Print

Print


Yes the 2015 Laserjets have a major problem with the formatter boards.  As I
matter of fact I have one in my office waiting for a new board.   We stopped
buying them and started purchasing the p3005 Laserjets and have not had any
problems with them.

 

On a good note you can purchase a formatter board with networking for very
little difference than the board without it when you order them. The part
number is Q7805-6002  

 

Tim Woods
Information Technology Professional
Michigan State University
School of Social Work and Department of Anthropology
254 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824
517-432-2195
[log in to unmask]

  _____  

From: MSU Network Administrators Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Skutt, Tim
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 8:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MSUNAG] HP Laserjet Bad Voodoo

 

Brian,

We had a few of these at the college of business do that.  I believe that it
was a bad formatter board, which was the main board where you plug
everything in on.

 

Once they were replaced we haven't had a problem with the printers that did
that.

 

Tim Skutt, MCTS, MCSE
Information Technologist I
Eli Broad College of Business
Michigan State University
5 Eppley Center
East Lansing, MI 48824

 

  _____  

From: MSU Network Administrators Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Hoort, Brian
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MSUNAG] HP Laserjet Bad Voodoo

 

Greetings NAGers:

 

I apologize for the length of this post.

 

We have dozens of HP LaserJets, and have for well over a decade.  Starting
around December, we have been under an evil spell, and it seems to be
spreading.  Every couple weeks we get another report of the problem from a
user who previously never had the problem.  The symptoms are varied
depending on the app it occurred in, but center around the idea that the
printer is not responsive and the computer becomes unresponsive waiting for
a response from the printer.  You don't have to print for this to occur, but
printing or looking at printer properties often triggers the problem.
Online it has been suggested that the printer enters a low-power sleep mode,
and then cannot wake properly.  This explanation coincides well with our
experience.

 

A typical report from a user would be that the user was happily using Word
when they tried to print.  Selecting File - Print, the printer that should
be displaying in the printer selection dialog is missing - the dialog is
blank.  If you click on the drop-down box to choose a printer other than the
default, the other printers are listed.  If you choose one, you can print to
it fine.

 

Another example: the user runs Word - Word is immediately unresponsive, and
after a timeout, displays an error: "Microsoft Office Word: The printer has
not yet responded, but the Microsoft Office program may be able to proceed
without printer information.  Do you want to continue to wait for the
printer?"  If the user selects Yes, Word hangs and neither the printer nor
Word ever become responsive.  If the user selects No, Word is useable, but
then behaves as in my first example for further printing operations.

 

Googling reveals that many others are having this problem and have worked
with HP, as we have.  Solutions/experiences are mixed.  People suggest a
wide variety of "fixes", which work for some, others claim they don't work.
According to posts online HP has replaced formatters and a variety of other
fixes, none appear to be a true fix. HP has sent us a font DIMM with extra
RAM, which they claim also updates the firmware - we're testing that now but
others on the newsgroups have tried this and failed.  We've updated firmware
with help from HP - didn't help.  Others online report having tried
different driver versions - no go.

 

It isn't specific to Word, it can happen in any app from a test print to
notepad.  It's also not limited to LJ2015s:  we've experienced it on an
LJ2300 and HP Business Inkjet something-or-other (this is the only
non-laserjet to exhibit the problem).  Online users report the problem on a
variety of HP printers.  We thought it might be that these are all on USB -
but the 2300 is LPT.  Online posts confirm others get it with LPT as well.
Power-cycling the printer fixes it temporarily.  Rebooting Windows does not
consistently fix it.  All users are running Windows XP.  All of them are
directly connected to the computer via USB or LPT; none of these are on the
network directly with JetDirect cards.  Some are connected to Dell desktops;
some are Dell or IBM portables.  The printers have a wide variation of
formatter and firmware versions, from years old to the present (HP gave us
their latest firmware; it didn't help).  Some users get it almost daily, all
day long; others go a month without it happening.  It is not reproducible.

 

The idea we keep coming back to is that we've had many of these printers for
a long time with the problem never occurring.  Starting in December -
whammo.  One by one it started.  What has changed?  Could it be a Microsoft
Update?  If so why didn't they all break at once? 

 

A lengthy discussion threat about this problem, with no clear resolution, is
here:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?admi
t=109447626+1235594115346+28353475
<http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?adm
it=109447626+1235594115346+28353475&threadId=1163881> &threadId=1163881

 

Are any of you also experiencing this problem?  I imagine there are tons of
HP LaserJets, and especially 2015s, on campus.  We seem to have it the worst
on the 2015s, though we have several 2015s that have never had the problem
reported.

 

I truly am sorry for the length of this post, and am very appreciative for
any advice you may have.  We're pulling out our hair on this one.

 

Brian Hoort

Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Computer Service

Michigan State University

(517) 355-4701

[log in to unmask]

Skype: brian_hoort