Troubleshooting the Print Server

The Print Admin program cannot attach a printer to a queue



    Take the following actions:
    • If you cannot attach a printer to a queue, someone else is probably already using the printer. Wait for the job to finish printing. You can also use the print utility that came with the printer to check the printer's status.
    • Check to make sure the printer is not out of paper.
    • If you're printing over TCP/IP, make sure that the attached printer supports the "LPD" protocol (also referred to as "LPR"). See the documentation that came with your printer.


A printer can't be found


    When a printer that's attached to a queue can't be found on the network, an alert icon appears next to the printer name in the Monitor Queue window for the queue to which the missing printer was attached.

    Take the following actions:
    • If the printer is not currently printing a document, switch the printer off and then on again. Check the name of the printer on the test page.
    • If someone has changed the printer's name, rename it or try to attach the printer again under its new name. (Instructions for renaming are described in the manual that came with your printer.)
    • If the problem persists, check the network connection.
    • If you're printing over TCP/IP, make sure that the attached printer supports the "LPD" protocol (also referred to as "LPR"). See the documentation that came with your printer.


A document can't be queued


    If a user receives a message that a document can't be printed, or if a document can't be sent to the Print Server, check the following:
    • Make sure a Print Server queue is correctly selected as the computer's printer. Printers are listed in the Chooser (for AppleTalk connections), the printer-selecting software (for Windows users), and the Desktop Printer Utility (for TCP/IP connections).
    • Verify that the disk on which the Print Server stores jobs is not full.
    • Make sure the Enable Queuing checkbox is checked, and that AppleTalk and TCP/IP queuing are enabled in the Edit Queue Settings window. For instructions on enabling these settings, see Enabling or disabling AppleTalk or TCP/IP queuing.
    • If users are trying to print to a queue that contains an older printer, make sure Allow Binary Data is checked in the Print Server Settings window. See Changing default print queue settings.
    • If users trying to queue over TCP/IP, make sure TCP/IP is enabled in the Protocol panel of the Print Server Settings window. For instructions, see Enabling and disabling TCP/IP printing.
    Also make sure that the client user has entered the correct domain name or IP address for the queue, and that the name does not include any spaces. If the client user has not specified a name, make sure you've set a default queue to use in the Protocol panel of the Print Server Settings window. For instructions, see Enabling and disabling TCP/IP printing.
    • If the Print Server's queues still aren't listed, check the network connections. Refer to the documentation for your networking hardware and software to answer any questions about setting up and troubleshooting the network.


The Print Server can't print a particular document

    • The PostScript printer description (PPD) file for the queue may be inappropriate for the document. (For each queue, the Print Server uses the PPD file for the printer that was attached first to the print queue. If you attach printers that have different capabilities, documents that require those capabilities may not print--even when they are assigned to the correct printer.) Create a separate queue for the printer and try printing again.
    • The program printing the document may not be compatible with the Print Server. Have the user print directly on another printer that isn't attached to a queue.
    • If no other printer is available, make an attached printer visible on the network. (Select the queue in the Print Server Activity window and click the Edit Queue button. In the Edit Queue window, choose Attached Printers from the pop-up menu. Click the Visible in Chooser column for an attached printer so that a checkmark appears.) Have the user print directly on the printer by selecting its name in the computer's Chooser or Windows printer-selecting software. If the user still can't print the document, consult the manual that came with the printer and the documentation that came with the program that is doing the printing.


The first job doesn't print

    • If the Print Server doesn't send the first (or top) job in the queue to a printer, make sure the job is not on hold. If the job is not on hold, check for an icon in the Print Server Activity window indicating that an attached printer is out of paper or that paper is jammed. If you see such an icon, correct the problem.
    • If you see a message that the Print Server is looking for the printer, see the information under "A Printer Can't Be Found" earlier in this section. If the printer is visible in the Chooser, see if the printer is busy with jobs from computers that are bypassing the Print Server and printing directly.


A document that may have printed can't be found


    If you or a user can't find a document that was sent to the Print Server, check the Monitor Queue window for the queue to which the user printed, scrolling through the list of print jobs if necessary. If the job doesn't appear in the Monitor Queue window, it may have already been printed. Check the queue's log. If the job isn't in the queue log, it was not completely sent to the Print Server or more than 64K of information about printed jobs has been added to the queue log after the missing job. (As new log information is added to the log, the oldest information in the log is removed to make room for the new information.)
    • If the queue log shows that the document completed printing, ask other users whether they picked up the printed document by mistake. The queue log shows whose documents were printed immediately before and after the missing document.
    • If the queue log shows that the document was deleted from the print queue, ask the user to print it again.
    • If the queue log shows that a printing problem occurred, see the information under "The Print Server Can't Print a Particular Document" earlier in this section.


Users say that printing is too slow


    Take these steps in the following order:
    • Close Print Admin windows. Updating the Print Admin windows uses processing power.
    • Quit the Print Admin program.
    • Quit any programs that are not being used.
    • Edit the queue that is experiencing slow printing and disable the "Print Job While Queueing" checkbox so that the checkmark disappears.
    When enabled, this attribute allows the Print Server to start sending a job to a printer as soon as possible, thereby improving performance. However, if an error occurs during the transmission of the job from the user's computer to the Print Server, the job will have to be resent and printed from the beginning.
    When this attribute is not enabled, the Print Server waits until it receives all of the job before it sends the job to a printer. If an error occurs during transmission between a user's computer and the Print Server, the Print Server does not send the job to the printer, and no paper is wasted.
    • If printing is still too slow and you are also running the Web & File Server, go to the Web & File Admin program's Web & File Activity window, and move the maximum slider to a lower percentage. This reduces the processing power that is given to the Web & File Server so that more processing power is available to the Print Server. For instructions, see Allocating processing power.
    • If possible, turn off virtual memory.


You can't display a log file


    If you can't display a log file, too many files may be open. Close files that are open and try again.


You can't save a log file


    If you can't save a log file, check for the following:
    • Too many files may be open. Close files that are open and try again.
    • The disk may be full.


The Print Server's folder for storing jobs is accidentally removed



    The Print Server uses a folder in the Preferences folder inside the System Folder on the startup disk to store incoming jobs. If the folder is removed, the Print Server automatically creates and uses a new folder. Any jobs that were in the folder that was removed must be resent.


The Print Server won't start up


    Open the Print Admin program and examine the Printer Server log. If the Print Server can't start up because of one or more missing files, it enters an error message in the Print Server log.
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