Fuzzy printing with UPD Drivers on HP LaserJet 4200/4250
Hi All,
We recently completed the Print Migration from 2000 to 2003 R2. We have huge variety of HP models in our environment and all others are working fine except HP Laserjet 4250. Users who use some inbuilt applications are having difficulty printing to these printers. The output is fuzzy and letters are overlapping.
We have tried many workarounds without any luck. When we switch back the drivers from UPD to "HP LaserJet 4250 PS" the output is fine. But with UPD the output is fuzzy. I cannot blame this on UPD drivers because one of the HP LJ 4250 works fine with UPD drivers and users can print it to fine. I compared the firmware on these printers and updated them and still it did not help.
Thanks very much for any help or ideas you can provide.
We recently completed the Print Migration from 2000 to 2003 R2. We have huge variety of HP models in our environment and all others are working fine except HP Laserjet 4250. Users who use some inbuilt applications are having difficulty printing to these printers. The output is fuzzy and letters are overlapping.
We have tried many workarounds without any luck. When we switch back the drivers from UPD to "HP LaserJet 4250 PS" the output is fine. But with UPD the output is fuzzy. I cannot blame this on UPD drivers because one of the HP LJ 4250 works fine with UPD drivers and users can print it to fine. I compared the firmware on these printers and updated them and still it did not help.
Thanks very much for any help or ideas you can provide.
ASKER
Thanks for the reponse David.
Under Advanced Tab:
Start Printing after that page is spooled selected. (this is selected already)
Enable Advanced Printing Features: Not Ticked (I unchecked this option)
Under Advanced Tab/Print Processor :
Ensure Winprint-RAW is selected. (This is selected).
So, after unchecking "enable advanced printing features" it still printing fuzzy output. Can you please tell me how to check if it is picking up UPD for a pool queue ?
I tried updating firmware already and it did not resolve the issue.
Thanks again.
Under Advanced Tab:
Start Printing after that page is spooled selected. (this is selected already)
Enable Advanced Printing Features: Not Ticked (I unchecked this option)
Under Advanced Tab/Print Processor :
Ensure Winprint-RAW is selected. (This is selected).
So, after unchecking "enable advanced printing features" it still printing fuzzy output. Can you please tell me how to check if it is picking up UPD for a pool queue ?
I tried updating firmware already and it did not resolve the issue.
Thanks again.
UPD = MFD (my typing is really bad today!)
What port is the pool queue using? A local port or one of the devices?
Can you set it to be the IP address of one of the problematic devices, then get it to "auto-configure" form the device functionality?
What port is the pool queue using? A local port or one of the devices?
Can you set it to be the IP address of one of the problematic devices, then get it to "auto-configure" form the device functionality?
ASKER
Hi David,
How do we set "auto-configure" form the device functionality. I dont see such settings. Am I missing something?
Please advice.
Thanks.
How do we set "auto-configure" form the device functionality. I dont see such settings. Am I missing something?
Please advice.
Thanks.
I'm not infront of one here, but it should be under the printing preferences, advanced if it supports it.
ASKER
David -
Good Morning. I have no luck with this so far. I installed old drivers i.e HP LJ4250 PS on one of the printers and it just works fine. I am skeptical of using this solution since we are strictly planning to use only UPD on our new print servers.
These are all production printers which is affecting a good number of users. I may have to try some more steps fast before compromising on installing old drivers.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Good Morning. I have no luck with this so far. I installed old drivers i.e HP LJ4250 PS on one of the printers and it just works fine. I am skeptical of using this solution since we are strictly planning to use only UPD on our new print servers.
These are all production printers which is affecting a good number of users. I may have to try some more steps fast before compromising on installing old drivers.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Ok. So the UPD is imperative....
I can try and dig out some clients which use the LPD...with a mix of output devices....can you add a spool file from a non confidential document (not a one line document or test page) and add it to this. I'll compare it to my HP UPD.
I can try and dig out some clients which use the LPD...with a mix of output devices....can you add a spool file from a non confidential document (not a one line document or test page) and add it to this. I'll compare it to my HP UPD.
Hmm. It's a custom application...can you give me a brief description of whats hosting this and print method?
ASKER
I am now trying to swap the Ip addresses of the print queues (between the 4200 which gives good o/p and bad 4200 which gives fuzzy o/p) to check if this is machine related or driver related one more time.
I may have to check with Application owners regarding the information who have asked for. And please could you tell how to find print method. (Are you mentioning about how users print i.e like File>Print or through application)
Thanks.
I may have to check with Application owners regarding the information who have asked for. And please could you tell how to find print method. (Are you mentioning about how users print i.e like File>Print or through application)
Thanks.
ASKER
Swapping the Ip addresses did not work and I manually upgraded the firmware again instead of HP Webjet Admin. Also I tried creating the print queue with UPD drivers on different server still without luck.
When a user tries to print to this app the font is shown in the print setup window before printing.One interesting thing which I found is that, when user prints to this application to print queue with UPD the font selected is greyed out and it is blank. If user tries to print to print queue with old drivers the font is selected to "Courier New". I was informed that printing to this application will only work fine if the font is set to Courier New.
So I am thinking this is something to do with the Application compatabilty and that they the app is programmed (PS - This is an old application). I will keep you posted what I find after talking to Application Developers.
Dave - Thanks for your time and responses so far.
When a user tries to print to this app the font is shown in the print setup window before printing.One interesting thing which I found is that, when user prints to this application to print queue with UPD the font selected is greyed out and it is blank. If user tries to print to print queue with old drivers the font is selected to "Courier New". I was informed that printing to this application will only work fine if the font is set to Courier New.
So I am thinking this is something to do with the Application compatabilty and that they the app is programmed (PS - This is an old application). I will keep you posted what I find after talking to Application Developers.
Dave - Thanks for your time and responses so far.
Thanks for the update. I can't see it using a font the UPD doesn't support though so we'll leave it to the developers.......
ASKER
Hi Dave,
I am still waiting to hear from the users and developers. Will update you tomorrow.
I am still waiting to hear from the users and developers. Will update you tomorrow.
ASKER
Hi Dave,
I did narrow down the problem. We are actually having multiple issues now with UPD. Main issues are Overlapping font, Fuzzy printing. Fuzzy printing occurs when users tries to print any document and overlapping font problem happens with just one application.
This time I FTP'ed the printer and manually uploaded the Firmware and rebooted the printer. Then I opened the print queue, device settings > installable options > automatic configuration > selected "update now". This talked to the printer and validated it and dynamically updated the print queue. That did the trick !!!!!
Now users dont have the Fuzzy printing issue anymore.
However, I still dont have luck with the Overlapping font when users print to that application. After updating the firmware, i changed the font substitution for "Courier New" to dont substitute and still it wont fix. I am going to try delete all the drivers and print queues installed locally on one of the users workstation and install this printer and see if that helps. Developers dont have any clue of this issue. So if this doesn't work I will roll back the old drivers on these printers.
If you have any other suggestions please let me know. Thanks again and Good Night.
I did narrow down the problem. We are actually having multiple issues now with UPD. Main issues are Overlapping font, Fuzzy printing. Fuzzy printing occurs when users tries to print any document and overlapping font problem happens with just one application.
This time I FTP'ed the printer and manually uploaded the Firmware and rebooted the printer. Then I opened the print queue, device settings > installable options > automatic configuration > selected "update now". This talked to the printer and validated it and dynamically updated the print queue. That did the trick !!!!!
Now users dont have the Fuzzy printing issue anymore.
However, I still dont have luck with the Overlapping font when users print to that application. After updating the firmware, i changed the font substitution for "Courier New" to dont substitute and still it wont fix. I am going to try delete all the drivers and print queues installed locally on one of the users workstation and install this printer and see if that helps. Developers dont have any clue of this issue. So if this doesn't work I will roll back the old drivers on these printers.
If you have any other suggestions please let me know. Thanks again and Good Night.
Re-enable the advanced printing features again then - this may be causing that particular issue
ASKER
Dave, the Advanced Printing features is enabled already.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
On the UPD, try the following withing the properties:
Advanced Tab:
Start Printing after that page is spooled selected.
Enable Advanced Printing Features: Not Ticked
Advanced Tab;Print Processor:
Ensure Winprint-RAW is selected.
Theres a couple of other things we can check - if it's picking up device settings/available options from the UPD for a pool queue, which device is the pool queueu looking at...
The firmware on the problematic devices may be older and an update may make for better output.