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Printing problems via NT Server

Hope someone can help..! If I connect an HP Laserjet 4MPlus direct to the Macintosh 7600, it prints everything (postscript, text etc) OK. When I connect to an NT server via Appletalk and send the job through, I get the following errors on the print jobs.

%%[Error:syntaxerror; OffendingCommand: --nostringval-- ]%%
%%[Flushing: rest of job (to end of file) will be ignored]%%

Any ideas (on where to start..!) I assume the driver is OK as it prints OK locally.

Thanks

KevSpencer

Hi, burrowsr.

It's possible that your Mac is still trying to spool the document.

When you printed directly to the printer, your Mac handles the duties that NT handles when the printer is connected. But both Mac and NT get confused when the Mac is spooling a file that will be spooled again by NT.

Try turning background printing off in the Print dialog box. To get there, click on the pop-up menu in the Print dialog that says "General" (it has more selections). Choose Background Printing and set the selection to "Foreground."

Also, make sure you are using the proper PostScript Printer Description file (PPD) from HP. You can download a universal set from http://www.hp.com/.

Good luck.
---KS

CyberGreg

If I understand how Windows NT handles MAC printing correctly, then the problem is due to using an incorrect driver.

Windows NT will allow ANY printer to be hooked up and shared to a Macintosh user. This is because Windows NT does the PostScript translation.

I have an Okidata OL-410e connected directly to my NT server and print to it with ALL of my Mac's.

Try this:
With the printer connected to the NT server and shared properly, select the LaserWriter 8 printer in Chooser and then select the networked printer.

Good Luck
:)

adtx

You have to use a "generic" driver in laserwriter to use with the HP. NT's support for mac print services only emulates a postscript level 1. Any other driver...forget it it may work once or twice thats about it. Make sure to disable the HP extensions on the mac that are used with the printer. Use only laserwriter.

ADTX

adtx

asduk

I've had exactly the same problem with many printers...NT's RIPing of postscript jobs is at best dreadfull.

Three solutions are available to you;

1) Invest in a proper software RIP for your NT Server - something like Harlequin. This is of course not cheap!

2) Network your HP printer.

3) Connect the printer using both Parallel and localtalk cabling.

Not perfect, but NT will regularly cock-up jobs if it's left to do the translation. Believe me.

burrowsr

ASKER

The HP Printer is already networked, so thats satisfied.

Thanks to all for the suggestions - have tried them all to no avail. As if by some quirk of fate, the MAC whent 'bang' and had to rebuild the OS from scratch.

After the rebuild, with a clean OS, all the printing, local and through the NT server is OK!!

Typical eh-? simple solutions are always the last you try.

Thanks again

Rich

mls14

There is a problem that can occur if you print to a laser printer that an NT server is sharing. This problem occurs when using the laserwriter extension for OS 8.6 (and I've seen it with the OS 9 laserwriter extension as well). I remedied the problem by installing an old version of laserwriter 8 (the version that comes with the now freeware system 7.5.3). I don't remember the specifics of why the new driver causes this problem with certain Service Packs of Windows NT 4.0, but if you go to www.macwindows.com, the information should be there. I'm passing this info. on because I am concerned you might have the same problem occur in the future.

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mls14

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