Kenyon has many networked printers, both public printers (in public computing labs and other public areas) and departmental printers. Public printers are available to any Kenyon member, while departmental printers are restricted to the members of that department or group. All networked printer queues are not on the printers.kenyon.edu server.

 

Reporting printing problems:

When printing problems are reported to the HelpLine, the following information is needed: The caller's name, the building/room location; the printer name; the software (program) being used to print; and error messages or symptoms of the problem. All networked printer problems have an emergency priority level, to be handled immediately, since they serve many users.

Types of Printing Problems:

Printing problems can be divided into three basic types:

1. The printer equipment may be causing the problem. Examples of equipment problems are: Faulty rollers; broken paper trays; printer display menu "maintenance" messages; odd sounds; paper jams; "low toner" messages. This problem is handled by LBIS printer technicians.
2. The print queue on the network may be causing the problem. Examples of print queue problems are: Error messages saying queue is "unavailable" or "cannot connect; "printer busy or error" messages, indicating print job is stuck in the queue; problems adding a network printer; printer not communicating with the network. Queue problems are handled by LBIS network managers.
3. The software through which the print job is being printed may be causing the problem. Examples of software problems are: corrupt printer drivers (software)have to be re-installed; error messages in application being used, stating that paper trays, paper feeds or paper sizes are incorrect; "error initializing output device" messages, indicating a temporary glitch in communication between the software and network; "insufficient memory" error messages, indicating an (image) file size may be too large for the printer. Software problems are investigated by LBIS academic or adminstrative liaisons.

Two Kinds of Printers: Networked and Attached Printers

There are two kinds of printers on campus. Attached printers are those that are directly connected to a single computer. Networked printers are available for use by many users working from many different computers on the network. Print job requests for a particular networked printer are sent to a print queue on the printers.kenyon.edu server.

If an attached printer won't print, here are some preliminary things to check:

• Check to see that the printer is powered on.
• Make sure that the printer cable between printer and computer isn't loose.
• If both computer and printer are on but computer can't find the printer: Turn both devices off and wait 20 seconds. Power printer back on first and then power on the computer.
• If, after all of the above, the computer still can't find the printer, the drivers may have become corrupted and need to be re-installed. Call the dept. liaison for this.
• If the computer can find the printer but it still won't print, check the local print queue screen in the software(Word or WP, for example). A print job may be stuck in the local print queue and deleting it from the queue may help.

If a networked printer won't print: here are some preliminary things to check:

• Check to see that the printer is powered on and the network cable is properly connected to both the printer and the wall jack.
• Check the network print queue to see if any jobs have become stuck. Clear them if necessary (instructions for doing this are given in the next section).
• Try sending a test print job to see if the printer is working.
• If you get a "printer unavailable" error message when trying to view a print queue, the printer server may be down.
• If the print queue appears to be available and a test job causes a "printer busy or error" message, try to ping the printer's IP address to see if it is still communicating with the network. The printer may need to be recycled to reestablish its connection.
• Note: Detailed instructions for performing the diagnostic techniques mentioned above are given in the remaining sections of this document.

CHECKING THE PRINT QUEUE

The print queue screen displays various kinds of information about the print jobs listed in the print queue. It can indicate whether the queue is working or not (in the blue title bar of the screen). It can report the status of each print job (spooled, printing, deleting, or error messages). It also lists the owner, the number of pages, and the size of each print job. The sections below tell how to check the status of a print job and how to clear jobs from the print queue when print job(s) may be "stuck."

Check status of the print job

If a particular printer is having problems, the first thing to check is the status of the print job, which may indicate the cause of the problem. Write down the status message so as to report it accurately. Many of the print queue error messages under the Status column are described in the last section of this document, COMMON PRINTER PROBLEMS. Look up the error messages in that section for suggestions in solving the problem.

To check the status of a print job:

1. Click the Start button, then Settings, then Printers.
2. Find and double-click the desired printer name listed in the Printers screen.
3. The print queue screen will appear with the currently printing print job at the top of list and all pending print jobs listed below it.
4. Look at the top print job's status message. (You may have to drag the column separator to the right to see all of it).

Check the printer's status via the Web

Newer printers (and those with JetDirect cards) serve their own web pages and can be checked for information, such as: printing status, display messages, toner cartridge usage, paper counts, paper tray sizes, and printer capabilities.

To find this information for one of the newer printers via the web:

• Find the printer's IP address or name by following instructions in section FIND PRINTER DOMAIN NAME/IP ADDRESS AND PRINTER MODEL. Note: If there is more than one printer at the public lab location, the printers are connected in a printer queue and given one name, such as cha3hp.kenyon.edu. However, each printer also has an individual name (such as: cha3hp, cha4hp, cha5hp). When checking a specific printer on the web, you must enter the individual name of the printer you are checking. To find the individual names of the public lab printers in a printer queue, look in the List of Public printers for Mac computers: at
  http://lbis.kenyon.edu/helpline/printers/listofprintersformacusers
• Enter the printer's IP address or name in the address field on your web browser screen, as in: cha3hp.kenyon.edu or 138.28.165.42
• A screen may appear, asking to install a Hewlett-Packard utility program for viewing the printer information. Click Yes to accept.
• Then a screen will appear with the above status information.

Cancel or Purge print jobs in queue

Usually the top print job (currently printing) is the culprit causing the problem, so try canceling it first if dealing with a departmental printer. However, you may have to eventually delete (purge) all the print jobs in the list to get the printer to print again. HelpLine staff should purge all public print queues to clear out any old abandoned print requests that may still be waiting to print.

The Cancel command is used to delete a single print job, while the Purge command is used to clear all jobs from the queue. Note: Generally most users have permissions set to cancel only their own print jobs and no one else's. The Purge option is available only to users with special privileges, such as the HelpLine staff, the LBIS staff, or certain individuals who manage the printers for their department.

Instructions for clearing print jobs from the queue:

• Pause the print queue:
  1. In the print queue screen click Printer in the menu bar.
  2. Click Pause Printing (a checkmark will appear before Pause Printing).

   

• Cancel a single print job (usually the top print document) in the queue:
  1. Highlight the top print job in the list.
  2. Click Document, then Cancel (this cancels only the one highlighted document).
  3. If you cannot get the top print job to disappear, you may have to recycle the printer once or twice to clear the memory of the printer completely. (See instructions in next section RECYCLE THE PRINTER).

   

• OR:
• Purge all print jobs in the queue: (requires special privileges)
  1. Click Printer, then Purge Print Documents.
  2. The entire list of print jobs should disappear.

   

• Unpause (restart) the print queue:
  1. (Remember to unpause the queue or the job won't print!!)
  2. Click Printer, then Pause Printing (checkmark now disappears from Pause Printing option)
  3. Exit print queue screen.

 

• Try printing a second time.

Recycle the Printer

If the print job will not disappear in the print queue list after deleting, try recycling the printer. This should clear the memory of the printer and will usually enable the printer to print again. It may also clear out any pending print jobs in the list as well.

Note: Sometimes the printer may have to be recycled a second time before it will print (if the top print job in the queue will not disappear with the first recycling).

To recycle the printer:

1. Turn off the printer power switch.
2. If your printer has a little white print server (Lantronix) box attached on the back, unplug the black power cord and the blue network cable that are plugged into that box. If there is no little white box attached, there will only be a blue network cable that must be unplugged.
3. Wait 30 seconds and then plug the blue network cable (and the black power cord, if there is one) back into place.
4. Turn on printer again and wait at least 5 minutes before printing a test page to it. It may take that long before print jobs will go through again successfully (See instructions in section PRINT TEST PAGE REMOTELY TO VALIDATE NETWORK CONNECTION).

Onsite Test of Printer Equipment (PRINT TEST PAGE)

If you are at the printer site, you can determine whether the printer itself is functioning properly by printing a test page using selections on the printer's display menu to do so. The instructions below apply to the public HP4050 and HP4100 printers. (Other printer models may have menu options with slighly different names).

• Press the Menu button on the printer until the Information Menu appears in the display menu. (On older models this menu may be called Test Menu).
• Press the Item button on the printer until Print Configuration appears in the display menu. (On older models this item may be called Print Self-test).
• Press Select to print a test page.
• If the printer is working properly, a test page will print.

Onsite Test of Print Server Box

There may be a print server box on the back of the printer(on some of the older printers) that could be the cause of printer problems. It is a small white box attached to the back of the printer. There is a lighted green button on it with the top half of the lighted button flashing. A blue network cable and a black power cable are attached to the print server box. To test whether the print server box is functioning properly:

• Disconnect just the blue network cable.
• Using the point of a pen or small paper clip, poke it into the tiny hole just below the green light button to print a test page.
• If the print server box is working, the printer will print the page. If not, there is a malfunction in the box.

Test the Printer Network Connection With PING

If you cannot successfully print a test page to the printer, pinging the printer is another way of determining whether the printer is actually communicating with the network.

If the network connection is intact, it will "reply" to the ping command. You must first find out either the printer domain name (example: cha3hp.kenyon.edu) or printer IP address (example: 138.28.123.48) before you can use ping. For detailed instructions in finding this information, see the later section called FIND PRINTER DOMAIN NAME/IP ADDRESS AND PRINTER MODEL.

To test the network connection using ping:

• Click Start, then Programs, then Command Prompt.
• A black screen appears with an H:>, P:> or C:> prompt.
• At the prompt, type: ping printer_IP_address (or ping printer_domain_name).
  (Examples: ping 138.28.123.48 or ping cha7hp.kenyon.edu)
• Pinging sends test packets directly from your computer to the printer's network card. They don't go through the printer server at all. If the printer is communicating properly with the network, you will get a "reply," with the following statements appearing on your screen:
  "Pinging IP address number....." "Reply from IP address number.....".
• If you can ping the printer, but print jobs still won't go through the print queue, something may be wrong with the queue on the printer server.
• If you don't get a reply, the printer is not communicating with the network. This could be caused by a print queue problem, a print server box problem, a missing or lost IP address, or other causes.

Print Test Page Remotely to Validate Network Connection

You can try to print a test page to a problem printer located anywhere on campus to determine whether or not the printer is communicating with the network.

• Click Start, then Settings, then Printers.
• In the Printer screen double-click the desired printer name to display its print queue screen.
• Click Printer in the menu bar. Then click Properties.
• Rearrange the Properties screen and the print queue screen by dragging each so that both can be seen at the same time.
• In the Properties screen click the General tab. Click the Print Test Page button.
• If the printer is communicating with the network, you will be able to see the test page being printed on the print queue screen.
• If the test page doesn't print, there might be a problem with the printer definition, the print server box, or the printer IP address.

Find Printer Domain Name/IP Address and Printer Model

Find the printer domain name or printer model:

• Click Start, then Settings, then Printers.
• In the Printers screen right-click the printer name in the list. Click Properties.
• In the Properties screen click the Ports tab.
• Look under the column labeled Port to find the printer domain name. (You may have to drag the column separator to the right to read the entire name). Write it down.
• To find the printer model, click the General tab and look in the Driver field. Write it down.

Find Printer IP Address/Printer Domain Name With NSLOOKUP

If you know the printer domain name (with instructions above), you can find the printer IP address by using a utility called NSLOOKUP. (Conversely, you can also use NSLOOKUP to find the printer domain name if you know the printer IP address). To find the printer IP address:

• Click Start, then Programs, then Command Prompt. (The H:>, C:> or P:> prompt will display on a black screen).
• At the lettered prompt, type: nslookup printer_domain_name. (example: nslookup cha7hp.kenyon.edu)
• The following will appear on the screen:
  Name: (printer domain name will display)
  Address: (IP address will display)

Printing to Public Printers From a Windows Computer

The public printers are found in the public computing labs as well as a few other public areas. Users with a Windows computer can set it up to print to any of the public printers from an office or dorm room. A list of the public printers for Windows users can be found in the link below. Also below are instructions for setting up a Windows computer for printing to a public printer.

• List of public printers for Windows computers:
  http://lbis.kenyon.edu/helpline/printers/listofprintersforwindowsusers

   

• Printer setup instructions for Windows computers: http://lbis.kenyon.edu/helpline/printing/xp

Printing to Public Computers from a MAC

Mac users can see (through Chooser) only those printers located on their particular subnet. They must manually add any printer that is not. To add a remote printer(not on the subnet), the printer must be configured as an LPR printer (printing directly to the printer rather than going through a print queue). The printer domain name and printer model information are required for setting up a Mac for printing to a public printer.

The public printers are found in the public computing labs as well as a few other public areas. Users with a Mac computer can set it up to print to any of the public printers from an office or dorm room. A list of public printers for Mac users can be found in the link below. Also below are instructions for setting up a Mac OS9 and OSX computer to print to a public printer.

• List of Public printers for Mac computers:
  http://lbis.kenyon.edu/helpline/printers/listofprintersformacusers

   

• LPR Printer setup instructions for Mac OSX computers: http://lbis.kenyon.edu/helpline/printing/mac

Replace Toner Cartridge

When the printer display menu states "low toner," it may be time to replace the toner cartridge. However, always try to get a bit more life out of the cartridge by shaking or rocking it gently from side to side and putting it back into the printer. Check to see if the "low toner" message disappears. If it does not, then replace the cartridge with a new one as follows:

• Open the door on top of the printer and pull the old cartridge towards you to release it.
• Remove the new cartridge from its carton and rock gently back and forth to make sure the toner hasn't settled if stored incorrectly.
• Pull the plastic strip out of the cartridge (see tab on the side of the toner).
• Replace the cartridge in the printer at the same angle at which you pulled the old one out.
• Close the top door of the printer.
• Print a test page from the printer display (See instructions Onsite Test of Printer Equipment.

Common Printing Problems

• Print job status says: "Printer busy...or printer error."

  • Certain print codes in the file that is printing can confuse the printer, causing the job to get stuck in the print queue.
  • Delete the top print job or purge the print queue if printer still won't restart. If the print job still remains in the queue, recycle the printer up to two times to clear the job.
  • Wait five minutes before printing a test page.

• Print job status says: "Insufficient memory."

  • Indicates that the print job probably has image files in it that are too large for the printer memory to handle. They may have to be changed to a different image format to accommodate the limits of the printer, or perhaps printed to another printer with more memory. (Files in tiff format are very large and can be converted to jpg format).
  • Delete the print job or purge the print queue. If necessary, recycle the printer up to two times to clear the job.
  • Wait five minutes before printing a test page.

• Print job status says: "PowerSave On."

  • Indicates that the printer needs to have its Go button pressed to wake it up. It should print soon after.

• The current print job (at top of job list) will not disappear after deleting it. Print job status continues to be: "Deleting...printing"

  • If necessary, recycle the printer up to two times.
  • Wait five minutes before printing a test page.

• A pending print job will not disappear after deleting it. Print job status continues to be: "Deleting...spooling"

  • If necessary, recycle the printer up to two times.
  • Wait five minutes before printing a test page.

• Print queue screen (blue title bar) indicates queue is "paused."

  • Unpause the printer (see instructions above in the section CHECKING PRINT QUEUE.
  • Print test page to printer.

• Print queue screen (blue title bar) indicates queue is "stalled or stopped."

  • This may mean that the printer itself has been set "offline."
  • Direct the caller to check the printer display menu to see if it says "offline."
  • Pressing the Go button can put it "online" again so it says "Ready."
  • Printer should now begin printing again.

• Print queue screen (blue title bar) indicates queue is "unavailable" or "cannot connect."

  • This means that the print queue is not working.
  • Check other public print queues to see whether they are displaying the same message. If more than one print queue is unavailable, then the Printers print server is probably down.

• Error in software: "Error initializing output device."

  • When printing within a program like WordPerfect, Word, Excel, etc., users may occasionaly see this error message appear on the screen when attempting to print a file. It is often caused by a temporary network "glitch" in the processing of the print job. There are two options below that will often clear this printing problem.
    • Save your file and exit the program, log off the network, then login, get into the program and try printing again.
    • If this doesn't work, shut down and power off the computer, wait 20 seconds and power it on again. Login to the network, get into the program again and try printing.
    • If the error still doesn't clear, wait at least 15-20 minutes and then try printing again.

• Printer display menu says "Ready" but doesn't print; there is no print job showing up in the print queue screen, even though a print job was sent to it.

  • Recycle the printer up to two times. Wait 5 minutes and then try to print a test page. If it doesn't print, do the following:
  • Test printer software: Try printing to a nearby printer. If you can print successfully to it, it may indicate a corrupt printer driver for the problem printer that must be deleted and re-created as follows:
    • Click Start, then Settings, then Printers and highlight the printer.
    • Delete this printer definition.
    • Re-create a new definition for the printer by following instructions in the section Printing from a Windows Computer to a Public Printer.
    • Print a test page to the printer using the new printer definition.
  • If you can't print to a nearby printer, test the network connection by trying to ping the printer. (You may need to find the correct printer domain name or IP address before you can do so. See instructions above).
  • If ping doesn't work, the printer is not communicating with the network.

• Printer display menu intermittently says "receiving data" or "processing job," but the print job has stopped printing.

  • This message will often appear when the printer is printing out a large PDF file wil charts and images in it. It takes the printer time to "digest" the contents, so be patient! It will periodically pause, then print, then pause again as it sends the pages of the PDF file to the printer.
  • If the printer stalls for a very long time, pressing the Go button will sometimes help to start the printer printing again.

• Printer display menu shows message with error numbers (example: error 41.3) or message that the printer needs maintenance.

  • Any of these messages require an LBIS printer technician's site visit.

• Printer display menu says there is a paper jam.

  • Note: Sometimes the printer display menu will say "paper jam" but it is actually indicating that the paper tray is empty.
  • Opening the front and back "doors" of the printer or removing the paper tray or toner cartridge will usually allow access to the jammed paper so that it can be released.
  • Paper should be removed slowly and gently so that it doesn't tear.
  • Paper that is too difficult to remove should be left "as is" and reported to the HelpLine, who will dispatch the LBIS printer technician.
  • Turn off the printer until it can be serviced and place an Out of Order sign on it.

• Printer display menu says "paper tray empty" or "low toner."

  • If it is a public printer, one of the HelpLine staff can be dispatched to replenish the paper or toner if non is available at the lab site.
  • If it is a departmental printer, the secretary who manages the printer must be contacted.