Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped
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Hi guys,
A client informs me he's having printing issues with his HP M477fnw printer. He tells me that certain PDF files wont print. We schedule an appointment and I find out the issue is not with his PC, but instead his phone.
He commonly prints vendor PDF invoices from the Apple Mail App to the HP printer and all of a sudden he says that invoices from this one vendor just wont print. So we start troubleshooting. First I look at the size of the PDFs that wont print - nothing weird here - 148 KB. Next thing I did was update the firmware on the printer.
I then have him attempt to print one of the troublesome PDFs - no go. I then had him download the Gmail App onto his phone just in case it was something weird going on with the native Mail App. No dice - same issue - most PDFs print, but not from this particular vendor.
I then had him send one of the PDFs to me. I have a Samsung laser in my office and it prints the troublesome PDF just fine. Having said that, I notice that the margins on this PDF are slim to none. I then hypothesize that maybe the vendor recently updated the layout for the PDF and the HP printer doesn't like it.
Then he tells me that his identical printer located at his home has no problem printing off the troublesome PDFs. Also, not that it totally matters but his PC is able to print the troublesome PDF file just fine.
At this point I'm totally befuddled. The only other detail is that this customer uses third party toner cartridges and he received some sort of corrupt memory error shortly before the problem started.
This is a really strange one for me. I'm trying to make sense of it. Can anybody shine some light on what could possibly be going on here?
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If there is a corrupt memory problem, what is the point of trying all these things?
PDFs are vector graphics primarily and the printer will rasterize the image before printing it and that uses memory. So the size of the pdf is not in proportion to the memory required in the printer.
If you want to exclude the phone, the airprinting, apps and what not, put the same pdf on a usb memory stick. Plug it into the printer and print directly from the display.
It might work, it might not. Problem is that there is no conclusion to be drawn if you have corrupt memory in the printer. Except that that the printer needs to be fixed or replaced. But you could draw that conclusion just by knowing there is a memory error...
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@frodooftheshire said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
M477fnw
This is a close to $1000 printer. How old is it though? Printers can work for years, but after a couple, they are typically more expensive to repair than replace once depreciation and your labor time is added in.
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@jaredbusch said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
@frodooftheshire said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
M477fnw
This is a close to $1000 printer. How old is it though? Printers can work for years, but after a couple, they are typically more expensive to repair than replace once depreciation and your labor time is added in.
Looks like it was introduced late 2015 or so. But it could have a 5 year warranty, in which case it might still be in warranty.
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@pete-s said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
@jaredbusch said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
@frodooftheshire said in Strangest Airprint issue has me stumped:
M477fnw
This is a close to $1000 printer. How old is it though? Printers can work for years, but after a couple, they are typically more expensive to repair than replace once depreciation and your labor time is added in.
Looks like it was introduced late 2015 or so. But it could have a 5 year warranty, in which case it might still be in warranty.
HP don’t have a warranty past 1 year unless you pay for a care pack. It will be known if there is a warranty or not.
