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strother
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Maidens, Va
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 Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:05 pm Post subject: HP 4MV Printing halftones? |
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We have an HP 4MV printer which has done a great job for many years printing PowerCadd drawings on 11 by 17 sheets - using a drawer with the large format paper. Obviously, we also use it to print letters, etc, on 8 1/2 by 11 paper, generally coming from the manual feed tray..
A while back, the thing suddenly decided to start printing all letters in Microsoft Word and emails out of Entourage in a light gray print. Since then, we have been unable to make it print with black type.
It still prints the 11x17 drawing in the normal way - solid lines are dark, grey line are grey, words are as as expected - black. So that proves it is not the toner cartridge. (there is only one toner cartridge and it does all sizes of paper)
We assume because it has a problem with both Word docs and emails, the problem is not settings in Word, etc. We have been unable to find any settings that might have changed. Or to find any settings on the buttons on the front of the printer that would control this.
Any ideas?
G4 using Tiger and Microsoft Office 2004 |
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raleighross
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 393
Location: Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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MS products tend to have some deeply burried page setup items which can drive you nuts at times. Been there. Hit head against the wall.
Look hard into all permutations of the page setup and printing options.
Also look at the resolution and tonier saving settings for the printer in the print dialog and in the printer itself. PowerCADD draws lines and thus the printer prints the dots as given. But some of the toner saving settings will take fonts it handles internally and remove dots from them if the settings are set to save toner. |
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strother
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Maidens, Va
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| Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the ideas. I spent a couple of hours over the weekend face down in the HP 4MV Printer User's manual and adjusting printer settings. I can not see any settings to change in Microsoft Word - but when finished - I still have faded printing results with Safari, IE, and Word, but not with Power Cadd, Entourage emails, or HP test printing pages.
I have a HP 4MV printer which looks like it comes with PostScript. I have 12 MB of RAM, but don't think I have a PostScript language SIMM or the 42.8 Mbyte PostScript Disk Accessory. This printer did just fine for about 10 years and then suddenly went into this faded printing mode - as if a switch or setting was turned off or something failed.
A telephone call to HP Technical Support 1-800-474-6836 and an extended conversation finally resulted in Ms. Voice Response saying "we are sorry - your printer is no longer supported!" and she hung up, without even saying Goodbye!
A synopsis of what I found:
The printer has Menu/Printing/Economode which is OFF and if it changes to ON the print quality is really faded.
On the Self Test print page the little test image with the lines across it was not as desired - so I "Harmonized Print Density and REt Settings" by resetting Menu/Printing/RET from medium to dark and I reset the Print Density Roller to the mid-range as recommended - and ended up with a satisfactory Test Page.
On the Printer Test page - there is a difference between my Test Page and the one in the manual. I am wondering if Postscript has become only partially installed??
I have - Installed personalities PCL (19940623) and POSTSCRIPT (19940623)* (but I have slight bigger numbers)
The manual says to expect, but I do not have - Installed Postscript Disk: * HP C3014A JP934812D6 K2 (that is probably the option I did not buy)
The manual indicates that the Control Panel Menu Map has sections which only display when the PostScript Langauge is installed. I have most of the menu items.
I have
PS MENU/ PRT PS ERRS and JAM RECOVER
TEST MENU/ PS CONFIG PAGE or PS TYPEFACE LIST or PS DEMO PAGE
I do not have
MEM CONFIG MENU/PCL MEM or PS MEM
but instead have MEM CONFIG MENU/MEM CONFIG (which is not in the manual!)
When I print the PostScript Configuration Page - it looks just like the manual - except under Disk Accessory it says NO - whereas the manual shows YES and gives Disk Capacity and Bytes available. (Again - that is likely the option I did not buy)
When I print the PS Typeface list - It shows a number of PostScript ROM Resident Fonts but no PostScript RAM Resident Fonts and No PostScript Disk Resident Fonts.
My JOB MENU/RESOLUTION is set on 600
My JOB MENU/PERSONALITY is set on Auto - meaning the printer will switch from its standard personality to other Personalities such as PostScript as it receives each job. Maybe that is the problem. when Word, IE , Safari pages arrive, it decides to print using Postscript and then because there is no Installed Postscript Disk: installed, it prints lousy fonts?? - or maybe it prints using the ROM Resident Fonts and this was just a wild goose chase??
At the end of which I tested printing items and these print fine
Power Cadd
Entourage emails
The HP LaserJet 4V Printer PCL Typeface List prints great - very dark
The Printer Seft Test page prints OK - not as dark as the fonts page - but much darker than those below and these print very faded
Safari 1.2.4 pages
IE Mac 5.2 pages
MS Word Docs Any ideas where to look next? |
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Rob C
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 572
Location: Southern Connecticut
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| Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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That is puzzling. I also have a 4MV. It's aging and having it's problems, but I haven't seen this. Everythig you describe sounds correct for a 4MV (with PS but no hard disk). What operating system are you using?
Every PS printer has a Postscript Printer Description file (PPD file). It's possible that file is corrupted, I suppose.
I assume you've checked the print dialog box and there isn't a Colorsync Quartz filter set there, or that for printer features, you don't have econo mode checked there.
Have you tried removing the printer set up and re-setting it up again with Printer Setup Utility?
_________________
Rob
www.robertcoolidge.com |
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raleighross
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 393
Location: Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:31 am Post subject: |
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Forget the manual. It was printed and then the product details changed so it almost never matches. Welcome to computers. 
The 4MVs I dealt with came with a Postscript SIMM/DIMM but no disk. I think HP wanted over $1000 at the time. The disk was an extra. You don't have any disk fonts because you don't have a disk drive. You don't have any ram disk fonts because you haven't loaded any. (and likely never will and never have).
Econo mode just leaves out about 1/2 to 2/3s of the toner so the results tend to be terrible unless you're printing multi page drafts of text to be reviewed and tossed.
Have you checked the programs giving you faded results and seeing if they are trying to print in color or gray instead of B&W? |
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Alfred Scott
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 748
Location: Richmond, VA
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| Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 7:37 am Post subject: |
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FYI, Strother is Strother Scott, my brother.
Alfred |
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raleighross
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 393
Location: Raleigh, NC
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| Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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Just to add a comment.
A 4MV printer is 10 years old or older. Which is 13,232 in computer years. I have a 4ML which was a work horse over the last 10 years. But it's now giving me trouble. And I don't plan to put much effort into it before I "retire" it.
It may be time to move on.
A good used 8150 can be had for prices ranging from $300 to $900 depending on where you look and options. And an 8150 will print grays that look smooth , not dotted, plus print fine details that the 4MV will turn into a blob. |
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strother
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Maidens, Va
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| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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Progress has been made! Rob C.'s suggestions led me to the Print Dialog Box.
The third line down says Copies and Pages and if you select that, you get a list of 12 choices of settings. The next to last is called
Printer settings and the picture below shows what the dialog box looks like when I open it up. That setting has told the printer to print in Economy mode - i.e. use 1/2 the toner needed. If I Uncheck that, the Word doc prints correctly!!!!
I have 2 Feature Sets - JCL - the one shown which has Economy mode checked, and Set 1 - which gives choices of Resolution enhancement and levels of grey.
I was able to make a new setting called Standard New with a JCL setting remembered as not checked Economy Mode. I can not change Standard or delete it.
But thankfully, when I print an IE or Word doc, the Standard New pops up so our printing is now back to normal - Command - P Enter - Prints!!
Hooray! and Thanks.
P.S. Our 4MV has only printed 10,387 pages in 10 years os Powercadd and Wildtools so we hope it may have a few more years now that it is working right again.
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