XP Service Pack 3 Slow network printing 1

[ryanak]

Hello,
I have two clients who are having an identical issue. Both organizations are running Windows XP SP3. When they have their default printer set to a local printer (or their last print job was to a local printer), the print dialogue comes up very quickly and printing is just fine.
When their default printer is their network based printer (or last print job was to the network printer), the print dialogue may take 2-4 minutes to come up. Once it has come up printing is just fine.
The common factor between these two clients, is that their network printer is a Canon Image Runner, but they are not the same series. That said, I have other clients with Canon Image Runners (some have the same model, some are newer, some are older) who are not running into this issue.
The current workaround that I have is to roll them back to SP2. Once they are running SP2 again, everything works fine.
Though that is a good temporary solution, I do need a permanent fix.
Both networks are 10/100. It does not matter what type of files they are printing. It does not matter how many people are on the system at that time. Most of these computers are quite new and have minimal running processes. The issue shows up in Office 2003, Office 2007, Adobe Acrobat 7,8, and 9. Overall, if the client has the issue, it does not matter what software they are printing from. Both clients are also having the print queue residing on the server; but niether server is showing high utilization. Both of these servers act as a file and print server only. No other major services are provided by these systems.
Ideas please.

-Ryan

 

[goombawaho]

Print from safe mode with networking and see if it still happens.

Start shutting down items that startup when Windows boots using autoruns and try to find something that gums up the printing.

I would start by disabling most everything and then stating adding and then rebooting/adding and rebooting until you find the thing that breaks the printing.

I wouldn't be too quick to blame SP3 explicitly.

 

[linney]

See if any of the suggestions and workarounds mentioned in this similar post work for you.

Win XP SP3 Slow Print Dialog
thread779-1474461

 

[cdogg]

Ryan,
Since there are no issues with the local printer, then I would suggest that you install the Canon printer using the "Local printer attached..." option in the add printer wizard. Select Standard TCP/IP for the port to add the printer by IP address. This will allow Windows to manage the printer as if it was a local printer port, even though it is printing to a network location.

Perhaps you already have the printer setup this way, but I couldn't tell since you mentioned the print queue was residing on the server.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[ryanak]

Thanks for all the ideas.
I will try the following at the next visit.
- Removing old printers
- Reinstalling the printers after SP3 installation
- Setting up the printer as a local port; this is not preferred as this printer handles large printing jobs and it is most reliable if shared from the server. But this is a great diagnostic step.

Since this is such an isolated issue (only 2 clients have it) I doubt it is actually SP3 that is causing the issue, but is more likely on old issue that was hidden. SP3 manages network connections differently (more efficiently), so it doesn't surprise me that some network issues such as this have shown up.

Thanks for all the input. I will let you know what the solution is.

-Ryan

 

[ryanak]

Sorry for taking so long to post the resolution.
Two things I have learned.
1. The drivers for the newer Canon Image runners work better as a local installation than as a network installation. If you are having this same problem, remove the Image Runner as a network printer and change it to print directly to the printer by creating a new TCP/IP port. Thus making the system think it is a local printer.
2. The Canon Image Runner drivers have a problem with Adobe Acrobat 9. When trying to print large PDFs you may run into an issue where it will only print a couple pages. The workaround for this is to use an older version of Acrobat Reader. So far I have found that Acrobat Reader 7 is more reliable with the Canon Image runners.

Thank you for all the help.

Ryan