Printing disasters

[kevs]

Sometimes in word, I start a print job, it's going fine and then just stops.
Then I select start job, and instead of printing the correct text, just
weird symbols start print a bit on each page. Most pages are blank with a
few weird gobly gook symbols.

I stop job, but just keeps printing, so I have to turn off printer, jamming
it up.

Why is this happening? And what is best way to cancel out without having to
shut down printer ? Thanks.


OS 10.4.11
Office 2004

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Kevs:

No. There is no "Print until out of paper then stop" option.

The best way to cancel a job is to STOP the print job, and then DELETE it.

If all that's happened is that you have run out of paper, on most printers,
put some more paper in and press the start button on the printer.

It should automatically resume the job on the correct page.

It sounds to me as though your problems may be thermal or mechanical.

200 pages in an uninterrupted job is heavy hauling for a domestic printer.
A $5,000 office printer will cope with that kind of duty cycle. But for a
home printer, give the thing a rest to cool down, or it may overheat and
then it is likely to jam.

If you forget to riffle the pages before loading them into the printer, they
may not slide smoothly over each other, causing the printer to double-feed
and jam. This problem gets worse the heavier the stack of paper is. So a
fill of 50 is more likely to run to completion than a fill of 200.

Expensive paper kept at the correct temperature and humidity helps. But
riffling helps more, no matter how cheap the paper

If you interrupt a print job from the computer end when the printer has
already interrupted it from its end, you are likely to get the contents of
the printer buffer out of synch with what the computer is sending. And then
you get a pile of garbage, as you discovered. When the printer stops, do
nothing but put paper in and press OK, and you should restart cleanly.

Cheers

Sometimes in word, I start a print job, it's going fine and then just stops.
Then I select start job, and instead of printing the correct text, just
weird symbols start print a bit on each page. Most pages are blank with a
few weird gobly gook symbols.

I stop job, but just keeps printing, so I have to turn off printer, jamming
it up.

Why is this happening? And what is best way to cancel out without having to
shut down printer ? Thanks.


OS 10.4.11
Office 2004

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

....Another point for consideration is that most printers buffer a certain
amount of information, so even if you correctly Stop the job the printer
will continue to print what it has already received. How much that is
depends on the printer - it may just be the remainder of the current page
being printed or it could be several additional pages. If there is a
(network) print server involved there may be no option from the user's
workstation since the Print command sends the content to the server & the
job is distributed from there.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[kevs]

Hi Kevs:

No. There is no "Print until out of paper then stop" option.

The best way to cancel a job is to STOP the print job, and then DELETE it.

If all that's happened is that you have run out of paper, on most printers,
put some more paper in and press the start button on the printer.

It should automatically resume the job on the correct page.

It sounds to me as though your problems may be thermal or mechanical.

200 pages in an uninterrupted job is heavy hauling for a domestic printer. A
$5,000 office printer will cope with that kind of duty cycle. But for a home
printer, give the thing a rest to cool down, or it may overheat and then it is
likely to jam.

If you forget to riffle the pages before loading them into the printer, they
may not slide smoothly over each other, causing the printer to double-feed and
jam. This problem gets worse the heavier the stack of paper is. So a fill of
50 is more likely to run to completion than a fill of 200.

Expensive paper kept at the correct temperature and humidity helps. But
riffling helps more, no matter how cheap the paper

If you interrupt a print job from the computer end when the printer has
already interrupted it from its end, you are likely to get the contents of the
printer buffer out of synch with what the computer is sending. And then you
get a pile of garbage, as you discovered. When the printer stops, do nothing
but put paper in and press OK, and you should restart cleanly.

Cheers




--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50 +61 4 1209 1410,
mailto:[email protected]

Thanks guys, great info. Thanks John, I now understand what that gobly gook
is about.


OS 10.4.11
Office 2004