Print jobs preceded by couple of lines of PCL commands

Greetings,

This may actually be a Linksys problem, but I hope there's a workaround
in Vista.

Linksys wireless print server; network of computers (mostly Vista 32,
some XP, one Vista 64, one Linux) that print through it to an HP
LaserJet 1200 printer using HP PCL 5 drivers.

All print jobs are OK, but many of them (somewhat unpredictably) are
preceded by a junk page containing a couple of lines of PCL commands
("PJL COMMENT" and the like).

It is not clear whether the junk page is the beginning of the job or the
tail end of the previous job -- thus I'm not even sure which computers
are generating it. I think the former. That is, I think it is a set of
PCL comments sent at the beginning of the job.

Linksys drivers are not on the PCs. Instead I print through LPR or RAW
protocol (both give the same results) on a TCP/IP port as recommended by
Linksys.

I have tried the WinPrint print processor and 2 versions of the HP print
processor. This seems to slightly change what's on the junk pages but
not eliminate them.

Printing several jobs in succession from the same computer, I usually
don't get junk pages in front of them. But the actual conditions are
hard to pin down. Trying to run around and try all the combinations is
very tedious and I'm hoping someone will have seen this before and be
able to make a specific suggestion.

Any ideas?

Many thanks!

I have at least a partial diagnosis... the printer is not receiving the
first few bytes of each job from the wireless print server. What gets
printed is actually some PCL with the first few bytes missing.

Fortunately, later in the PCL is something that performs a successful
initialization, so the "junk pages" are my only problem.

I am pushing Linksys to fix the print server firmware. It doesn't look
like a Windows problem.

Disable Bidirectional on the Ports tab in any of the Windows configurations.
Linksys states this on their support site.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Michael Covington" <for.address.look@www.ai.uga.edu.slash.mc> wrote in
message news:Opv7y7SOKHA.1796@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Greetings,
>
> This may actually be a Linksys problem, but I hope there's a workaround in
> Vista.
>
> Linksys wireless print server; network of computers (mostly Vista 32, some
> XP, one Vista 64, one Linux) that print through it to an HP LaserJet 1200
> printer using HP PCL 5 drivers.
>
> All print jobs are OK, but many of them (somewhat unpredictably) are
> preceded by a junk page containing a couple of lines of PCL commands ("PJL
> COMMENT" and the like).
>
> It is not clear whether the junk page is the beginning of the job or the
> tail end of the previous job -- thus I'm not even sure which computers are
> generating it. I think the former. That is, I think it is a set of PCL
> comments sent at the beginning of the job.
>
> Linksys drivers are not on the PCs. Instead I print through LPR or RAW
> protocol (both give the same results) on a TCP/IP port as recommended by
> Linksys.
>
> I have tried the WinPrint print processor and 2 versions of the HP print
> processor. This seems to slightly change what's on the junk pages but not
> eliminate them.
>
> Printing several jobs in succession from the same computer, I usually
> don't get junk pages in front of them. But the actual conditions are hard
> to pin down. Trying to run around and try all the combinations is very
> tedious and I'm hoping someone will have seen this before and be able to
> make a specific suggestion.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Many thanks!

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
> Disable Bidirectional on the Ports tab in any of the Windows configurations.
> Linksys states this on their support site.

It is a standard TCP/IP port, LPR protocol, and "Enable bidirectional
support" is already unchecked and grayed out.

Where does Linksys say this? Maybe there are other clues there. I have
not found their support site to be very well organized.

Michael Covington wrote:
> Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
>> Disable Bidirectional on the Ports tab in any of the Windows
>> configurations. Linksys states this on their support site.
>
> It is a standard TCP/IP port, LPR protocol, and "Enable bidirectional
> support" is already unchecked and grayed out.
>
> Where does Linksys say this? Maybe there are other clues there. I have
> not found their support site to be very well organized.
>

I found it (or rather found where somebody had quoted it) and the
crucial setting, described along with what you mention, is "Print
Directly to Printer." Apparently the corruption was connected with
spooling.

Thanks for the pointer.

Michael Covington wrote:
> Michael Covington wrote:
>> Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
>>> Disable Bidirectional on the Ports tab in any of the Windows
>>> configurations. Linksys states this on their support site.
>>
>> It is a standard TCP/IP port, LPR protocol, and "Enable bidirectional
>> support" is already unchecked and grayed out.
>>
>> Where does Linksys say this? Maybe there are other clues there. I
>> have not found their support site to be very well organized.
>>
>
> I found it (or rather found where somebody had quoted it) and the
> crucial setting, described along with what you mention, is "Print
> Directly to Printer." Apparently the corruption was connected with
> spooling.
>
> Thanks for the pointer.

No, that didn't actually fix it either. The problem is somewhat
intermittent (happens maybe 75% of the time, but there are occasional
runs when I can print several jobs in a row without seeing it). I'm
still eager to know if it's fixable.

The PCL commands are coming from the HP printer driver. (Obviously) The
leading data isn't making it to the print server, or it cannot pass it on to
the printer. Some of the print servers use "unique" character sequences for
control, and strip them from the data sent to the printer.

Turns out that this is not an uncommon problem, as we've given up on the
units for similar reasons. A printserver can loose leading data from pages
sent as "RAW" as well. I believe the Mfr took several models off the market
sevral years ago for similar reasons. An old solution was to begin and end
each "job" with a seperator sheet, so that the errors occurred on that
sheet, and did not impact actual printed output.

Admittedly, the problem may actually be a lan related probleml. File
transfer may succeed (some what slowly) under conditions that cause problems
with a simple print server.

"Michael Covington" <for.address.look@www.ai.uga.edu.slash.mc> wrote in
message news:u3Pdv$xOKHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Michael Covington wrote:
>> Michael Covington wrote:
>>> Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
>>>> Disable Bidirectional on the Ports tab in any of the Windows
>>>> configurations. Linksys states this on their support site.
>>>
>>> It is a standard TCP/IP port, LPR protocol, and "Enable bidirectional
>>> support" is already unchecked and grayed out.
>>>
>>> Where does Linksys say this? Maybe there are other clues there. I have
>>> not found their support site to be very well organized.
>>>
>>
>> I found it (or rather found where somebody had quoted it) and the crucial
>> setting, described along with what you mention, is "Print Directly to
>> Printer." Apparently the corruption was connected with spooling.
>>
>> Thanks for the pointer.
>
> No, that didn't actually fix it either. The problem is somewhat
> intermittent (happens maybe 75% of the time, but there are occasional runs
> when I can print several jobs in a row without seeing it). I'm still
> eager to know if it's fixable.