Strange printer problem

brad-

I have an HP 9040dn printer, trying to print duplex 11x17 and collate. Printing from XP, its fine. Printing from Windows 7, it doesnt collate.

I have been on the phone with HP support for hours. We have updated the firmware on the printer, and used 3 different drivers (universal PCL5,PCL6,Postscript). When I print, no matter what, it will not collate. It prints page 1 page 1 page 1, page 2 page 2 page 2 etc. When I collate 8.5x11 from MS Word, it works. When I try to do it from a PDF on 11x17 it fails...so the problem is with one of those two items Im sure...i just dont know if there is anything I can do about it.

In all the printer properties - there is only one place regarding collate - and that is when you print. Thats it. I'm at my wits end...on the verge of just telling the users "just hit the print button for each copy you need".

The printer is not shared, I install it for each user.

Devilsbane

Is there an option in the setup tab of printer preferences?

brad-

Devilsbane wrote: »

Is there an option in the setup tab of printer preferences?

no, there its just showing it what all additional equipment is installed and enabled on the printer - ie drawer 1, 2, 3, 4, - duplexing enabled.

tiersten

So have you tried doing the same document in Word and Acrobat on both PCs? Your description isn't very clear.

brad-

tiersten wrote: »

So have you tried doing the same document in Word and Acrobat on both PCs? Your description isn't very clear.

Sorry - yes. The acrobat pdf collates 11x17 paper on XP, but does not collate with W7.

Devilsbane

brad- wrote: »

Sorry - yes. The acrobat pdf collates 11x17 paper on XP, but does not collate with W7.

Maybe there is a different driver that you need?

N2IT

Devilsbane wrote: »

Maybe there is a different driver that you need?

First thing I thought of.

How about running the printer in XP 32 bit mode?

tiersten

brad- wrote: »

Sorry - yes. The acrobat pdf collates 11x17 paper on XP, but does not collate with W7.

Sounds like a problem with Acrobat then. Acrobat does do weird things with how it prints so are both sides configured exactly the same with the same versions on both? The default paper tray and size set the same?

crrussell3

Try using a different pdf viewer, such as Foxit Reader. That will at least tell if it is Adobe causing the problem.

tiersten

crrussell3 wrote: »

Try using a different pdf viewer, such as Foxit Reader. That will at least tell if it is Adobe causing the problem.

You'll avoid getting pwned by the security issue in Acrobat as well. Not that Foxit is bug free or anything. Its just not targeted as much.

There is an unofficial patch that fixes the bug but I'm unsure whether it does actually 100% work and whether there are any side effects. Adobe won't release one until sometime in October.

brad-

crrussell3 wrote: »

Try using a different pdf viewer, such as Foxit Reader. That will at least tell if it is Adobe causing the problem.

Well, I updated Adobe on this W7 machine, thought that was going to fix it...and interestingly, it sort of did. What I didnt realize was this custom application we have isnt creating its reports with adobe pdf, its generating the report with a crystal reports viewer.

So, if I export the report to a PDF, it printing works as expected. But printing it out of the CR viewer is the problem. I have installed CR Runtime 2008 sp2, but it looks like I need a new one.

Needless to say, if I cant find a CR viewer that will work, they can export it to a PDF if collating is going to be an issue.

Everyone can sleep easy tonight

Thx all.

Devilsbane

brad- wrote: »

Everyone can sleep easy tonight

Thx all.

Good, I was starting to get worried.

azjag

Sound like you may have fixed it. But if not, try printing as an image.
1. Choose File > Print, and then click Advanced.
2. Select Print As Image.
3. Click OK to close the Advanced Print Setup dialog box, and then click Print.

It may take a little longer to print but this ended up solving issues in our enviroment.