Has anybody ever noticed NT making print spooler files huge and choking on them? When we print from ArcView GIS or from Adobe Acrobat Reader, we get these huge spooler files which choke the entire system and often the printer. Printing a 2MB .pdf file in Acrobat to a color 11x17 deskjet yields a 211MB file in the spooler which clogs up the memory (physical and virtual) and often has errors getting to the printer. Printing the same file to a 24x36 color plotter is even worse. Printing the same file to the same printers on a Win98 system yields much smaller mor manageable spooler files that print much faster. Has anybody seen this or know a workaround? It's happening on all of our PCs with NT.
NT spooler files exploding
- Thread starter sps
- Start date
sps,
Your misfortune. No one who actually knows will step up to the plate, so I'm going to take a swing at it!
Coupla questions:
Have you tried using RAW format to see if that makes a difference?
If it's supported by the drivers, have you tried telling the driver to substitute device fonts for True Type fonts?
Just so I'm sure of the exact situation here, you are talking about network printers rather than local printers, correct? If so, which PCs experience the errors, clients or print servers? Is there an actual lockup?
These are NT4 clients and servers with some Win98 clients, right? W2K is not involved on the client side?
Your misfortune. No one who actually knows will step up to the plate, so I'm going to take a swing at it!
Coupla questions:
Have you tried using RAW format to see if that makes a difference?
If it's supported by the drivers, have you tried telling the driver to substitute device fonts for True Type fonts?
Just so I'm sure of the exact situation here, you are talking about network printers rather than local printers, correct? If so, which PCs experience the errors, clients or print servers? Is there an actual lockup?
These are NT4 clients and servers with some Win98 clients, right? W2K is not involved on the client side?
We had a similar problem when printing from Acrobat Reader 4.05. The first page(s)...the amount varied but usually no more than 4-5 would print fine...then garbage. Printing the .pdf as an image took care of it...but it still loaded the spooler as you describe.
jaywallen,
Here's a little more about the setup. The printers are all connected to the network via JetDirect. The 455CA plotter and the 1220 DJ are connected via external JetDirect boxes. There is no print server - all workstations print directly through JetAdmin. I have tried RAW as well as EMF and it doesn't make a difference. If it is possible to substitute device fonts for True Type fonts, I've not found out how. Most workstations have WinNT and some have Win98. The ones with Win98 experience no printing problems. All of the workstations with NT do have the same problems (bloated spooler files which cause printing errors). After spooling the file, the spooler will often show the message "Error - restarting". Once it gets this message, the print job is toast.
Aj_UF,
Were the problems you were having with Acrobat when printing large raster images? It sounds like a similar problem. We can get the things to print through Photoshop. I wonder if this is some type of postscript issue (we're not using postscript printers, but maybe NT would rather use postscript for this type of thing). Both Acrobat and ArcView deal with postscript and have to convert it to PCL, etc. to get it to print as far as I understand.
Thanks a lot for the help!
Any ideas/suggestions?
Here's a little more about the setup. The printers are all connected to the network via JetDirect. The 455CA plotter and the 1220 DJ are connected via external JetDirect boxes. There is no print server - all workstations print directly through JetAdmin. I have tried RAW as well as EMF and it doesn't make a difference. If it is possible to substitute device fonts for True Type fonts, I've not found out how. Most workstations have WinNT and some have Win98. The ones with Win98 experience no printing problems. All of the workstations with NT do have the same problems (bloated spooler files which cause printing errors). After spooling the file, the spooler will often show the message "Error - restarting". Once it gets this message, the print job is toast.
Aj_UF,
Were the problems you were having with Acrobat when printing large raster images? It sounds like a similar problem. We can get the things to print through Photoshop. I wonder if this is some type of postscript issue (we're not using postscript printers, but maybe NT would rather use postscript for this type of thing). Both Acrobat and ArcView deal with postscript and have to convert it to PCL, etc. to get it to print as far as I understand.
Thanks a lot for the help!
Any ideas/suggestions?
Nope, no large raster images, but we're using LaserJet 4050 N printers that can print using different settings (PCL 5e, 6, and PS)...regardless of which printer driver I used, the .pdf document would not print correctly so I don't think it was related to a post script issue--the only setting that made a difference was printing the entire .pdf document as an image--maybe this way didn't overload the spooler or something--but I'm just guessing.
Regarding HP JetAdmin...can you rename a TCP/IP printer? I've got one that I've been trying to rename but admin will only let me change the name for the IPX/SPX devices, even though it's the same printer! So under all devices I get one name for printer X, under TCP/IP I get a different name for printer x as well---frustrating.
Regarding HP JetAdmin...can you rename a TCP/IP printer? I've got one that I've been trying to rename but admin will only let me change the name for the IPX/SPX devices, even though it's the same printer! So under all devices I get one name for printer X, under TCP/IP I get a different name for printer x as well---frustrating.
Aj_UF,
I've got a LaserJet that has retained a printer name as well. You can name TCP/IP printers in JetAdmin but I guess there can be another name somewhere that will override the TCP/IP name.
I've got a LaserJet that has retained a printer name as well. You can name TCP/IP printers in JetAdmin but I guess there can be another name somewhere that will override the TCP/IP name.
I have had no problems where I used to work, I used 500M + Photoshop and Quark files. How much RAM do the printers have? How much on the NT boxes? How congested is your network? Are you running an NT server? (I know your running Jetdirect, but what is your primary NOS/Server specs)
Hmmm. Not coming up with any brainstorms here. But two more questions do occur...
Do you have any Event ID 2510 messages in the Event Viewer? If so, which version of JetAdmin are you running? Have you tried using LPR ports with the JetDirect cards and uninstalling JetAdmin on one of the NT 4.0 workstations? (I'm thinking about doing an end run around JetAdmin. You'd have to edit the registry to remove the JetAdmin Port Monitor, too.)
Is SP6 installed on the NT 4.0 boxes? It's not directly in line, but SP6 did fix some spooler error handling issues -- mostly with respect to rerouting and retry timing, though.
It almost sounds like a corruption is occuring on the NT 4.0 machines that isn't experienced on the Windows 98 machines. I'm leaning toward thinking the NT version JetAdmin is responsible.
All of this was working at one time, right? And then something happened to change the behavior network-wide? Did something get upgraded (or downgraded)?
Regards,
Jim
Edit: I guess I forgot how to count. That's a little more than two questions, isn't it? Sheesh! Old age!
Do you have any Event ID 2510 messages in the Event Viewer? If so, which version of JetAdmin are you running? Have you tried using LPR ports with the JetDirect cards and uninstalling JetAdmin on one of the NT 4.0 workstations? (I'm thinking about doing an end run around JetAdmin. You'd have to edit the registry to remove the JetAdmin Port Monitor, too.)
Is SP6 installed on the NT 4.0 boxes? It's not directly in line, but SP6 did fix some spooler error handling issues -- mostly with respect to rerouting and retry timing, though.
It almost sounds like a corruption is occuring on the NT 4.0 machines that isn't experienced on the Windows 98 machines. I'm leaning toward thinking the NT version JetAdmin is responsible.
All of this was working at one time, right? And then something happened to change the behavior network-wide? Did something get upgraded (or downgraded)?
Regards,
Jim
Edit: I guess I forgot how to count. That's a little more than two questions, isn't it? Sheesh! Old age!
miken,
The bottleneck problem happens before the data ever even gets out to the network. The workstations all have 256MB of RAM and when things are printed from ArcView or Acrobat, it immediately fills the physical RAM and goes to work on putting 300MB+ into the pagefile. I am now convinced that this is a printer language conversion problem. I have a <1MB pdf file that when printed 11x17 swells to 200+ MB in the spooler and comes up with errors. When I print the .jpg file that was used to make that .pdf file to the same printer at the same resolution, it swells to only 16.4MB and prints out right away. Since the only thing that ArcView and Acrobat have in common is that their native printer language is postscript, I think that has to be the problem. I think when it converts to PCL in NT, something happens that makes the file size swell up. What you you guys think? If that is the case, anybody have any ideas how to get around it?
The bottleneck problem happens before the data ever even gets out to the network. The workstations all have 256MB of RAM and when things are printed from ArcView or Acrobat, it immediately fills the physical RAM and goes to work on putting 300MB+ into the pagefile. I am now convinced that this is a printer language conversion problem. I have a <1MB pdf file that when printed 11x17 swells to 200+ MB in the spooler and comes up with errors. When I print the .jpg file that was used to make that .pdf file to the same printer at the same resolution, it swells to only 16.4MB and prints out right away. Since the only thing that ArcView and Acrobat have in common is that their native printer language is postscript, I think that has to be the problem. I think when it converts to PCL in NT, something happens that makes the file size swell up. What you you guys think? If that is the case, anybody have any ideas how to get around it?
Jim,
Do you have any Event ID 2510 messages in the Event Viewer?
No
I did make an end run around JetAdmin by using generic TCP/IP ports. That changed nothing. I did that at the request of an HP JetDirect guru. I was on the phone with HP for 3 hours last week and they couldn't figure out the problem. The only thing they could tell me for sure was that it isn't the network, it isn't the printers or their drivers, it isn't the JetDirect cards or JetAdmin, and it isn't the PC hardware. Which leaves the operating system and its components.
Is SP6 installed on the NT 4.0 boxes? It's not directly in line, but SP6 did fix some spooler error handling issues -- mostly with respect to rerouting and retry timing, though.
Yes, SP6 is installed on a couple of the machines - they behave the same w/ or w/o SP6.
It almost sounds like a corruption is occuring on the NT 4.0 machines that isn't experienced on the Windows 98 machines. I'm leaning toward thinking the NT version JetAdmin is responsible.
I don't think it's JetAdmin, but I do think it's NT. I'm really leaning towards how programs in NT which "like" postscript send print jobs via PCL.
All of this was working at one time, right? And then something happened to change the behavior network-wide? Did something get upgraded (or downgraded)?
Everything was fine when the workstations we were using for this type of work had Win98. When we finally upgraded to NT, that's when the problems hit. So NT is doing something differently from 98.
Do you have any Event ID 2510 messages in the Event Viewer?
No
I did make an end run around JetAdmin by using generic TCP/IP ports. That changed nothing. I did that at the request of an HP JetDirect guru. I was on the phone with HP for 3 hours last week and they couldn't figure out the problem. The only thing they could tell me for sure was that it isn't the network, it isn't the printers or their drivers, it isn't the JetDirect cards or JetAdmin, and it isn't the PC hardware. Which leaves the operating system and its components.
Is SP6 installed on the NT 4.0 boxes? It's not directly in line, but SP6 did fix some spooler error handling issues -- mostly with respect to rerouting and retry timing, though.
Yes, SP6 is installed on a couple of the machines - they behave the same w/ or w/o SP6.
It almost sounds like a corruption is occuring on the NT 4.0 machines that isn't experienced on the Windows 98 machines. I'm leaning toward thinking the NT version JetAdmin is responsible.
I don't think it's JetAdmin, but I do think it's NT. I'm really leaning towards how programs in NT which "like" postscript send print jobs via PCL.
All of this was working at one time, right? And then something happened to change the behavior network-wide? Did something get upgraded (or downgraded)?
Everything was fine when the workstations we were using for this type of work had Win98
. When we finally upgraded to NT, that's when the problems hit. So NT is doing something differently from 98.
MadRat,
The printers we use from these workstations are not postscript capable printers. Does that mean when printing from Acrobat and ArcView we're just screwed by the way NT handles printing from these programs to non PS printers?
The printers we use from these workstations are not postscript capable printers. Does that mean when printing from Acrobat and ArcView we're just screwed by the way NT handles printing from these programs to non PS printers?
sps,
Bummer. Sorry I couldn't think of anything that HP support and you hadn't already covered. (At least it's nice to know I was thinking along logical lines. That's not always a given at my age.)
It certainly sounds as though you may be right about your suspcions. But I can't help but think that this would be a much better-known problem if this were just about apps that like PostScript having to print using PCL in NT4. There have to be a LOT of people out there using Adobe software / printing PDFs using this combination of operating system, networking connections and printer types and protocols. I'm thinking that this will turn out to be something truly arcane, something peculiar to the configuration of something all the NT4 workstations have in common.
If it weren't for the fact that ArcView GIS' output is causing the same issue, I'd wonder if something could be wrong with the Acrobat Reader version, or perhaps some DLL upon which Reader is dependent. As it is, I have to wonder about the source of the files being printed. Do you know of anything unusual about the way the PDFs are produced -- in particular, if there's some commonality about the source of data used by the producers of the files being printed from both programs?
This is a real brain-teaser.
Regards,
Jim
Bummer. Sorry I couldn't think of anything that HP support and you hadn't already covered. (At least it's nice to know I was thinking along logical lines. That's not always a given at my age.)
It certainly sounds as though you may be right about your suspcions. But I can't help but think that this would be a much better-known problem if this were just about apps that like PostScript having to print using PCL in NT4. There have to be a LOT of people out there using Adobe software / printing PDFs using this combination of operating system, networking connections and printer types and protocols. I'm thinking that this will turn out to be something truly arcane, something peculiar to the configuration of something all the NT4 workstations have in common.
If it weren't for the fact that ArcView GIS' output is causing the same issue, I'd wonder if something could be wrong with the Acrobat Reader version, or perhaps some DLL upon which Reader is dependent. As it is, I have to wonder about the source of the files being printed. Do you know of anything unusual about the way the PDFs are produced -- in particular, if there's some commonality about the source of data used by the producers of the files being printed from both programs?
This is a real brain-teaser.
Regards,
Jim
it would be interesting to see what would happen if you setup a dedicated machine whos only job is to be a big bad network printer server system. This may be financially infeasable, but i would be curious to see how it would work.
If it was still happening, what about throwing win2k on there as an experiment?
If it was still happening, what about throwing win2k on there as an experiment?
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter