Strange Network Printing Error

[David Whitehead]

A strange thing is happening to one of the servers under my control:

When a print is sent (say for example for 2000 labels) the printer is outputting two labels only - then waiting 20 seconds then printing two more labels etc etc etc (clearly unacceptable on a 2000 label run).

Can anyone give any pointers as to where I can start to locate the problem - I have been told that others have done some arly investigation and discovered that the pause seems to be at the network card i.e. a burst of data is coming out of the network card (server side) then pausing for about 20 seconds then passing another burst of data then pausing ........

Will nettl be able to give me any useful information here or is there something else I can do?

Apologies for the scant information but that is all I hav been given hehe.

Many thanks
David

[Rita C Workman]

Well I would like to have more info on the printer, the card, etc....but to begin.
You mentioned that this happens on other print jobs. Unless there is something in the application code and it only sends the print job in pieces...(which I would doubt..). Then I would first look to the printer.
All printers have a buffer setting. This can be increased or decreased. This isn't a large space, because it is constantly being emptied as the printer outputs the data. Normally a printer will print fast enough that a steady stream of data on large print jobs causes minimal interuption in the print job itself. While data is being printed 'out' and more data is being transmitted 'in' to the buffer cache.
So .. for me...I would first go and check the printer and the settings on it. It sounds to me like the buffer on the printer has been set to virtually nothing, that's why it fills up and has to wait until the data has been printed before it can allow anything else to be sent.

At least this is one thing you can rule out while you check other options,

[Tim Malnati]

The printer or the network interface to it are the first things to look at. Make sure that unused protocols are turned off. You are probably only using TCP/IP. After this, have someone identify the printer make/model and get a copy of the manual (you can usually download it from the manufacturer's website). There is a good chance that this sort of behavior has been reported to the manufacturer before, so take a look around their support areas as well.