mgross333
asked on
HP CM2320 LaserJet PCL XL ERROR
This is for my customer; I fix PCs for living.
After installing the Vista 64-bit OS Full Install driver from the HP web site for my customers new CM2320nf MFP printer installed as a network printer (wired to the router), the following errors occur (printing from a Vista 64 bit OS SP2 laptop that is wireless to the router with a 5 bar signal strength). Note: Same problem when installing from install CD that came in the box.
(1) When printing Word 2007 or PDF documents, I get a printed page with error on that page (not on the PC screen)
PCL XL error
Subsystem: KERNEL
Error IllegalOperatorSequence
Operator: EndSession
Position: 15
(2) When printing an Outlook 2007 email, we get a pop up error on the laptop screen saying something like "printer not ready" or similar, then the print que shows the email is printing and then NO PAGE COMES OUT.
(3) Printing a web site (ex. Yahoo) WORKS , it prints fine
(4) Scanning works perfectly
MORE INFO: An Windows XP PC (SP2 or higher) wired to the router BOITH PRINTS AND SCANS FINE INSTALLING FROM THE SAME DRIVER !!
Google Search clearly shows that many people all over the USA have this EXACT PROBLEM WITH THIS EXACT PRINTER.
Example: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-LaserJet/LJ-CM2320nf-prints-PCL-XL-Error/td-p/1125283
and there are many other examples I can provide. FURTHERMORE when I called HP support they essentially acknowledged that this was a known problem at HP.
The general drift of all the forum posts is the printer works with Windows XP but not on some or all Vista and Windows 7 PCs. (Probably "some" lets give HP some credit for not being complete idiots).
So HP's programmers have screwed up big time here on a $750 high end business printer.
The result of calling HP support was the guy said no problem I can fix this, he took remote control of my customers laptop, made some changes (I have no idea what he did), then the HP printer printed Word docs (I tested nothing else) and SCANNING IMMEDIATELY FAILED. He then took remote control again, could not fix the no scan problem and TOLD ME TO UNINSTALL AND REINSTALL THE DRIVER .
My comment on that is: That would lead us right back where we started . Also the manager at HP who I spoke with FIRST REFUSED to transfer me to HP Printer 2nd level support WHO MIGHT ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO HERE.
Does any expert here know how to get this printer to print ALL SOURCES and scan.
Please no general comments like check the connections, power cycle the printer etc. ITS ALL BEEN DONE. Remember HP acknowledges this printer driver has problems and many people have complained. The solution is NOT GOING TO BE THAT SOMETHING SIMPLE. And remember that an XP PC on the same router (wired) can print and scan fine and the problem laptop can print web pages and scan fiine which eliminates virtually all SIMPLE STANDARD solutions.
Oh, the problem laptop can ping the printer OK but you know that since it prints web pages and scan works immediately after install of the full driver.
Laptop is Sony VGN-Z750D. Again OS is Vista 64 bit OS SP2. Router is D-link DIR-825. We are wireless connected to the 2.4 Ghz router, not the other 5 Ghz router in the DIR-825.
Problem occurs with the laptop 1 foot from the router so please nothing about wireless interference.
Mike
After installing the Vista 64-bit OS Full Install driver from the HP web site for my customers new CM2320nf MFP printer installed as a network printer (wired to the router), the following errors occur (printing from a Vista 64 bit OS SP2 laptop that is wireless to the router with a 5 bar signal strength). Note: Same problem when installing from install CD that came in the box.
(1) When printing Word 2007 or PDF documents, I get a printed page with error on that page (not on the PC screen)
PCL XL error
Subsystem: KERNEL
Error IllegalOperatorSequence
Operator: EndSession
Position: 15
(2) When printing an Outlook 2007 email, we get a pop up error on the laptop screen saying something like "printer not ready" or similar, then the print que shows the email is printing and then NO PAGE COMES OUT.
(3) Printing a web site (ex. Yahoo) WORKS , it prints fine
(4) Scanning works perfectly
MORE INFO: An Windows XP PC (SP2 or higher) wired to the router BOITH PRINTS AND SCANS FINE INSTALLING FROM THE SAME DRIVER !!
Google Search clearly shows that many people all over the USA have this EXACT PROBLEM WITH THIS EXACT PRINTER.
Example: http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-LaserJet/LJ-CM2320nf-prints-PCL-XL-Error/td-p/1125283
and there are many other examples I can provide. FURTHERMORE when I called HP support they essentially acknowledged that this was a known problem at HP.
The general drift of all the forum posts is the printer works with Windows XP but not on some or all Vista and Windows 7 PCs. (Probably "some" lets give HP some credit for not being complete idiots).
So HP's programmers have screwed up big time here on a $750 high end business printer.
The result of calling HP support was the guy said no problem I can fix this, he took remote control of my customers laptop, made some changes (I have no idea what he did), then the HP printer printed Word docs (I tested nothing else) and SCANNING IMMEDIATELY FAILED. He then took remote control again, could not fix the no scan problem and TOLD ME TO UNINSTALL AND REINSTALL THE DRIVER .
My comment on that is: That would lead us right back where we started . Also the manager at HP who I spoke with FIRST REFUSED to transfer me to HP Printer 2nd level support WHO MIGHT ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO HERE.
Does any expert here know how to get this printer to print ALL SOURCES and scan.
Please no general comments like check the connections, power cycle the printer etc. ITS ALL BEEN DONE. Remember HP acknowledges this printer driver has problems and many people have complained. The solution is NOT GOING TO BE THAT SOMETHING SIMPLE. And remember that an XP PC on the same router (wired) can print and scan fine and the problem laptop can print web pages and scan fiine which eliminates virtually all SIMPLE STANDARD solutions.
Oh, the problem laptop can ping the printer OK but you know that since it prints web pages and scan works immediately after install of the full driver.
Laptop is Sony VGN-Z750D. Again OS is Vista 64 bit OS SP2. Router is D-link DIR-825. We are wireless connected to the 2.4 Ghz router, not the other 5 Ghz router in the DIR-825.
Problem occurs with the laptop 1 foot from the router so please nothing about wireless interference.
Mike
A bit of background on PCL XL errors (as per your question (1)):
--------------------------
PCL XL errors are reported because the printer believes that the print stream is corrupt in some way.
The printer is able to do this because the PCL XL language (the 'official' name for PCL6) is very highly structured - so any departure from this structure is relatively easy for the printer to recognise.
The reason for a corrupt print stream could be:
(a) A badly written, or corrupt printer driver.
This is more likely to be the case if the error is consistently exactly the same (including the Position value) for the same input (i.e. the same document, within the same application, being printed again via the same driver).
(b) Corruptions are being introduced between the PC and the printer (for example: bad cable, connection, port, network, etc.).
This is much more likely to be the case if the errors are intermittent and apparently random.
(c) A fault within the printer itself.
Probably much less common - usually (but not only) if Jetdirect card is bad.
You could switch to a different driver, which uses a less-structured Page Description Language (PDL) like PCL5; if you do this:
(1) You will not get PCL XL errors.
But other PDLs may sometimes generate different error messages.
If the PCL5 interpreter detects an invalid sequence, it just ignores it, and then carries on the best it can, but no error messages are usually produced - exceptions to this are things like 'Out of Memory' errors, but these can also occur with valid streams.
PostScript probably sits in between PCL5 and PCL6 in terms of how easily the language interpreter in the printer is able to detect corruptions in the print stream, and react to them by generating PostScript error pages.
(2) You may still get corrupt output.
This could be very noticeable, or hardly noticeable at all, depending on the degree of corruption, and just where it occurs in the print stream.
PCL5 can usually 'recover', by 'synchronising' on the start of the next escape sequence, but other PDLs may not be able to do this, because it is more difficult, or impossible, to find something unique to 'latch on' to - hence they tend to abort the print, and produce an error report.
--------------------------
PCL XL errors are reported because the printer believes that the print stream is corrupt in some way.
The printer is able to do this because the PCL XL language (the 'official' name for PCL6) is very highly structured - so any departure from this structure is relatively easy for the printer to recognise.
The reason for a corrupt print stream could be:
(a) A badly written, or corrupt printer driver.
This is more likely to be the case if the error is consistently exactly the same (including the Position value) for the same input (i.e. the same document, within the same application, being printed again via the same driver).
(b) Corruptions are being introduced between the PC and the printer (for example: bad cable, connection, port, network, etc.).
This is much more likely to be the case if the errors are intermittent and apparently random.
(c) A fault within the printer itself.
Probably much less common - usually (but not only) if Jetdirect card is bad.
You could switch to a different driver, which uses a less-structured Page Description Language (PDL) like PCL5; if you do this:
(1) You will not get PCL XL errors.
But other PDLs may sometimes generate different error messages.
If the PCL5 interpreter detects an invalid sequence, it just ignores it, and then carries on the best it can, but no error messages are usually produced - exceptions to this are things like 'Out of Memory' errors, but these can also occur with valid streams.
PostScript probably sits in between PCL5 and PCL6 in terms of how easily the language interpreter in the printer is able to detect corruptions in the print stream, and react to them by generating PostScript error pages.
(2) You may still get corrupt output.
This could be very noticeable, or hardly noticeable at all, depending on the degree of corruption, and just where it occurs in the print stream.
PCL5 can usually 'recover', by 'synchronising' on the start of the next escape sequence, but other PDLs may not be able to do this, because it is more difficult, or impossible, to find something unique to 'latch on' to - hence they tend to abort the print, and produce an error report.
Sorry about the double post - it didn't appear to be accepted first time!
... from thre above, your description implies that the (repeatable at will) fault is probably due to a fault in the driver (or application/driver interface), rather than any hardware-induced corruption.
Assuming this to be the case, I've no idea how to circumvent the problem - but your experience with the HP technician indicates that he found some 'preferences' setting which affected the driver output - but with the unfortunate side-effect of killing the 'scan' function - so perhaps something like disabling 'bidirectional communication'?.
... from thre above, your description implies that the (repeatable at will) fault is probably due to a fault in the driver (or application/driver interface), rather than any hardware-induced corruption.
Assuming this to be the case, I've no idea how to circumvent the problem - but your experience with the HP technician indicates that he found some 'preferences' setting which affected the driver output - but with the unfortunate side-effect of killing the 'scan' function - so perhaps something like disabling 'bidirectional communication'?.
The problem may be associated with some of the Microsoft supplied DLLs; the following is tagged for LaserJet P2050 devices, but some of the advice in it may be relevant:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c02008692&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c02008692&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
The error is a rendering timeout.
A lot of PCL XL errors can be eliminated by switching from vector mode to raster mode for graphics.
Also on any network printer, and especially with wireless PCs, the spooling in the advanced tab should always be set to "start printing after the last page has spooled". This ensures that the whole job is rendered before it is transmitted to the printer. Any other setting on a slow PC or network can result in the printer timing out before the whole page arrives.
Vista is particularly slow at spooling, especially from Office 2007, and if there is less than 1.5Gb of ram.
Explanation in more detail here ( second section) http://www.tonerprintercopier.co.uk/help-with-printing/
A lot of PCL XL errors can be eliminated by switching from vector mode to raster mode for graphics.
Also on any network printer, and especially with wireless PCs, the spooling in the advanced tab should always be set to "start printing after the last page has spooled". This ensures that the whole job is rendered before it is transmitted to the printer. Any other setting on a slow PC or network can result in the printer timing out before the whole page arrives.
Vista is particularly slow at spooling, especially from Office 2007, and if there is less than 1.5Gb of ram.
Explanation in more detail here ( second section) http://www.tonerprintercopier.co.uk/help-with-printing/
@wyliecoyoteuk
I don't see why an IllegalOperatorSequence error should be considered to be indicative of ANY sort of timeout.
@mgross333
To check just which PCL XL Operators (and their attendant Attribute lists) are being generated, repeat a sample failing print, but:
(a) Use sanitised (i.e. no personal) data in the (small size) source document.
(b) Use the 'print to file' option in the print dialogue to 'capture' the generated print stream.
(c) 'Send' the captured .PRN print file direct to the printer port to check that the error is still reported; for a network printer, 'lpr' would be the most appropriate mechanism for this.
(d) Post a copy of the .PRN file here for analysis (disguised by renaming it with an additional .TXT extension so that E-E will accept it as an attachment).
I don't see why an IllegalOperatorSequence error should be considered to be indicative of ANY sort of timeout.
@mgross333
To check just which PCL XL Operators (and their attendant Attribute lists) are being generated, repeat a sample failing print, but:
(a) Use sanitised (i.e. no personal) data in the (small size) source document.
(b) Use the 'print to file' option in the print dialogue to 'capture' the generated print stream.
(c) 'Send' the captured .PRN print file direct to the printer port to check that the error is still reported; for a network printer, 'lpr' would be the most appropriate mechanism for this.
(d) Post a copy of the .PRN file here for analysis (disguised by renaming it with an additional .TXT extension so that E-E will accept it as an attachment).
>> ... on a slow PC or network can result in the printer timing out before the whole page ...
Bear in mind that the default timeout period on most LaserJet printers is usually 300 seconds.
Bear in mind that the default timeout period on most LaserJet printers is usually 300 seconds.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Actually, don't know about this particular model but most MFDs that I work on have a 15second timeout by default, (300 seconds is the maximum) and rendering timeouts are the most common cause of errors.
Have you changed the name of printer?
How many printers on the network and have you set printer to default printer?
How many printers on the network and have you set printer to default printer?
ASKER
joinaunion,,
New printer created by HP support is now set to be default printer. Old one is still there too.
Mike
New printer created by HP support is now set to be default printer. Old one is still there too.
Mike
ASKER
I apologize for not closing this earlier. However in REAL LIFE sometimes people get busy and forgret things. THAT IS NOT ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
Please cancel AutoClose AND IMPORTANT generate an email to let me know that is done at my EE email address. I want to select my own post as a solution. I just tried to do that and was locked out WHICH I STRONGLY FEEL IS INCORRECT POLICY BY EE. SELECTING MY OWN POST OR ANY POST AS A SOLUTION **SHOULD BE** AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE in the current situation. Furthermore all the text I entered (I did NOT just select my post, I entered a LOT OF ADDITIONAL TEXT) is now lost and I must take my time to re-enter it.
And yes I noticed that the suggestion was to select my own post as the solution BUT that still ends up leaving this as an abandoned question vs me PROACTIVELY selecting the very same post with explanatory text means then my question is NOT viewed as abandoned.
If I do NOT receive an (automated) email about the requested change of status then I will not close it myself so changing the status is NOT enough.
Mike, the Question Poster
Please cancel AutoClose AND IMPORTANT generate an email to let me know that is done at my EE email address. I want to select my own post as a solution. I just tried to do that and was locked out WHICH I STRONGLY FEEL IS INCORRECT POLICY BY EE. SELECTING MY OWN POST OR ANY POST AS A SOLUTION **SHOULD BE** AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE in the current situation. Furthermore all the text I entered (I did NOT just select my post, I entered a LOT OF ADDITIONAL TEXT) is now lost and I must take my time to re-enter it.
And yes I noticed that the suggestion was to select my own post as the solution BUT that still ends up leaving this as an abandoned question vs me PROACTIVELY selecting the very same post with explanatory text means then my question is NOT viewed as abandoned.
If I do NOT receive an (automated) email about the requested change of status then I will not close it myself so changing the status is NOT enough.
Mike, the Question Poster
This question has been classified as abandoned and is being closed as part of the Cleanup Program. See my comment at the end of the question for more details.
--------------------------
PCL XL errors are reported because the printer believes that the print stream is corrupt in some way.
The printer is able to do this because the PCL XL language (the 'official' name for PCL6) is very highly structured - so any departure from this structure is relatively easy for the printer to recognise.
The reason for a corrupt print stream could be:
(a) A badly written, or corrupt printer driver.
This is more likely to be the case if the error is consistently exactly the same (including the Position value) for the same input (i.e. the same document, within the same application, being printed again via the same driver).
(b) Corruptions are being introduced between the PC and the printer (for example: bad cable, connection, port, network, etc.).
This is much more likely to be the case if the errors are intermittent and apparently random.
(c) A fault within the printer itself.
Probably much less common - usually (but not only) if Jetdirect card is bad.
You could switch to a different driver, which uses a less-structured Page Description Language (PDL) like PCL5; if you do this:
(1) You will not get PCL XL errors.
But other PDLs may sometimes generate different error messages.
If the PCL5 interpreter detects an invalid sequence, it just ignores it, and then carries on the best it can, but no error messages are usually produced - exceptions to this are things like 'Out of Memory' errors, but these can also occur with valid streams.
PostScript probably sits in between PCL5 and PCL6 in terms of how easily the language interpreter in the printer is able to detect corruptions in the print stream, and react to them by generating PostScript error pages.
(2) You may still get corrupt output.
This could be very noticeable, or hardly noticeable at all, depending on the degree of corruption, and just where it occurs in the print stream.
PCL5 can usually 'recover', by 'synchronising' on the start of the next escape sequence, but other PDLs may not be able to do this, because it is more difficult, or impossible, to find something unique to 'latch on' to - hence they tend to abort the print, and produce an error report.