Network Printing Problems

[Neo81]

Hey Fella's


I have got a win 98 network server (not really a server) but when the client pc's print to it, sometimes it locks up and restarts itself.... there is 3 printers attached to the server and a addon pci parallel card install to give the 3 ports LPT1 2 and 3... this is the second addon card tried tried the first did the same and was a different brand

any ideas ?


Later
NEo81 >:O>

 

[samazar]

Instead of the network server, may I suggest a broadband router with a printer port.
I have adopted this solution and my printer is nicely shared by all computers on the network.
Mine is an SMC Barricade. The cost is about 100$, the installation is very easy and it works very well both for the network needs and for the printer.

 

[Guest_imported]

Assuming the problems only occur when a print is requested, it looks like the card is calling for resources in use by something else. Is an IRQ allocated to the relevant PCI slot? Does DEVICE MANAGER show any irregularities/problems regarding this card? Is this card actually giving you TWO or THREE ports, in addition to the standard on-board mobo parallel port? What are they all set to?

ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Tels]

Believe it or not, print spools demand quite a lot of your computer's time and energy.... 3 printers could be a lot for one machine (depends on your components, demand, is your server dedicated to printing...?)

Furthermore, have you got enough Hard drive space for spooling? A problem I had with a print server slow down was where the hard drive space had run out, and the server started to constantly move memory in and out of the Swap File. (thrashing) This virtually reduced the computer to a standstill.

If you are running 3 printers off one computer you may need to redistribute the load. We run a dell poweredge 2400 with Win2000 Server, and too many printjobs in one can affect smooth running. Thats just on a single network printer.
If you were to 'spread the load' there should be no problem with networking a shared printer running locally on another client, there are various ways of doing this and if it fits your plans, would reduce the load on the server. If you want more detail let me know

Good luck!!

Tels

Win2000 Network Administrator for pint$ = 1 to 20
for pint$ = pint$ + 1
if pint$ = 20 goto HOME
next pint$