Phaser 7500 slow printing

[KingOfNoBid]

  I recently setup a Phaser 7500DX in a small workgroup environment, but have had nothing but trouble with print speed and network communications.  In general, I often have success getting the first print job to the printer in a reasonable time and with excellent print quality, then the network communications will slow or hang on the computer to the point of requiring a reboot on the computer.  This is most often accompanied with the unable to obtain printer status message after the document prints.  Also, very tricky to get the printouts to obay commands like print color document in B&W or print on 11x17 (can explain more as needed, but not the main focus of my efforts yet). 

  I have been researching and applying proposed solutions and work-arounds with limited success.  Any ponderings from the community would be much appreciated. Here is what I have tried so far:

1. Printed via 10/100 full duplex through several simple (non PoE, non managed) switches.
2. Changed the network cables.
3. Forced 10/100 full duplex (and others) instead of Auto.
4. Using static ip (yes - there are no conflicting devices), but also used DHCP with no improvement.
5. Used three different Windows 7 64bit and 32bit computers (all up to date).  One computer was even a fresh rebuild.
6. Used both the print driver that came on the printer (web interface install), and the current Xerox website PS and Global drivers.
7. Direct connected to the printer via Ethernet (even used a cross-over cable, although not needed).
8. Wiresharked the network connections and found that after sending to the printer, all network connections from the computer stop communicating (do not know the source of the issue yet) so even web browsing the internet or trying to access the printer's web interface then fails.
9. Turned-off Bidirectional printing and SNMP on the computers with a little better success in repeat printing and network staying up, but do not see a way to manually configure the printer (i.e. trays, paper size).
10. Reset the printer to factory defaults with no improvement.
11. Yelled at the printer - only made me temporally happy.

  The one thing I have not tried yet is upgrading the firmware on the printer since I am confused on this point.  What I find on the Xerox website is Firmware Release PS 5.3.1 (http://www.support.xerox.com/support/phaser-7500/downloads/enus.html?operatingSystem=win7x64) which lists the version as:  OS 9.1 / PS 5.3.1 / Net 41.21.03.09.2010.  However, the firmware currently in the printer is:  System 1.3.8.P / OS 9.39 / PS 5.19.5 / Eng 40.12.1 / Net 41.99.03.22.2011.  Also, the network card in the printer is a PhaserShare Series B if that matters.  So, by this Computer Engineer's ponderings, my firmware is newer than what is on the Xerox website ....

  A million thanks to the kind sole that solves this one!!

[CherylO-Xerox]

Hi KingOfNoBid,

Thank you for using the Support Forum. Sounds like you have done quite a bit to try and solve this issue.  When you say that you have disabled bi-directional communication and SNMP, did you turn those off in the driver itself?  If not please try that disabling them in the driver.  I agree that your machine seems to have a newer firmware than that available on Xerox.com so let's leave that for now.  Are you seeing this problem with all programs or just certain ones?  Are the internal prints printing at the correct speed?  Please let me know and we will go from there. 

Thanks

[KingOfNoBid]

CherylO-Xerox,

  Thanks for your reply.  Yes - on the Windows 7 machines, in the Print Driver, I turned off Bi-Directional Communication (Configuration->Bi-Directional Setup->Communication=Off and Job Notification=Off); as well as SNMP (Ports->the Standard TCP/IP Port->SNMP Status Enabled=unchecked).  While this resolves the network hanging-up, the problem then is that I lose the configuration of the paper trays and I cannot see where to define them (i.e. what size and type of paper is in what tray) without making manual printing preferences changes each time I go to print anything that is not the standard letter size.  I also have trouble getting non-letter size pages to print with the correct scaling (ex. a Tabloid page in software to a tabloid page on the printer), but I want to ponder this more before I claim it is related to this issue and not do to the software I am printing from - although the same software prints fine to my old HP8550 in Tabloid.

  Print speed from a Windows 7 computer in this setup is fast and what I would think to be normal - most certaily acceptable.  No matter what the setup on the Windows 7 computer, printing anything on the printer (ex. a configuration or demo page) is fast as well, so I think the printer engine is fine.

  Also, it does not seem to matter what I am printing or from what program.  While larger files with graphics take a little longer to print, it is not much longer and most certaily understandable, reasonable, and acceptable.  When Bi-Directional printing / SNMP is enabled, even a Windows printer driver Test Page has caused the network connections on the Windows computer to hang.

  WRT to network connections hanging, I see the hang on both the wired and wireless ports of a Windows machine.  I also see an increase in the processor utilization related to running process ID 4 (System, NT Kernal & System) making me think that the B-Directional portion of the print driver is hanging the networking portion of the operating system...

  Thanks for your help so far.

Best Regards,

KingOfNoBid

[CherylO-Xerox]

Hi KingOfNoBid,

One other thing you can try is disabling the DNS and DDNS/WINS.

When DNS or DDNS is enabled, the printer will try to resolve its IP address to a name, which can cause a delay in sending the job to the printer. If DNS or DDNS is not being used, disable it.

To disable DNS and DDNS/WINS on a computer using CWIS:

1. From the computer, open an Internet browser window.
2. Enter the IP address of the printer in the Addressfield, and then press [Enter] on the keyboard. The CentreWare Internet Services window will be displayed.
3. Click on the [Properties] link.
   
   NOTE: If DNS or DDNS settings are causing the slow printing times, it may cause CWIS to take up to five minutes to open and to load each window when navigating to these settings. This behavior should be resolved after disabling DNS and DDNS.
   
   
4. Click on the [+] next to the Protocolsfolder on the left side of the window to expand the contents of the folder.
5. Click on [TCP/IP]. The TCP/IP settings window will be displayed.
6. Under the DDNS/WINS Settings section, select [Off] from the DDNSpull-down menu.
7. Select and delete any domain name in the DDNS Domainfield.
8. Replace the IP address listed for Primary and Secondary WINS Server IP Address to 0.0.0.0.
9. Scroll down the window to the DNS Settingssection. Three fields will be displayed:
   • Primary Name Server IP Address
   • Secondary Name Server IP Address
   • Multicast DNS (Rendezvous) Enable
10. Replace the IP address listed for Primary and Secondary Name Server IP Address with 0.0.0.0.
11. Select [Off] from the Multicast DNS (Rendezvous) Enablepull-down menu.
12. Click on [Save Changes] at the bottom of the window, and wait for the Request Acknowledged window to be displayed.
13. Close the browser window and try printing again.

If this does not help please consider contacting your support centre for further assistance.

[KingOfNoBid]

Hi CherylO-Xerox,

  Thanks for your response.  My Phaser 7500 was already set to those settings, so unfortunatly this did not make any difference.  One point however, the instructions you provided have a twist when applied in my case.  The 7500 does not like values of 0.0.0.0 for any of the entries - it will only accept blanks which are then shown as 0.0.0.0 when you revisit the settings.

  While I am not in love with my current work around (on the Windows 7 machines printer driver having Ports->SNMP=off, and Configuration->Bi-Directional=off as discussed earlier), I am still looking to get answers to two questions:

  1. What is the current printer firmware version (you will recall that my version is newer than the Xerox website)?

  2. With Bi-Directional support off, and the resulting loss of printer paper tray configuration information from the printer, how do I manually set this information on the Windows 7 machines?

Thanks,

KingOfNoBid