HP Z3200ps Printer Driver Issues
Kelly S.:
Last week, I was getting a partial image (~10%) using Qimage to make a print on my HP Z3200ps 44-inch printer with Windows 10 as my operating system. I suspected a corrupt printer driver, so I deleted the printer (driver: HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo V4) and reinstalled it. The colors produced with the reinstalled driver were different than before, there is now more red and not enough black. The previous V4 driver was installed back in March this year.
I contacted Mike Chaney at Qimage, he suggested installing the raster driver: the one labeled “HP Windows HPGL2 Driver”. After I installed the HPGL2 Driver and submitted a print, I got a "61.01 - wrong file format. The printer cannot process the job" error message. So, I promptly shutdown the printer, disconnected the power cord from the wall socket, then, reconnected and restarted the printer after I waited for 2 minutes.... and I got the same error message!
Mike suggested posting my printer issues on the Qimage forum. Although I have never posted anything before, I’m hopeful that this user group will be able to help me find a solution. I have learned a lot through articles/comments from folks on public forums such as Ernst Dinkla and Mark Lindquist; who generously share their vast knowledge on the Z3200 series printers with other users.
In case you wonder how I installed the driver, below is the process that I followed...
- Download the HPGL2 driver for Z3200ps printer at the HP website.
- In "Add printer driver wizard", under the "Advance" window within "Printer Property", I selected "New Driver", "Have Disc"... then, I selected the folder where I downloaded the HPGL2 driver, and the print wizard automatically put the driver’s .inf file in the file window. I clicked OK, then "HP Designjet HPGL2 driver" appeared in the next window. I clicked "Next", "Finish", "Appy" to complete the process.
I also tried different drivers as shown below. I was able to print through Qimage, but the colors were off (too much red and not enough black, BTW, all ink levels were more than 30% full).
- HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo
- HP Designjet Z3200ps 44in Photo V4
- HP Designjet 5800 V4 (this driver showed up in the "Add printer driver wizard" after I set the pointer to the Z3200ps PCL driver (version 61.162.11209.100) that I downloaded from the HP website.
None of these drivers allow me to select the custom paper option (i.e. such as the “Hahnemuhle photo rag ultra-smooth” paper that I calibrated using the printer’s spectrophotometer). So, I just selected "use printer setting" for the media option; and "Any" for drivers that don't have the "use printer setting" option. On the printer, I used the front panel to select the custom paper that I wanted.
I’m now at a lost regarding what to do next, any help bringing my Z3200ps printer back to good form is greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Kelly
admin:
Hopefully Ernst will chime in since he's our local HP Z* wizard. :) In the mean time, I assume you clicked the "Properties" button on the Printers and Settings tab to open the driver and tried to select your media from inside the actual driver? I ask because HP doesn't always communicate all the media types to Windows so they may not show in the drop down list directly on the Printers and Settings tab; sometimes you have to go into the driver to select the media type, particularly if you are using custom media types.
Regards,
Mike
Kelly S.:
Yes Mike, I tried different ways to look for the custom paper option…
- Inside Qimage, I clicked the “properties” button to open the driver, but found no custom paper option there.
- Outside Qimage in printer setting, I selected "Z3200ps printer", then click “General” and “Preference” to get to driver printing preferences. I found no custom paper option under “paper type” either.
Regards,
Kelly
admin:
I just noticed there is a very recent update for their Z3200 PCL 3 driver (Sept 4). Sometimes Windows updates cause issues with printers and this update may resolve some issues:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-designjet-z3200-photo-printer-series/3737540
Unless you've already tried that new driver, I would recommend installing that PCL 3 driver to see if it resolves any of the problems.
Regards,
Mike
Kelly S.:
Hi Mike,
I tried that PCL 3 driver mentioned in your message already. It has no option for "paper type" or default to "printer paper setting" option either. The test print showed too much red and not enough black just like the test prints from other drivers that I tried.
The interesting things is the PCL3 driver showed up as a “HP Designjet 5800 V4” driver after installation. I'm not sure if it is an indication of problems. Below is the process that I used for the PCL3 driver installation for your reference.
I selected the Z3200ps printer in the “printer and scanner” window. Under “Printer Properties”, “Advanced”; I selected “New Driver”, “Have Disk”, “Browse” and highlighted the PCL driver .inf file download from HP (hpi2144.inf). Then I hit “next”, and I got the message “You have successfully completed the add printer driver wizard. You are about to add the following drivers: HP Designjet D5800 V4, x64, Type 4 – User Mode”. I then completed the process by selecting “Finish”, “Apply”.
Regards,
Kelly
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