Strange Printer Pauses

[ModularIT]

Hi all

I have a number of WinNT 4.0 Servers, one of which I'm running as a basic Print Server. Jobs are spooling and going on to a wide format Oce plotter. The problem is that when I batch plot any more than 7-8 files the printer prints the first 7-8 then pauses for about 10 minutes before printing the next 7-8, then it pauses again and so on.

I thought it was a memory problem at first but it occurs with any file type or size that I print. Any ideas?

Cheers

Nick

 

[jgideon]

if you're using tcp/ip and lpr to get to the Oce, it's probably an NT software thing. We have pauses too with our lpr/lpd network print servers from NT queue's, but not that long... more like 10 seconds. Never found a good 'fix' for it, but maybe you'll have better luck.

Loved my oce plotters in my former life... were great for banners and such too

 

[DansDadUK]

If you are using 'lpr' with Windows NT, the most likely cause is that the system is strictly adhering to the RFC (1179) regarding the 'sending port range'.

The RFC specifies that the receiving port is 515, and the sending (source) ports should be in the range 721 - 731.

The sending system has to wait for a timeout period (10-15 minutes usually) before it can reuse any particular source port; with only 11 of these, it doesn't take long for it to be noticed, especially if you are sending lots of small requests.

There is a patch available from microsoft (I can't remember the reference, sorry) which will change the behaviour of the Windows NT system so that it will use any free port above 1023 (I think), thus vastly increasing the possible number of requests sent.

I think that Win2K, WinXP and most other systems already use this 'extended port range' mechanism (and hence depart from the strict RFC1179 definition) to allow many simultaneous 'lpr' requests to be sent.

 

[jgideon]

Article 179156... it's a registry change if you have sp3 or later already installed. Thanks DansDad!