kcb
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« on: September 02, 2013, 06:07:21 PM » |
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I occasionally get white squares in my 4x6 prints on an HP C7280. It seems to be random but may be related to borderless mode. I've had this problem for over a year. I tried wireless and Ethernet cable connections to the printer with the same result. I can print the same print 5 times and see the white squares in different places each time. I just printed 21 small images on a 4x6 and when the white squares show up, they are one quarter of one or more of the 21 small images. I once had a white square on a single 4x6 image, but the floating text printed over the white square.
Where is this coming from: Qimage, the driver or the printer?
See attached.
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« Last Edit: September 02, 2013, 06:41:44 PM by kcb »
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Terry-M
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« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2013, 08:18:05 PM » |
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Hi kcb, Where is this coming from: Qimage, the driver or the printer? Qimage Help says the following: - Trouble when printing images:Trouble that includes an error message could indicate problems with corrupted images or memory: see above. Trouble like partial prints, not all prints printing, blank pages, or anything that deals with missing information in prints (with no error message) is usually related to a data bottleneck in the operating system. Due to its print optimization, Qimage sends more data to your printer than most software, so you may or may not see issues with other software while at the same time experiencing trouble with Qimage. The suggestions below will help eliminate printing problems caused by improper Windows configuration:
In Qimage, click "Edit", "Preferences", "Printing Options" and set the spool "Format" to "Raw - Large Prints".
If your printer is on a network and has a print queue, make sure that the queue size limit is large enough to accommodate the data being sent by Qimage.
If problems are still present, try increasing your Windows virtual memory to at least 2 GB.I see that seem to be using a network as you mention wireless and ethernet connections. The help mentions that a network can limit data flow. Can you connect via USB and try that - especially if the other advice above does not help. Terry |
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kcb
Newbie
Posts: 9
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« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2013, 09:16:59 PM » |
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Thanks for the info. I have a Windows 7 64 bit machine which is fairly powerful.
I tried the Print Format Raw as you suggested. It causes a paper jam every time. When I print a 4x6 in the EMF format the printer status dialog shows 24.7 MBytes being printed. When I print in the Raw format, the dialog shows 1.69 KBytes. I am printing just one 4x6, so I don't think the page spooling matters.
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kcb
Newbie
Posts: 9
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« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2013, 09:35:37 PM » |
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Another interesting fact is that when I select "Show Preview before printing" in the printer setup properties, the HP software displays an image before sending it to the printer. This image also has the whites squares (different each time) as seen in the attached screen capture.
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Terry-M
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« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2013, 07:03:27 AM » |
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I tried the Print Format Raw as you suggested. It causes a paper jam every time. I can't quite see the connection there but HP drivers are well known for bugs. Check their website to make sure you have the latest 64 bit driver. I have a Windows 7 64 bit machine which is fairly powerful That has very little to do with data flow on a network (ethernet/wireless connection) printer. Are you able to connect the printer via USB as I suggested, please do so if you can. Terry |
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Fred A
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« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2013, 10:07:38 AM » |
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Another interesting fact is that when I select "Show Preview before printing" in the printer setup properties, the HP software displays an image before sending it to the printer. This image also has the whites squares (different each time) as seen in the attached screen capture. I believe that the print preview is showing the preview with the driver settings applied to the page and the image. Try uninstalling the driver for the printer, and re installing. You don't have to do that to all the drivers, the scanner and fax, and whatever else it does. Try and experiment. Purposely mess up the output size in the driver and look at Print Preview.... Fred |
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albertody
Newbie
Posts: 31
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« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2013, 09:20:26 PM » |
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I had this problem on a new Z3200, after exchanging a lot of technical parts without solution, changed the printer is still under warranty.
Now I have another problem in Z3200 printer when printing in rapid quality
Qimage is not the problem, the problem is on HP
Alberto dy
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Ernst Dinkla
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« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2013, 09:42:53 AM » |
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I had this problem on a new Z3200, after exchanging a lot of technical parts without solution, changed the printer is still under warranty.
Now I have another problem in Z3200 printer when printing in rapid quality
Qimage is not the problem, the problem is on HP
Alberto dy
Alberto, what kind of a problem in fast mode? A Z3100 and a Z3200 here. There is one thing in the combination of the Z PCL3 driver with Qimage Ultimate and that is when you use Qimage's Roll Paper Trimming function. Better do that in the driver itself. The PS3 driver however does that communication with Qimage more reliable. Epson drivers cope well with that but for Canons it can be tricky too. http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/v2011-104-issuescomments/In more than ten years of using wide formats I have seen odd issues like oval areas being less saturated in the print or even white (Epson 9600). Something in the Windows system where rendering was influenced by the videocard software. Another card and it was gone. If the HP preview shows the problem you should check whether other applications printing from give the same result. If so the driver is likely the reason and a reinstall the best option. If not, then something goes wrong between Qimage and the driver. A more precise description of the settings in both Qimage and the driver may tell more. -- Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htmJuly 2013, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots. |
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albertody
Newbie
Posts: 31
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« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2013, 01:06:50 AM » |
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Hi Ernst
I had 2 printers Z3200 and one Z3100 on the same computer, all 3200 using PCL3 and only one had problem describe by Kcb, but not showing on driver preview, only white squares on print and when using low quality (fast)
This happens a long time without HP efetive solution
I do not trust the competence of technicians from HP in Brazil and I never use fast mode in my jobs, this is no problem to me. But it is curious.
Alberto dy
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kcb
Newbie
Posts: 9
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« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2013, 04:31:46 AM » |
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I really like the "Show preview before printing" option in the HP Driver. I tried various combinations and could see the white squares and other artifacts in the preview without wasting any ink.
Bottom line is that when I set "HP Real Life Technologies" RTL photo fix to off, the problems go away. Full RLT photo fix can make the prints look nice, but I suppose with the right amount of sharpening etc. in Qimage, I should turn RLT off. And I recall reading recommendations like that in the Q manual a long time ago. Thanks for the advice.
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Terry-M
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« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2013, 07:16:56 AM » |
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Hi kcb I really like the "Show preview before printing" option in the HP Driver As far as I know, all drivers have a print preview option, just don't rely on it for colour rendering, especially when using full colour management. Bottom line is that when I set "HP Real Life Technologies" RTL photo fix to off, the problems go away. Well, pleased to hear you have solved the problem - yet another HP driver bug reported  but I suppose with the right amount of sharpening etc. in Qimage, I should turn RLT off. Definitely! If you are not using full colour management (printer profile for paper and ink types), set QU to "Let driver manage colour", preferably with the driver set to ICM as recommended by QU Help - if the driver allows it. Terry |
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Fred A
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« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2013, 09:56:11 AM » |
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I really like the "Show preview before printing" option in the HP Driver. I tried various combinations and could see the white squares and other artifacts in the preview without wasting any ink. Glad you got it solved.... Just reenforcing the picture that Print preview, although it makes you feel like it is previewing before it gets to the driver, really is previewing "after" it goes through the driver. PS follow what Terry, advised... ICM in the driver and ise "Let Printer manage color" in Qimage.... Good detective work! Fred |
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Ernst Dinkla
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« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2013, 12:26:52 PM » |
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I really like the "Show preview before printing" option in the HP Driver. I tried various combinations and could see the white squares and other artifacts in the preview without wasting any ink.
Bottom line is that when I set "HP Real Life Technologies" RTL photo fix to off, the problems go away. Full RLT photo fix can make the prints look nice, but I suppose with the right amount of sharpening etc. in Qimage, I should turn RLT off. And I recall reading recommendations like that in the Q manual a long time ago. Thanks for the advice.
Yes, preview reduces print waste, the more when there are issues. One question, is the image data way beyond what you need for the print so downsampled at some point in the application or driver? One check is the print queue list and what is shown as the PPI at the print size for that image there. If it is way above the requested 300/600 PPI (even 1200 PPI can be requested by that printer) then it would not surprise me if the downsampling causes this problem. -- Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htmJuly 2013, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots. |
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kcb
Newbie
Posts: 9
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« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2013, 05:52:36 PM » |
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One question, is the image data way beyond what you need for the print so downsampled at some point in the application or driver? One check is the print queue list and what is shown as the PPI at the print size for that image there. If it is way above the requested 300/600 PPI (even 1200 PPI can be requested by that printer) then it would not surprise me if the downsampling causes this problem. The print driver is set for 600 dpi. I see no difference in the white square problem whether the Q reported PPI is 500 or well over a 1000. And I would expect no difference in driver issues because Q is resampling to 600 dpi regardless of source image pixel count. But I am confused about ICC. If I set "Let Printer manage color", then I get some minor dithering artifacts in part of the printout. If I choose an sRGB ICC for the printer, I get very consistent print quality throughout the image. What does "Let Printer manage color" do? Does it change a driver setting that I have no access to? I see that in the HP driver settings I can set Color Management to either "Color Smart/sRGB" or "Adobe RGB 1998". Does the Q setting of "Let Printer manage color" enable use of one of the driver color management settings? And if an ICC profile is used in Q, are all the color management functions in the print driver disabled? |
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Fred A
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« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2013, 09:36:25 AM » |
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Good Morning, KCB But I am confused about ICC. If I set "Let Printer manage color", then I get some minor dithering artifacts in part of the printout. If I choose an sRGB ICC for the printer, I get very consistent print quality throughout the image. What does "Let Printer manage color" do? Does it change a driver setting that I have no access to? I see that in the HP driver settings I can set Color Management to either "Color Smart/sRGB" or "Adobe RGB 1998". Does the Q setting of "Let Printer manage color" enable use of one of the driver color management settings? And if an ICC profile is used in Q, are all the color management functions in the print driver disabled? Let's go slowly... for my sake, I am old. In Qimage, when you select Let Printer Manage color, you have instructed Qimage to use an internal profile, (created by Mike Chaney) and reasonably wide gamut to cover any printer. This is named (See snap 125) p/rgb.icm We use that when we are getting colors and prints that look off a little. Of course a properly made Printer Paper profile is the best, but this is almost as good. Finished with that. Next... to best coordinate Let Printer Manage color, we like to choose some setting in the printer that will give us a reasonable balanced color for our print. Best selection is a setting called ICM... Internal Color Management. Most printers offer this selection... In the three HP drivers that I was permitted to install over the years, (HP wont allow installing their driver if you cannot plug the physical printer in) None shows a setting called ICM. I see from looking at the three HP drivers that I have, Adobe or sRGB showing as choices. see snap 123, and the expensive Z series does show an extra two choices, 122, Let Printer Manage color, and Color Management OFF, and so on. Looks like you probably are left with choosing from Adobe RGB or plain RGB. as a setting for your printer to model color for. The last screen snap is a typical Canon driver. See choices include ICM. Hope some of this helps, Fred |
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