[WinMac] Re: HP 5SiMX Error Message

Daniel L. Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Wed, 08 Dec 1999 16:53:31 -0500

        I would tend to agree with Yuji on this... To a point. There are actually
two links you need to pay attention to: The link from the clients to the
spooler, and the link from the spooler to the printer itself.

        Since you are using NT/Server for your spooler, you have two robust
choices for the spooler - printer link: A(n) IEEE-1284 high speed
*bidirectional* parallel port cable, or AppleTalk. What you DON'T want to
use is LPR/LPD, because that is not bidirectional; or as my friend Leonard
Rosenthol likes to say "you throw the print job over a wall and hope it
prints."

        Surprisingly, AppleTalk is probably about the most robust method of
connecting a computer to a PostScript printer because PAP - Printer Access
Protocol - provides for fully bidirectional printer communications... Even
when printing from an NT Server! (Or spooling from an NT Server spooler).
And, it doesn't matter *which* client prints to the spooler - Mac, 95/98,
even win3.1 - Or which stack the client-spooler link uses - IP, NetBEUI, or
AppleTalk.

        One minor issue you need to decide is whether you want to allow Macs to
also "jump" the queue (for small locations) or be captured so the Macs are
forced to print through the queue - Ideal for large installations.

        Hope this helps!
        Dan

At 03:56 PM 12/8/99 -0500, Yuji wrote:
>
>My suggestion is to reduce the number of protocols that the printer sees.
>One way to accomplish this is by having one spooling platform
>(UNIX/Appleshare/Novell/WinNT -- as you see fit) and have all the other
>platforms somehow spool to that. This is of course, not a simple task, and
>not without its own headaches. But you could, at least reduce the number
>of protocols the printer sees (for example, only UNIX and Mac, by
>implementing SAMBA and printing from NT to the UNIX spool).
>
>Also, you should see if you can update the Flash PROM on your jetdirect
>card. That might clear up the problem, too. There are utilities and PROM
>images on the HP site. I haven't done this in a while, but I know I did at
>one point on some other JetDirect cards. I am *think* that 5si's have
>upgradeable flash PROMs. Historically, the protocol stacks on the Jet
>Direct cards are buggy.
>
>The Jet Direct cards in the old 4siMX's had memory leaks (and their PROMs
>were not Flash upgradeable), such that after a week of heavy printing they
>would fail to print large documents. This was in addition two a similar
>protocol-switching problem that you note. We had to add powercycling all
>the printers to the list of weekly chores, to avoid this problem. In the
>end, we got new upgradeable JetDirect cards and kept the PROM images
>up-to-date to fix this problem.
>
>yuji
>----
>
>On Wed, 8 Dec 1999 PetersJB@nswccd.navy.mil wrote:
>
>> Since a couple of recent messages extolled the virtues of HP's LaserJet 5Si
>> series, I thought I'd toss out a question related to my experience with
one.
>> Generally it has been great, but we have an occasional problem which
>> requires manual intervention to clear. Any insight from other users/owners
>> would be appreciated.
>>
>> Our 5SiMX is operated in an environment with a mixture of PCs (Win95,
Win98,
>> WinNT/WS, & WinNT/Srv), Macs, and *nix boxes. This particular printer is
>> primarily used by Macs. The Macs talk to it directly (no queue) via
>> AppleTalk. Because of it's high capacity and duplex unit, some Win users
>> send large or two-sided documents to it. The Windows print jobs are sent
>> through a print queue on a WinNT server. I don't admin that one, so I'm
>> kind of in the dark there. The printer itself is my responsibility.
>>
>> Anyway, the problem occurs irregularly, maybe once or twice a week,
>> following no known pattern. It is exhibited when a Mac's print job never
>> gets printed. A visit to the printer reveals a error code 56.xx. I
seem to
>> remember it reading "56.01" on the printer's LCD, but the printed error log
>> says "56.00.00". The printer's documentation doesn't help in explaining
the
>> implication of this error code. The only way to clear it is to use the
>> power switch to turn the printer off and back on. In so doing we sometimes
>> lose a print job since a short PostScript file would've been completely
>> transmitted.
>>
>> I cannot guarantee a correlation, but it seems the error comes right
after a
>> Win user has sent a job to the printer. Maybe that's my suspicions of
>> Windows talking, but I've never had a problem when sending job after job
>> from a Mac.
>>
>> Have any of you had any experience like this? Any suggestion on how to
>> focus in on the source of the problem? All ideas are welcome.
>>
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> Brooks Peters (301) 227-1243 (voice)
>> NSWC - Carderock Division (301) 227-5930 (fax)
>> Code 5500 (Bldg. 18, Rm. 127) mailto:PetersJB@nswccd.navy.mil
>> 9500 MacArthur Blvd.
>> West Bethesda, MD 20817-5700
>>
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>>
>
>Yuji Shinozaki Systems Administrator
>yuji@physics.unc.edu Dept of Physics and Astronomy
>http://www.physics.unc.edu Univ. of North Carolina - CH
>(919)962-7214 (voice) CB 3255 Philips Hall
>(919)962-0480 (fax) Chapel Hill, NC 27599
>
>
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>
>

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed Dec 08 1999 - 14:52:27 PST