HP Deskjet 9800

[beanus]

I've just bought a HP Deskjet 9800 printer, prints A3 size, useful size for proof reading drawings, I used to have an old HP printer which used to print no problem until in died of old age, I cant get this new printer to print can any one help!

Edited May 31, 2007 by beanus

[Ray Libby]

Operating system?

Vectorworks version?

Printer driver version?

[beanus]

operating system : windows XP

Vectorworks Architect 12.5

Printer driver version : HP Deskjet 9800 series 60.51.544.0

[Guest]

Can it print from other programs, or just not VW?

What are the symptoms?

[beanus]

prints ok from other programs, its just Vectorworks thats having the problem!

[Guest]

Well, what is or is not happening ...

Is the file spooling?

Do you get an error message?

Does an error message on the printer display show?

How large is the VW file you are printing?

[beanus]

the print spooler is turned on, there was an error message once only but mostly the printer seems to prepare to print & then nothing happens! there are no error warnings on the printer itself & the file size is 3093kb

[Guest]

Do you know what the error message was?

Do you see the project in the printer task bar? Does it say "Error" next to the printer or "Spooling" or "Printing" ?

Have you tried printing a new, blank document with a simple shape?

[beanus]

the printer icon appears in the taskbar & when I open it to view the document that is printing the file is very large for example a drawing that is 3.087MB appears as 126MB in the active printers box!. Also I've just exported a drawing from Vectorworks into another CAD package & it prints fine?

Edited June 1, 2007 by beanus

[Guest]

Are you sure the is only 3MB and not 30 MB?

Have you tried printing a new, blank document with a simple shape?

Do you ever see an error message display in the print task bar when you open it up?

What do you see next to the printer when you first send it to the printer?

Does it say Processing, Printing, Spooling ,Error, etc.

[beanus]

the drawing is 2889KB so is that 3 or 30MB

it will print a simple drawing with no colour

no error message

there is nothing showing next to the printer

when I open the printer it says its printing

also seems lock up computer for a few seconds

[beanus]

another thing I've just noticed is when I open the printer to see what is printing under the column Pages it says n/a is this something to do with the problem, all other applications print OK to this printer

[Guest]

How long have you waited for the print to come out?

Since the printer utility is stating "Printing" and other simple files print fine, I would suggest giving the printer a few more moments to print out the project.

If there was a problem, the printer utility would report it, and likely the printer display pane would too.

[beanus]

I've waited for about an hour before & still nothing happens, I have been trying to print a A1 sheet to an A3 paper size this is what I used to do with an old printer to proof read & had no problen, I've just started to print an A1 drawing to A3 sheets at the correct size & the printer started to print but when it got to a more complicated part of the drawing it ground to a halt!

[Guest]

Do you have lots of image-based textures or glass textures in the drawing?

[beanus]

no this is a simple 2d drawing

[beanus]

Ok here's another problem between vectorworks & this printer, if I export to pdf from vectorworks & try to print the pdf file, again it wont print, but if I do the same form another CAD package the pdf file prints fine!

[Guest]

I keep noticing you suggesting files won't print. However, you state when you open the printer utility it says "printing" next to the printer.

This indicates the printer is processing the file. The file has already been spooled by the OS and handed off to the printer.

I would let it sit until you get an error message.

You also state a new blank file prints fine, so I don't suspect VW is causing the problem.

How large is the PDF file? What program are you printing the PDF from?

When you say "other CAD program", which are you referring to?

[beanus]

I've tried waiting for the file to print but nothing happens & I dont get an error message. I have had one sheet of a drawing print but that sheet did not contain too much information but when I tried to print the next sheet in the same drawing which had more text & colours it would not print. The pdf file is 932kb & I try to print it from Adobe Reader, I don't get problems with other pdf files. The other CAD program I use is Turbocad which prints fine.

Edited June 5, 2007 by beanus

[Ray Libby]

What are your computer specs? Processor speed, how much memory, hard drive capacity.

[beanus]

I've just imported the same dwg file into Vectorworks & Turbocad when I tried to print from Vectorworks it wouldn't print & the file size in the printer utility showed up as 28.2MB when I tried to print from Turbocad it printed fine & quickly & the file size showed up as 524KB so why does Vectorworks create such a large file?

[Mike Morgan]

I'm having the same kinds of problems: the printer responds differently from the USB input and the parallel inputs, frequently just won't print, or partially prints, and refuses to delete non-printing documents from the printer spool. I've frequently had to work around this mess by printing to PDF using Primo, then printing the PDF on the HP 9800. These problems seem to be unique to VW (now using 12).

This is REALLY frustrating! I've had no problems with older printers, and in fact I have an ancient DesignJet 250 that still works with a little poking and prodding.

[beanus]

I was starting to think it me that was the problem & not Vectorworks! I used to have a HP1120c printer that used to work with a thump now & then but it finally gave up the ghost last week (one thump too many)

Edited June 6, 2007 by beanus

[Thom]

Also look at your port connection. I found that reconfiguring the port helped tremendously.

[beanus]

what configuration did you use? my printer prints through a USB port

[lalaland]

I was going to buy HP9800, but after reading the posted messages, I am hesitating. Is Epson Photo 1400 better? I hate to deal with any printing problems!