administrator account.
>
> There is an option in Acrobat version 6.0 under print options > advanced
to
> print the document as an image. When this is selected, the document will
> print. The downside to this is the document is literally 50x larger and
it
> takes sooooo long to spool.
>
> I am going berzerkazoid here as this used to work fine and more and more
> people now are unable to print PDF documents. For the heck of it I
verified
> that our AV client software is all running and up to date as now I'm
> grasping at straws as to what the cause of this could be.
>
> I'm about to call Adobe support here but I've got a sneaking suspicion
> they're going to tell me to pound sand since it leaves the workstation and
> gets to the server queue and the events are generated on the server.
>
>
>
> "Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
> news:u9KHh%23$...
> > Hi tsc,
> >
> > Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not
printing
> > the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the spooler service
> > before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they print other
> > documents?
> > Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are the
> > user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between users
that
> > can and can not print .pdf?
> >
> >
> > Some of the ideas here may help...
> >
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
> >
> >
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
> > (*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
> > others...*)
> >
> > --
> > HTH,
> > =d=
> >
> >
> > Dana Brash
> > MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
> >
> >
> >
>

Hi gang,

Well I figured out my issue thankfully, though I'm at a loss as to explain
how or why it started to occur since nothing was previously alterned on the
print server.

Under the Print Processor Options for the printers, where we typically have
the "winprint" on left side and right side EMF v1.06, 1.07, 1.08, RAW. I
also had listed above winprint 'HPPRN02, HPPRN03 and HPPRN05' - hpprn03 was
selected and using EMF 1.08 (the right side options were all identical to
that of 'winprint')

Suffice to say, when I reinstalled the print drivers, it must have kept
using the hpprn processor, when I changed it to 'winprint' - RAW they
printed out.

I am at a loss as to:
1 - if this was always hpprn for port and EMF why it just stopped printing
one day
2 - if it used to be winprint - how it was switched to hpprn

Rather annoying, but I'm happy to have at least PDFs printing again.


"Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Have you tried deleting and recreating the printer on the server?
> Have you got all the latest updates installed for Acrobat?
> Can you try printing from Adobe Reader 6.0.2
>
> It'd be interesting to see what Adobe says. They should help you resolve
> the problem, particularly since all other documents are printing. This
> would indicate to me that there is a problem in how Acrobat is generating
> the print job.
>
> The way you describe that the problem is appearing does sound very much
> like
> virus activity. Could it also be perhaps some type of automatic update on
> the clients that is causing this?
>
> --
> HTH,
> =d=
>
>
> Dana Brash
> MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
>
>
>
> "TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Hello Dana,
>>
>> Thanks for the reply. It is all PDF documents, document1.pdf will print
> for
>> one guy, where as document1.pdf will not print for the other (using same
>> printer / drivers / os). Yes, when the user cannot print PDF files, they
>> can print to the same printer / driver from any other application -- it
> is
>> only PDF files that are not being printed. They get sent to the print
>> server, I can watch them spool and wait in line in the queue (they are
>> not
> 0
>> bytes), but when it's their turn to print, they just vanish. Nothing on
>> printer, the print status message doesn't pop up in the toolbar on the
>> client and the two event ids are logged on the print server (id 45 and
> 61).
>>
>> User permissions are identical for the users. I have the problem now on
> my
>> workstation when I log on using my user id or the administrator account.
>>
>> There is an option in Acrobat version 6.0 under print options > advanced
> to
>> print the document as an image. When this is selected, the document will
>> print. The downside to this is the document is literally 50x larger and
> it
>> takes sooooo long to spool.
>>
>> I am going berzerkazoid here as this used to work fine and more and more
>> people now are unable to print PDF documents. For the heck of it I
> verified
>> that our AV client software is all running and up to date as now I'm
>> grasping at straws as to what the cause of this could be.
>>
>> I'm about to call Adobe support here but I've got a sneaking suspicion
>> they're going to tell me to pound sand since it leaves the workstation
>> and
>> gets to the server queue and the events are generated on the server.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
>> news:u9KHh%23$...
>> > Hi tsc,
>> >
>> > Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not
> printing
>> > the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the spooler service
>> > before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they print other
>> > documents?
>> > Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are
>> > the
>> > user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between users
> that
>> > can and can not print .pdf?
>> >
>> >
>> > Some of the ideas here may help...
>> >
> http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
>> >
>> >
> http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
>> > (*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
>> > others...*)
>> >
>> > --
>> > HTH,
>> > =d=
>> >
>> >
>> > Dana Brash
>> > MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>

Oh, I also don't understand why it was selective for some users and not
others since they were definitely using the same printer and driver, the
client print settings are all locked (ghosted) so they could not have had
different print processors selected.

"TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
news:...

Maybe, maybe not....Windows clients can and will silently receive an updated
print driver from the server they're printing to when it deems
necessary...maybe this is why is suddenly stopped working for some folks who
previously printed successfully....
"TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Oh, I also don't understand why it was selective for some users and not
> others since they were definitely using the same printer and driver, the
> client print settings are all locked (ghosted) so they could not have had
> different print processors selected.
>
> "TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>
>

Thanks for the update! What an interesting problem.
I wonder if the HP drivers didn't automatically update somehow.
I'll be filing this in my 'why I love Lexmark' file, in case I ever forget.

;-)

--
HTH,
=d=


Dana Brash
MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA



"TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi gang,
>
> Well I figured out my issue thankfully, though I'm at a loss as to explain
> how or why it started to occur since nothing was previously alterned on
the
> print server.
>
> Under the Print Processor Options for the printers, where we typically
have
> the "winprint" on left side and right side EMF v1.06, 1.07, 1.08, RAW. I
> also had listed above winprint 'HPPRN02, HPPRN03 and HPPRN05' - hpprn03
was
> selected and using EMF 1.08 (the right side options were all identical to
> that of 'winprint')
>
> Suffice to say, when I reinstalled the print drivers, it must have kept
> using the hpprn processor, when I changed it to 'winprint' - RAW they
> printed out.
>
> I am at a loss as to:
> 1 - if this was always hpprn for port and EMF why it just stopped printing
> one day
> 2 - if it used to be winprint - how it was switched to hpprn
>
> Rather annoying, but I'm happy to have at least PDFs printing again.
>
>
> "Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > Have you tried deleting and recreating the printer on the server?
> > Have you got all the latest updates installed for Acrobat?
> > Can you try printing from Adobe Reader 6.0.2
> >
> > It'd be interesting to see what Adobe says. They should help you
resolve
> > the problem, particularly since all other documents are printing. This
> > would indicate to me that there is a problem in how Acrobat is
generating
> > the print job.
> >
> > The way you describe that the problem is appearing does sound very much
> > like
> > virus activity. Could it also be perhaps some type of automatic update
on
> > the clients that is causing this?
> >
> > --
> > HTH,
> > =d=
> >
> >
> > Dana Brash
> > MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
> >
> >
> >
> > "TheSingingCat" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> >> Hello Dana,
> >>
> >> Thanks for the reply. It is all PDF documents, document1.pdf will
print
> > for
> >> one guy, where as document1.pdf will not print for the other (using
same
> >> printer / drivers / os). Yes, when the user cannot print PDF files,
they
> >> can print to the same printer / driver from any other application --
it
> > is
> >> only PDF files that are not being printed. They get sent to the print
> >> server, I can watch them spool and wait in line in the queue (they are
> >> not
> > 0
> >> bytes), but when it's their turn to print, they just vanish. Nothing
on
> >> printer, the print status message doesn't pop up in the toolbar on the
> >> client and the two event ids are logged on the print server (id 45 and
> > 61).
> >>
> >> User permissions are identical for the users. I have the problem now
on
> > my
> >> workstation when I log on using my user id or the administrator
account.
> >>
> >> There is an option in Acrobat version 6.0 under print options >
advanced
> > to
> >> print the document as an image. When this is selected, the document
will
> >> print. The downside to this is the document is literally 50x larger
and
> > it
> >> takes sooooo long to spool.
> >>
> >> I am going berzerkazoid here as this used to work fine and more and
more
> >> people now are unable to print PDF documents. For the heck of it I
> > verified
> >> that our AV client software is all running and up to date as now I'm
> >> grasping at straws as to what the cause of this could be.
> >>
> >> I'm about to call Adobe support here but I've got a sneaking suspicion
> >> they're going to tell me to pound sand since it leaves the workstation
> >> and
> >> gets to the server queue and the events are generated on the server.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Dana Brash" <> wrote in message
> >> news:u9KHh%23$...
> >> > Hi tsc,
> >> >
> >> > Are users that are having problems printing and ones that are not
> > printing
> >> > the same document? I've seen corrupted pdf's crash the spooler
service
> >> > before. When the user can not print .pdf's can they print other
> >> > documents?
> >> > Silly question perhaps, but have you rebooted the clients? What are
> >> > the
> >> > user permissions/group membership differences (if any) between users
> > that
> >> > can and can not print .pdf?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Some of the ideas here may help...
> >> >
> >
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
> >> >
> >> >
> >
http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?e...=Print&phase=1
> >> > (*sounds like deleting and re-installing the printer has worked for
> >> > others...*)
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > HTH,
> >> > =d=
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Dana Brash
> >> > MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >
> >
>
>