Slow Printing on a Mac, fast on another...?

captain mutantcaptain mutant
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm having a strange problem with my home network:



I have two Macs: a TiBook connected to the network by AirPort; the other is a PowerBook G3 Bonze Keyboard (SCSI-USB) connected via Ethernet.



My printer is an Epson Stylus 980 connected via Ethernet and AppleTalk.



Using the TiBook, everything works fine. The printer is always fast and responsive. So it was the PowerBook G3 - initially. Now, whenever I print from OS X on the PowerBook G3, it takes around 5mns to print a single page of text. In Classic, it's as fast as before. The problem is only in X.



I've tried deleting Epson files (but I may have missed some), removing the printer from the Print Centre and getting it back again, I've run the latest version of Norton, I've done fsck. Nothing works.



Does anyone have any idea?



Thank you for any help you may provide.



PS: my knowledge of UNIX and Terminal is non-existant

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    [quote]Originally posted by Captain Mutant:

    <strong>I'm having a strange problem with my home network:</strong><hr></blockquote>



    howdee cap!



    [quote]I have two Macs: a TiBook connected to the network by AirPort; the other is a PowerBook G3 Bonze Keyboard (SCSI-USB) connected via Ethernet.<hr></blockquote>



    yep!



    [quote]My printer is an Epson Stylus 980 connected via Ethernet and AppleTalk.<hr></blockquote>



    yep!



    [quote]Using the TiBook, everything works fine. The printer is always fast and responsive. So it was the PowerBook G3 - initially. Now, whenever I print from OS X on the PowerBook G3, it takes around 5mns to print a single page of text. In Classic, it's as fast as before. The problem is only in X.<hr></blockquote>



    -are you printing out of mac os x with your powerbook g4?



    [quote]I've tried deleting Epson files (but I may have missed some), removing the printer from the Print Centre and getting it back again, I've run the latest version of Norton, I've done fsck. Nothing works.<hr></blockquote>



    i hope you know what you are doing (deleting files) :eek:



    i work in a prepress/printing/design/webdesign-firm and never had any problems with printing.



    do you see the epson in the print center?

    what kind of errors and/messages do you get there?



    [quote]PS: my knowledge of UNIX and Terminal is non-existant

    [/QB]<hr></blockquote>



    welcome to the club!
  • Reply 2 of 8
    captain mutantcaptain mutant Posts: 5member
    Hello Peve,



    in reply to your questions,



    "are you printing out of mac os x with your powerbook g4?"



    Yup, in fact since Photoshop 7, Classic is never launched



    "i hope you know what you are doing (deleting files) "



    Hmm... so do I ! <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />





    "do you see the epson in the print center?

    what kind of errors and/messages do you get there? "



    The Epson 980 shows up fine in the print center. No error messages appear.



    However, whereas on the TiBook printing is lightning fast (X and Classic) and on the PBook G3 Classic is lightning fast, PBook G3's X printing take "5 minutes per page"!!!



    It's infffffuriating! Mostly because I can't understand what's going on!



    To make matters worse, the PBook G3 used to be great at printing in OS X... Somehow, something happened (what? heck if I know!) and now, printing is practically useless: it's often faster to email the file to the TiBook and print it from there... but what happens when the TiBook is doing it's rounds?



    I'm perplexed. :confused:



    Can anyone relieve a Mutant of its misery?
  • Reply 3 of 8
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    [quote]Originally posted by Captain Mutant:

    <strong>Hello Peve, in reply to your questions</strong><hr></blockquote>



    [quote]The Epson 980 shows up fine in the print center. No error messages appear.<hr></blockquote>



    what happens in the print center when the page waits 5 mins?

    status?



    [quote]However, whereas on the TiBook printing is lightning fast (X and Classic) and on the PBook G3 Classic is lightning fast, PBook G3's X printing take "5 minutes per page"!!! <hr></blockquote>



    hmmm.. could be a network problem...

    how's your network doing on the g3?

    everything allright?



    [quote]It's infffffuriating! Mostly because I can't understand what's going on! (...)<hr></blockquote>



    if the powerbook g3 worked/printed good with x - what did you change since then?



    [quote]I'm perplexed. :confused:



    Can anyone relieve a Mutant of its misery?[/QB]<hr></blockquote>
  • Reply 4 of 8
    jutusjutus Posts: 272member
    Make sure that on your powerbook the ethernet interface, and not airport, is the appletalk primary interface and the interface at the top of the list. Look in "Active Network Ports".
  • Reply 5 of 8
    captain mutantcaptain mutant Posts: 5member
    Hi Jutus & Peve



    [quote]Originally posted by jutus:

    <strong>Make sure that on your powerbook the ethernet interface, and not airport, is the appletalk primary interface and the interface at the top of the list. Look in "Active Network Ports".</strong><hr></blockquote>



    My PowerBook G3 can't use AirPort so it was only set up for Ethernet or Internal Modem. I made sure the Ethernet was first - just in case, but nothing changed.



    also, this problem does not affect the network in ANY way: going online is a breeze and so is file sharing. The Print Centre's progress bar just waits at the end for 5 minutes until printing is completed



    It's all very mysterious.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    [quote]Originally posted by Captain Mutant:

    <strong>Hi Jutus & Peve</strong><hr></blockquote>







    [quote]My PowerBook G3 can't use AirPort so it was only set up for Ethernet or Internal Modem. I made sure the Ethernet was first - just in case, but nothing changed.<hr></blockquote>



    hmmm...



    [quote]also, this problem does not affect the network in ANY way: going online is a breeze and so is file sharing. The Print Centre's progress bar just waits at the end for 5 minutes until printing is completed<hr></blockquote>



    yes?

    this sounds more like a printer problem.

    have you ever tried to switch the powerbooks?

    print from the g4 over ethernet?



    [quote]It's all very mysterious.<hr></blockquote>



    so am i...



    <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 7 of 8
    remi bergmanremi bergman Posts: 3member
    Just wanted to say that I have exactly the same problem (same PB Bronze), as I still use classic, there is no problem printing with classic, as soon as I print with X apps, I meet the problem. Yesterday, I rebuilt the desktop (on X) and apparently, except for the first page, it's printing quicker but it's not as fast as it is under classic. It's not a solution but maybe it's the beginning of a solution !!

    I hope we will receive a cure soon ..
  • Reply 8 of 8
    xanderxander Posts: 2member
    Try checking your duplex speed settings.



    Xander
Sign In or Register to comment.