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Slow printing with Windows 2003 print server compared to NT4 printserver.

I have recently upgraded my servers and network software.
I have gone from NT4 to Windows 2003 on all my primary servers.

I have installed all printers on my new Domaincontroler.

But now Iam experienceing slow printing to one of my printers.
I have still the old NT4 box running with the printer shared aswell, and if I print via that server everything works just fine.
(Iam printing big CAD drawings and projects to the printer which is a HP Laserjet 5.)
I have tested with a HP6p printer and it seems to have the same issue.... fast print on NT4 but slow print via 2003.

All settings on each server are the excact same for the printers.

Any ideas why its slower via Windows 2003?

If you need more information please post your questions.

Thanks in advance.

infotrader

Have you tried bumpping up the printing priority? Try setting it to 99 for kicks and see if that improves any.

- Info

crissand

You need more memory and faster processor to get the same speed in w2k3 which is also domain controller.

Grodel

ASKER

Yeah Ive tried that.
No difference in printing speed :(

Grodel

ASKER

The old Box:
P2 350Mhz with 1gb RAM

New Box:
P4 XEON 3.0GHZ with 2GB RAM

And all its running is DC and Print.

I have file, mail and apps on their own servers.

If thats not enough I have a problem :)

Tim Holman

Could be SMB signing ? If you use XP clients, then look at this:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=814112

crissand

I think the hardware configuration is ok. You can now verify if the spooling or the printing process is slower. Choose a one page project and print it. Try to monitor the printer on the server, where you can see the spooling and the printing process. If the printing is slow, you may need to reconfigure the printer port. If the spooling is slow, it's a network or harddisk problem. I've seen this when I've replaced and old server with scsi disks with a new one with ide mirror.

Grodel

ASKER

Ok... Ive checked SMB signing and it dosnt seem to be the problem.

There is no network or hardware slowdown.
The network is the same if I use the old server or the new server. (They run at the same time and when using the old server the prints fly out but when using the new server the printer prints a page and the says processing job)
I did check the "Print after each page" setting and it dosnt make a difference.
The new server is 10 times faster than the old server.

Any more suggestions?
Anything I can try please :)

Thanks

crissand

There are another settings to compare on the two print servers: Bidirectional printing, print directly to the port and the print processor.

Tim Holman

To reiterate - are you saying that the printer is directly connected to the NT server via parallel cable, and printing works fast, but when you put that cable into a W2003 server, things are about 10 times as slow ?
In this case, I would suspect drivers.

Grodel

ASKER

No.. the printer is on a HP printserver.
So its a network printer.

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Tim Holman

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crissand

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Grodel

ASKER

I never really found the answer to this.. I suspect it to be some sort of driver/port problem.
I have other printers installed on the server that works just fine.

The solution was to buy a new faster printer.... so now everyone is happy except our financial manager :)

I have split the points between 2 of you since you both came up with good answers :)

Thanks