Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« on: June 10, 2021, 05:06:49 AM » |
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I have a HP Z3200ps printer that I have been printing four 8x10 images across the width of a 44-inch roll of paper without any issues. Based on suggestions on the internet that I need to periodically clear the memory bank of this printer, I would do a cold reboot by unplugging the power cord from the wall outlet while the printer was on, and leave it like that for at least 4 hours before powering up for printing again. In addition, I would delete all the files on the printer before the next printing session. I was able to use this process successfully for eleven times in the past five months to print out multiple images as described above.
Then two days ago, I followed the same process but only 2 inches (out of 8 inches) of the images were printed before the printer stopped. I unplugged the power cord and left it like that for 24 hours and repeated the process, then I got six inches of the images (out of 8 inches) instead. I thought may be more cold rebooting was needed, so I unplugged the power cord for another 24 hours and tried again. In addition, I changed the printer's I/O timeout option from 30 seconds to 30 minutes just in case. This time I only got 1 inch of the total images!
I’m now at a lost regarding what to do next. I look forward to any feedback that can help point me in the right direction. Attached is the printer setting in Qimage for your reference.
Best Regards,
Kelly
P.S. I just found that I had a file in the system (bands of different colors; 1.35 MB), which I used to exercise the printer on a weekly basis if I wasn’t making prints. I printed this file out six times in the past. I don’t think it is the root cause of the partial print issue… just want to fully disclose what I found.
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« Last Edit: June 10, 2021, 05:53:38 AM by Kelly S. »
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« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2021, 12:26:06 PM » |
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First thing's first. When the memory in the printer gets corrupted, it can corrupt the driver settings that Qimage retains on startup. So the first thing to try is resetting those. Hold the shift key while you click the "Properties" button on the Printers and Settings tab in Qimage. That will reset the printer driver to new default values and open the driver settings dialog. Then, while still in the driver dialog, set up all your settings as appropriate for your media size, paper type, quality, and color management settings. After that, don't load any saved jobs or printer setups: just try to add your print(s) and print. If the above doesn't fix the problem, you can try installing one of the other Z3200 drivers. You're using the PS driver per your screen shot so you could download and try the PCL 3 driver and/or the HPGL2 driver: HP provides all three drivers on their support site: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-designjet-z3200-photo-printer-series/3737540Regards, Mike |
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Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2021, 10:10:36 PM » |
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Mike, thanks for your feedback and direction.
Resetting the Printers and Settings tab in Qimage as directed did not help. Only .15 inch of the image was printed. By the way, the HP Print Preview screen showed complete images after I was done with the resetting; but it gave me an error message when I hit the Print button on the preview screen “Error printing on HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo… The printer couldn’t print Qimage”. I had to turn off the print preview option in order to print… but it only printed the .15 inch partial images.
After downloading the PCL 3 driver from HP as recommended for the next step, I tried running it without success. A screen showed up for a fraction of a second indicating it was trying to extract something from the down loaded file, but nothing happened after that, I found no extracted files in the same folder (see attached).
I looked for a PCL 3 driver within the Add Printer Driver Wizard, but found no such file for the Z3200 series of printers.
I also tried to restore the current driver by pointing to the .inf file (in Add Printer Driver Wizard; “Have Disk” option) that I found in the Microsoft Update Catalog. However, I got an error message of “The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information”.
I am at a loss of what to try next!? Any suggestions?
Regards
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« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2021, 11:29:34 PM » |
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Yeah, HP's driver installation is a mess. As I remember, the PCL3 driver "unzips" a bunch of files, one of which is an INF file that you use to install that driver. I know you tried that route for the current driver, but maybe try it for the PCL3 driver... provided you can locate the files.
But I have to say it is starting to sound like a communication issue with the printer. If HP's print preview shows the whole page but it only prints part of it, that's typically an indication that the driver has what it needs and knows how to print it, but something is preventing the data from reaching the printer. At that point, the usual recommended route is to try another cable or switch interfaces: if you are using ethernet, switch to USB... and if you are using USB, try the ethernet connection.
Regards,
Mike
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Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2021, 11:06:24 PM » |
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Mike, thanks for your feedback.
As soon as I connected to the printer with a USB cable, my laptop automatically added the printer but with the wrong driver (Photo V4) as the default, this driver has no option to select custom papers inside of Printer Preferences. So, within Printer Properties I changed the driver to the one that I had used successfully before the partial printing problem (Photo Version from 2012, see attached). After installing the new driver, I tried to open up Printer Preference but got an error message “operation could not be completed”. When I tried to open Qimage, I got the error message “Unable to load printer driver settings for HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo”.
I tried other drivers on the list too, but ran into the same issues.
I'm at a lost of what to do next?
Regards
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« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2021, 02:31:57 AM » |
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If switching to USB confused the HP driver(s) that badly, you might want to uninstall all Z3200 drivers and just install the one you want to use. Then hold the shift key while opening Qimage so it resets everything. At that point, on Qimage's Printers and Settings tab, click the "Reset preferences to printer defaults" button to the right of the Properties button, then choose "All". That will cause Qimage to "forget" all prior setups that might be based on an old driver or your old connection type and you can use the driver you installed (proveded that driver is working correctly).
Mike
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Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2021, 02:54:40 AM » |
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Thanks for the fast response.
I want to uninstall all Z3200 drivers also and start over, but so far haven't figured out how to do it. There is no such option in the Print Wizard, or within the Printer Properties window, at least no obvious to me. It would be great if I can get some direction to go about uninstalling the Z3200 drivers. My OS is Windows 10.
Thanks
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« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2021, 03:29:02 AM » |
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This is not specific to the Z3200 but applies to all Windows 10 printers:
Open Printers and Scanners in Windows.
Click on the printer you want to uninstall and click "Remove device".
Then click "Print server properties" on the right (blue text link).
Click on the "Drivers" tab on the top of the print server properties.
Click on the driver you want to uninstall and click "Remove".
If there are multiple Z3200 drivers installed, you may have to repeat the above for all of them.
Mike
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Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2021, 04:54:45 AM » |
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Mike,
Thanks very much for the feedback and direction.
I was able to delete all Z3200 drivers (only the divers but not allowed to delete the related packages) except one (HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo). I got an error message that "Failure to remove driver... this printer driver is currently in use.", even though I removed the printer already. I thought may be there's some files stuck in the print spooler, so I went to the "C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers" folder but found it empty. I then went to the "C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Driver" folder to look for the driver, but found nothing that I recognized.
Research on the internet so far indicates this driver might be corrupted; but offered no clear ways to remove it.
I looked for the corrupted driver in Apps and Feature, it's not there.
My brains are about fried at this point, any help to move on to the next step is appreciated.
Kelly
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« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2021, 05:20:02 AM » |
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Well, I would think there could only be one source keeping driver files open and that's likely one of HP's silly utilities. You could try to go to Programs and Features in Windows and look for HP printer utilities and uninstall any HP apps you find. Beyond that, I think you're getting into HP territory here and you may need help from HP or an HP specific printer forum. A working Windows printer driver is a prerequisite for Qimage and I try to help with general driver/Windows advice but when it comes to HP printers (particularly the Z series), HP makes such a mess and has so many bugs that you may need someone with specific knowledge of that printer if you wind up in the tangled web that HP weaves.
The only person here who has enough experience with all the bugs and non-standard behavior of the HP Z series printers is Ernst. If he's around, maybe he has some ideas.
Mike
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Kelly S.
Newbie
Posts: 23
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« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2021, 05:29:41 AM » |
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Thanks Mike for your help and patience, I appreciate it!!
I'll look for the HP Utility software and remove it to see if it does the trick.
I look forward seeing feedback from Ernst if he sees this posting.
Regards,
Kelly
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