HP4050N Duplex Issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter Monroe
  • Start date Start date
M

Monroe

Picked up this printer used then supplied it with a duplex unit.
Printer works incredibly well. Duplex works, but I'm puzzled as to
why during the print of a multi-page pdf, the printer prints off one
2-sided page, delays, then 2nd and 3rd 2-sided page, then delay, then
prints the final page? The delays are on the order of a half minute
or so. I have 2 x 64MB + 1 x 8MB sticks of RAM in this unit.
Running this off of WinXP with 1 GB RAM. Printing from Adobe Reader
7.0.

Are there perhaps setting that are creating this, or is it basically
how that particular duplex unit operates?
 
Monroe said:
Picked up this printer used then supplied it with a duplex unit.
Printer works incredibly well. Duplex works, but I'm puzzled as to
why during the print of a multi-page pdf, the printer prints off one
2-sided page, delays, then 2nd and 3rd 2-sided page, then delay, then
prints the final page? The delays are on the order of a half minute
or so. I have 2 x 64MB + 1 x 8MB sticks of RAM in this unit.
Running this off of WinXP with 1 GB RAM. Printing from Adobe Reader
7.0.

Are there perhaps setting that are creating this, or is it basically
how that particular duplex unit operates?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen delays like that on LJ4050s with a duplexer. What kind
of driver are you using? (PCL might cause a delay like that, while
PostScript should not.)
 
Checked out the HP PS driver. The delay and time required for
printing of this particular file persists. Perhaps I'm expecting too
much from this pdf file (8-page, about 50:50 very low-quality photo
graphics with text). Delays about 1.5 minutes at start, then 0.75
minutes between each 2-sided page, with 22 seconds of "activity"
within the printer to generate each page.

To test further, I printed a a 4 page text email on 2, 2-sided pages.
30 seconds for first page, 5 seconds for 2nd. Seens reasonable.
Again, perhaps expecting too much from files with greater graphics
content? My only concern is that I'm using this to print manuals of
100 - 200 pages that have equivalent graphics and text. Using this as
a benchmark, I can see those print jobs taking hours to print. Again,
pehaps the norm?

You may be thinking that I'm not all that up to speed on printer
settings, etc. You would be right on the money.

Appreciate the assistance with this. thanks
 
Monroe said:
Checked out the HP PS driver. The delay and time required for
printing of this particular file persists. Perhaps I'm expecting too
much from this pdf file (8-page, about 50:50 very low-quality photo
graphics with text). Delays about 1.5 minutes at start, then 0.75
minutes between each 2-sided page, with 22 seconds of "activity"
within the printer to generate each page.
Click to expand...

If the PDF file isn't copyrighted or confidential, email it and I can
test it on my LJ4050 here. I don't have a duplexer, though.
To test further, I printed a a 4 page text email on 2, 2-sided pages.
30 seconds for first page, 5 seconds for 2nd. Seens reasonable.
Again, perhaps expecting too much from files with greater graphics
content? My only concern is that I'm using this to print manuals of
100 - 200 pages that have equivalent graphics and text. Using this as
a benchmark, I can see those print jobs taking hours to print. Again,
pehaps the norm?
Click to expand...

It occurs to me that you haven't mentioned how the printer is connected.
If it's parallel, go into the computer BIOS and make sure it's set to
the fastest mode available (usually ECP).

Ethernet is a better option, and one that's built into the printer.
Setup depends on your network. Here's a thing I wrote on it a while
back:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.periphs.printers/msg/850d68c775d43f25
You may be thinking that I'm not all that up to speed on printer
settings, etc. You would be right on the money.

Appreciate the assistance with this. thanks
Click to expand...

You're welcome. In return, if you would not top-post, it would make
helping you easier. (In other words, please edit out anything not
needed in your response, and put your comments after the quoted
sections, like this message. Thanks.)
 
Monroe said:
Duplex works, but I'm puzzled as to
why during the print of a multi-page pdf, the printer prints off one
2-sided page, delays, then 2nd and 3rd 2-sided page, then delay, then
prints the final page? The delays are on the order of a half minute
or so.
Click to expand...

Monroe-

If you print single-sided, is it much faster? If so, then you might
save time by NOT using the built-in duplex unit for your large documents.

On my non-duplex HP laser printer, it is fairly easy to manually print
duplex. The print dialog has an option to print just the even or odd
pages. I print even pages, place them in the hand-feed tray
printed-side-up, top of page into the printer, and then print odd pages.
The 4050 may require a slightly different sequence, but should be easy
to do.

Fred
 
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