USB data transfer to printer getting slower

[videobruce]

I have two printers, both USB. One a inkjet with a 6' cable, the other a combination laser copier, scanner and printer that uses a 12' cable.
The printer (or USB port, or both) never liked the additional cable length so the transfer is slow. No problem with the short inkjet printer.

But, recently, the transfer speed to the laser printer has gotten slower. Much slower that it was orginally. There has been no hardware changes. I think I have also noticed a slow down with the inkjet, but not as much.

The USB 2 port is on a nVidea nForce5 MB w/ 2GB of Ram running XP Pro w/sp2 if any of that matters. The only other thing I have on the USB bus is a media card reader (not in use at the time). Nothing else connected.

What I usually print are .pdf pages using FoxIt Reader.

Any other info needed, please ask.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Have you tried switching cables? Reinstalling the drivers? Running the Utilities for the printer?

 

[videobruce]

Understand, there has been no hardware changes regarding the printer(s). Same cables as before. I can try re-installing the drivers.

I orginally had the printer further away with cables that were around 20' or so in length. This is my first laser printer and didn't know what to expect with a longer USB cable. It was very slow (about the speed of the time it takes to print a single page for each page xfer). I tried two different USB cable extenders (with a active amp in line). It made NO difference (so much for the amp extending the cable length ).

I moved the printer and shortened the cable lenght by around 10' and used only one cable (not three as before). There still was NO change. It was just as slow. I hooked the printer up with a 6' cable. Presto, the xfer speed was what it should be.
I have no room to place the printer that close to the tower so it has to be where it is. BUT, that doesn't answer why the other printer seems to have gotten slower on some occasions also.

 

[corkyg]

Laser printers are page printers. That means that they load and process the entire page before starting to print. Therefore, the speed it takes to process the first page is a function of page content and complexity. After that, subsequent copies are spit out at the rated speed of the printer.

To test your cables, etc/. use a very short, one word or one line document. That will eliminate the page processing time.

 

[videobruce]

Isn't a ink jet the same? Won't it wait to print the 1st page?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: videobruce
Isn't a ink jet the same? Won't it wait to print the 1st page?

No - inkjets are essentially line printers that use a spooler to hold the document. They print one pass at a time - to and fro. You can set the spooler to wait or proceed at once.

 

[videobruce]

Ok, understood.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Is it slow between pages or just the time between you hitting print and the printer actually printing. Keep in mind that laser printers have to warm up before they can print. Over time it can take a bit longer for the printer to heat up.

 

[videobruce]

Slow between pages, not the warm up time. I can watch as each page is 'sent' to the printer which is about the time it takes to print the page itself. It use to send pages around the speed of the printing. At least the 'sending' kepted up with the printing. When the problem developed the printer would catch up with the data and waiting for the next page.

Anyway, I went to Panasonic's site; KX-MB271 multifunction (listed under faxes, even though there is no fax on this version) and found a newer driver (by 3 months) uninstalled with their 'cleaner' utility and reinstalled and it appears to be ok so far. Still slow because of cable length (which I can't do anything about), but it's back to the way it is before. (Note the emphasis.)

Does anyone know of a 'better' USB cable with a lower wire guage that might reduce the loss from the longer cable? As I stated, I tried two of those 'extenders' but with NO improvement.

 

[mpilchfamily]

I take it the printer hasn't presented any memory errors. Cuase a slow down could be caused by bad RAM.

 

[videobruce]

Correct.

 

[semo]

i would
1. follow manual's instructions on resetting the printer
2. uninstall old driver and download latest from the maker's website
3. flash the firmware if all else fails (maker's website again)

and if nothing works, i'd then post in a technical forum... oh wait

 

[videobruce]

1. NAFAIK there isn't any,
2. Already did (see above post),
3. None available.

I called panasonic's farmed out support. I was lucky to get someone that had decent English and there was the same model in their room. I ask here to try a test by sending a 4 ot 5 page pdf document to the printer and time the progress.

She called me back and reported it was 8 seconds from hitting the print button untill the first page came out and 4 seconds to send data of each page to the printer afterwards. About the ame time as mine.

 

[corkyg]

Seems to me you don't really have a problem.

 

[videobruce]

I do, but it appears there is nothing I can do about it.

Everyone says how great laser printers are, not necessarly so.

 

[semo]

never had any experience with panasonic laser printers. xerox, cannon, hp and brother make really good laser printers. brother especially on a home and small office budget.