Tech Forum

Hi:

We have the HP 1320 laserjet and a Dell PC. After we received an update for MLS, or windows from HQ, (not sure what), whenever we do large jobs in MLS, Say 25 + pages, the printer stops printing and the job gets stuck in the que.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I tried to look on line for an update drive on HP, but it has not been update. Our stake computer specialist took a look at it and could not find any problem. They gave us an older printer that we could use if we continually have the problem, but I would like to resolve the problem. Does anyone know where one could start to look to find the solution?

Thanks,

Try using the Windows driver for that 1320 instead of the HP driver. That seems to help with some issues. It could also be a memory issue if your machine is low on RAM.

1. It may be that the printer drivers may have gotten corrupted somehow. Even if the drivers are up-to-date, it shouldn't hurt anything to reinstall them.

If you are using Desktop 5.5 distributed by the Church or some other version of Windows XP, I would:

A. Download the HP 1320 PCL6 driver for Windows XP (last revised 5 May 2008) to a USB flash drive.
B. As a backup, download the HP 1320 PCL5 driver for Windows XP (last revised 5 May 2008)to a USB Flash Drive.
C. Install the PCL6 driver on the clerk's computer. This may require deleting the old printer from the Printers and Faxes list.
D. Test it out. If you are still having problems with large print jobs, you can try installing the PCL5 driver in addition to the PCL 6 driver, and make the PCL5 your default printer instead of the PCL6.

2. Since MLS sends many (or most) printouts graphically to the printer, it may be MLS that is having the problems instead of your printer or your printer driver. I recall running into an MLS warning message (usually around tithing settlement times) about breaking print jobs down into batches of 50 pages or less (or something like that).

3. Your particular clerk computer also may not have sufficient memory to handle Windows XP + SP1 + SP2 + Antivirus Software + MLS. If your computer only has 256MB installed and is running Desktop 5.5, then just about everything you ask the computer to do is going to require lots of swapping to the hard disk. If you have 512MB or more installed, then memory isn't likely the issue.

4. Yet another additional option is to do a clean install of MLS by downloading it from mls.lds.org. It is rare but not impossible that MLS may have gotten corrupted during the patching process.

I suspect item 2, above, is the most likely cause.

I would start by breaking the jobs down to smaller pieces. It might be too much for that little printer. I don't know the software you are using, but it usually works for other big formats like PDF.

I wouldn't discount the possibility that you have insufficient memory on the computer. I recently ran into this one in our stake. Two wards in the stake had computers that were running noticeable slower. I discovered that they only had 256 meg of RAM. After increasing that to 512 (or higher) performance increased dramatically. Are you experiencing any other problems or just this printing issue?

In regards to doing a re-install of the MLS software, I'd recommend that it not be done on a Friday night or Saturday. The MLS servers run a security feature that, if they discover a re-installation of the software or database, they will occasionally lock your transmission down. To release this lockdown you must call the clerks support desk and ask that they release it. They're closed from 5:00 PM Friday until Monday AM, so if you get locked out on a Friday night, you won't be doing any transmissions again until Monday AM.

One thing you can try if you don't have a lot of memory, you can remove the spooling on the computer and let the printer handle it.

Go to START, SETTINGS, PRINTERS.. Right click on the printer and hit properties. Go to the advanced tab and select PRINT DIRECTLY TO THE PRINTER and hit okay. This will make the printer's internal memory spool the job. You might run into the same problem with the printer having low memory, but its something to try.

Thanks for all the hints. From your suggestions, I think that it may be more of a memory problem than software. But, I will reinstall the driver and see what the memory is. Is there any other way to check RAM other than when the machine is started up?

Additionally, it takes quite a bit of time to launch MLS. So, thanks again for all the suggestions.

gholt wrote: Is there any other way to check RAM other than when the machine is started up?

Right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Near the bottom of the General tab (which is the first tab displayed), it will say the processor speed and the amount of RAM.

Techgy wrote:To release this lockdown you must call the GSD (global service desk) and ask that they release it. They're closed from 5:00 PM Friday until Monday AM, so if you get locked out on a Friday night, you won't be doing any transmissions again until Monday AM.

I've always called clerk support (extension 23500), not GSD, but the otherwise the point (and the hours) is correct.

oops. Sorry, I meant to say Clerk Support.

Thanks for the correction.:rolleyes: