We have five LaserJet 4200 and six 4250 printers, some of which are network printers and some local printers. After installing a new Windows 2003 server with the latest HP print drivers (61.63.461.42), we have had nothing but problems, making our printers unfunctional. Prior to this server installation, we had similar problems with standalone 4250 printers. I was hoping with the installation of a new server the problem would go away, but instead it got worse!
I called HP support three times and they didn't have any solution. Here is all the testing that was done using a 4200 printer:
Made sure firmware was up to date on printers.
Tried the following drivers:
HP PCL6, 5e and PS, the three HP Universal 4200 print drivers, HP 4100 print driver, HP 4+ print driver
None of the above drivers would work properly. We either got numerous PCL errors, were unable to print multiple copies, or if we were able to print multiple copies on the second and remaining copies it would not print underlines on the documents in several software programs.
Support had me try different settings in the Printer Properties such as in the Print Processor properties, set the printing to WinPrint and the Default data type to RAW. In Ports, uncheck the box for Enable bidirectional support. Disable Mopier. Change the Memory to something higher than 48 MB.
Nothing worked so I was told since we only had 48 MB of memory in the printer, that was the problem. I increased the memory to 96 MB and still had the same problems.
Using a computer with a fresh installation of Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Office installed and no printers ever set up on it, I tested drivers. I installed the 4200 printer with the latest HP 4200 PCL 6 and 5e drivers (61.63.461.42). I printed an Excel spreadsheet and had the same problems. I removed the printer from the computer and the driver from the Print Server Properties then installed an older 4200 driver (version 60.5.30.1). Upon doing this, the printer problems went away. I was able to print multiple copies, the underlines would print, it would collate and didn't receive any PCL errors. I then removed this driver and reinstalled the newer 61.63.461.42 driver again and the problems came back. I removed it and reinstalled the older drivers and things again worked properly.
Support went through the steps with me to "clean" my computer and install the 4200 PS driver since we couldn't get the 5e or 6 driver to work. We were successfully able to print in Note Pad and Word but could not get our other software programs to print properly. I was told that HP will only go so far as to test printing in Note Pad and Word and if we had printer issues in other programs that was a software issue. They could offer no further support to me.
The fix I came up with on my own is to set up each printer on our workstations using TCP/IP and the older drives (4200 - 60.5.30.1 and the 4250 - 60.42.242.0 driver).
I find it unacceptable that I can get no further support from HP, especially after I have proven that there is a driver issue with the 61.636.461.42 drivers and could duplicate it both on the network and on a standalone workstation. Support said there were lots of PCL errors going around with their drivers but could offer no further help. I'm afraid it will be an ongoing problem. Any ideas on where to go from here would be appreciated. I prefer not to have to use older drivers and print via TCP/IP as it takes a lot of configuration at the workstation level for multiple printers.
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One thing I have success with is using drivers from older hp printers when this happens. You could try the 4100 driver built into the operating system or even the older 4050 driver also built into the operating system. What is nice about the os drivers is they were written by Microsoft so they interact better. It will not effect the speed of the printer.
I stand corrected the drivers are written by hp but with the assistance and testing by microsoft and included in the operating system. Those drivers have been tested and work 99% of the time. Drivers for your printers are not included in the os and therefore have not been extensively tested in a working situation and in some cases may not work due software conflicts or other variables. Since most older hp drivers will work with new hp printers I stand by my suggestion which I have used to solve your issue. I always find it amazing how some people always insist that the drivers for their printers have to work or hp or other vendors need to correct them, rather then use something which is available and will work. The object is to have the printer do what you want it to do which is the reason for my suggestion. Changing a driver is probably the simplist method and if it works fine and if not then further action is necessary. Simple first.
Thanks for your suggestions. I looked at the articles that Raymond suggested. The issue doesn't seem to be a Windows Server issue as we had the print problem on a standalone Windows XP computer with a local printer that never was connected to a Windows server environment.
When I was working with HP support, we tried using the HP 4100 driver as well as the 4+ driver. The 4100 generated a printer error and the 4+ cut off the print on the right-hand side the documents we printed.
FWIW I have gone thru many of the steps you listed above with the same results. I have just created another print server and updated to the latest 4250 pcl6 driver version 61.063.461.42. Turned of Mopier, changed to winprint and disabled SNMP Everything seems good so far except if a user has a document that has shading in an excel heading it creates these boxes around the word.
I refuse to create tcpip ports on 140 user workstations for a network printer. There has got to be a better solution.
One thing we noticed recently with the older 4200 driver is that the printer will quit servicing a print job and just hang like it is waiting for the print job to finish spooling. It will then tie up several printers on that same floor. If we unplug the Ethernet cable from the back of the printer and wait like 2-3 seconds the print job comes out and then all the other printers come back online and finish printing their spooled jobs.
That is all I can add.... sorry I did not have a solution. Thanks for the detailed steps you posted.
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