LPR printing problems with Windows Server 2003

[Phillip Armitage]

I have a Windows 2000 sp4 workstation, named OX, that has Unix printing
services installed and running. One of the shared printers on this machine
is called RW480. This is a plotter and accepts HP DesignJet 755cm print
coding.

Up until a month ago, printing in the office was done throguh Novell Netware
6.5 sp7 NDS Print Services. There was a printer object that users would
install on their computer named RICOH. Anything printed to the RICOH printer
would go to the Novell server, be queued up, and sent via LPR to OX for
output on print queue RW480. This configuration had no problems, and still
doesn't.

A month ago I set up a Windows Server 2003 sp2 box to act as a print server.
I installed the HP DesignJet 755 printer drivers and created a printer
called RICOH. This printer's port configuration was set to LPR through OX
with a print queue name of RW480. This is exactly the same as found in the
Novell configuration.

Problem is, whenever I try to print via the 2003 box, nothing comes out.
There are no errors listed in the Windows 2003 event viewer.

Over on OX though, there is an error event:
Source: LPDSVC
Event ID: 4010
Description: Request from X.X.X.X could not be satisfied: possibly due to
network problems.

Is there a bug in Windows server 2003 that prevents it from successfully
printing via LPR to the Windows LPDSRV running on a Windows 2000 sp4
workstation? Any suggestions as to why printing from my Novell server is
successful, but not from my Windows 2003 server?

I look forward to your suggestions.

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

On Server 2003 did you install LPR Port or are you creating a Standard
TCP/IP Port in LPR mode?

If Standard TCP/IP Port. enable the Byte count option. (an LPR Port can
only send in this mode).

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Thee Chicago Wolf (MVP)" <.@.> wrote in message
news:59grp4hgi3k6mri0g...@4ax.com...

> There are some bugs in SP2 and quite a few hotfixes I could recommend.
> First and foremost, install the update to turn OFF the SNP:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496
>
> Next, try this hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885
>
> This one wouldn't hurt to apply as well:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958910
>
> Additionally, go to the Advanced properties of the printer and make
> sure the Print Processor didn't get hijacked by the HP processor. It
> should say Winprint.
>
> I have a bunch more you can try. Give those a shot first.
>
>
> - Thee Chicago Wolf (MVP)

[Phillip Armitage]

Did some further testing. Interesting results.

Configured my windows 2003 sp2 server with two print queues pointing at a
colour printer. Both print queues use the same print driver and print to the
same IP address, but one uses TCP/IP printing to port 9100, the other uses
an LPR Port. We originally used Novell NDPS printing, so I created a Novell
printer object that prints using LPR to the aforementioned printer and IP
address.

Installed all three printers on a single workstation. From said workstation
I can therefore print, using the same printer driver, either 1) through a
Windows 2003 server using raw printing to port 9100, 2) via LPR printing
through the Windows 2003 server, or 3) via LPR printing through the Novell
server.

The Novell server (a five year old box) is the primary office server,
contains two 1-gigabit NICS, a single P4-3.2Ghz processor and 4G of ram.
Everyone in the office logs into this server and works off of it.

The Windows 2003 server is strictly used during the day as a print server.
It contains a Core 2 Duo E4600-2.4Ghz processor, 2G of ram, and a single
gigabit NIC.

Both servers, the workstation, and the printer are on the same gigabit
switch.

Results after applying the first patch, turning off SNP, were as follows:

Windows RAW
Windows LPR Novell LPR
Time for application
to complete printing 42 secs
49 secs 38 secs
of 11 page A3 size PDF

Time for server to spool 2 min 56 sec 2
min 34 sec 7 sec
job to printer

Time for printer to 18 sec
12 sec 5 sec
process job

In all three cases, the print job was exactly the same size at 27,667 Kb.

You'll note that the time to spool the job to the server, be it the Novell
or Windows 2003 one, is roughly the same at 38 to 49 seconds. The problem
arises when Windows tries to send the job to the printer. Novell takes 7
seconds to move the file across to the printer, whereas Windows takes 2 1/2
minutes or more.

I also tried the registry modifcation outlined in TID 950326. No effect.

Hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885 doesn't appear to be
applicable. Nor does http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958910 so I haven't
tried them.

Any other suggestions? Try a different network card perhaps?

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" <ala...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23tPUr86...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

[Phillip Armitage]

Problem solved. We are running Pcounter on both the Novell and Windows
servers to track printing costs. Turns out the particular version of
Pcounter I was running (version 2.50 windows) had an issue. Upgraded to
2.50a and spool times dropped to under 10 seconds.

"Phillip Armitage" <armi...@wzmh.com> wrote in message
news:OEap1fql...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

thanks for posting the solution.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Phillip Armitage" <armi...@wzmh.com> wrote in message
news:%23P$tfGslJ...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...