Unusual network problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug Ratcliffe
  • Start date Start date
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Doug Ratcliffe

My client broke the paper tray on printer#1 so everyone
sent jobs to printer#2. It ran out of paper. Jobs backed up
on the server & even after reloading the paper, the printer
status on the server was "out of paper". Oddly enough the
exact same problem occurred 4 hours later in my own office
on my own network. I sent 3 jobs directly over the network
to a printer that had run out of paper. Two jobs printed
out after reloading paper. The 3rd job was still in the que
and the printer status still showed as "out of paper". I
decided not to do anything except ping the ip address,
think, have a coffee & a smoke. When I returned 10 minutes
later, the printer status was "ready" and my print job had
completed. It was the same small Excel file, lazy me, I
just clicked the printer icon 3 times for 3 copies. The
ONLY THING that I can think of is that installing SP3 for
Office XP last week is somehow affecting TCP/IP printing.
 
I made a number of changes on my printer and so far have
been unable to repeat the problem. Recap: After the printer
runs out of paper, jobs remain in the que for a long period
of time even after loading paper. Printer status "out of
paper".
Somewhere between 5 - 10 minutes the printer status is
updated & the print jobs are completed.
Changes I made on the Printer:
Subnet & Gateway addresses: Input correct values
Protocols: Disabled Appletalk & Netware
Netbeui: Input proper 'workgroup' name (for the 9x boxes)
Ethernet speed: Fixed to 100 Mbps instead of Auto
FTP & IPP printing: Disabled both (not needed)
Which of the above would most likely have caused the problem?
My machine: Win2K SP3(w/hotfixes), Office XP SP3, AOpen
10/100 24\switch, Aficio AP2610 printer
My customer has a different setup from my SOHO network but
they experienced the same problem.
Any ideas are welcome.
 
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