Member Avatar for dd501

Hi, on our network we have 10 printers, half are the HP4200dtn model, and the other half the HP4250dtn model.

On larger prints (5 pages +) it seems to stop printing after so many pages and print out the following error message, then followed by pages with a single line of strange characters on each page:

PCL XL error
Subsystem: USERSTREAM
Error: MissingData
Operator: NewPath
Position: 97553

It’s difficult to recreate the problem, it seems to happen randomly.

This problem has started happening since we had some new servers put in a month ago. We are running the same server software (Windows Server 2003) as we had on the old servers. We are also using the same printer drivers for the printers, and every setting on the printers on the new server is exactly the same as the old one.

What does the error message mean? And is there something which could be causing this error?

Some of the things I have tried with no success are:

- Different printer driver on the server
- Deleting all mapped printers on the PC’s, removing the printer driver, then adding the printer back to the users PC

Many thanks for any advice

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by kleinbaas
Member Avatar for mechbas

>>>MissingData

Looks suspiciously like a RAM error somewhere.
Multiple copies and multiple pages ALL have to have the right amount of data for each copy. Printers don't think in terms of just how many copies you want of each copy.

>>>Deleting all mapped printers on the PC’s, removing the printer driver, then adding the printer back to the users PC

I'm satisfied that you THINK you actually accomplished this but I don't think the server(s) are gonna agree with you.

Member Avatar for dd501

I'm satisfied that you THINK you actually accomplished this but I don't think the server(s) are gonna agree with you.

Thanks alot for your reply. Im sorry I didnt understand what you meant by the above quote? Is there something on the servers I should have done? I've tried uninstalling the printer on the server and re-installing it.

many thanks

Member Avatar for mechbas

Possibly not, frequently presumed changes in the registry DON'T actually take effect immediately even if you think they do. Like the config.sys in your, and earlier versions of the OS, which is only read once per boot, some aspects of the registry are only read once also. When I do online updates, just to be on the safe side, I reboot the OS to update the registry that avoids errors that are affected by the very changes that are made. Such changes have a way of effecting a snowball effect which destabilizes the OS.

Member Avatar for kleinbaas

FIXED: PCL XL error when printing to a HP printer

I fixed this problem by installing the KB948046 Hotfix from Microsoft (thanks to Brent Follett from forums11.itrc.hp.com for pointing me in the right direction).

To download and install this hotfix, search for “hotfix KB948046” or go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948046 and click on “view and request hotfix downloads”.

You will be prompted for an email address, the URL for the hotfix together with a password will be emailed to that address.

Install the hotfix and reboot the system. The problem was fixed for me at this point.

I tried to print before rebooting, but that did not fix the problem, a reboot is essential.

More information:
I encountered this problem on a HP 2605 (laserjet) printer (HP2605) that was shared from a Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SBS SP2).
When printing from networked machines the error was printed out on the printer. After installing the KB/948046 hotfix on the server only and rebooting the server, the problem was fixed.
This hotfix is not for Small Business Edition (of Server) but it did work, with no noticeable side-effects. There are similar hotfixes for other operating systems (see KB948349).
I also installed other updates on the server before installing the hotfix using Microsoft Update.
For more information visit http://www.brightvisions.co.uk
If you don’t have a website yet, visit http://www.set8.net and if you have a website list it on http://www.searchourworld.com

I hope you found this useful and this fix works for you. Happy Hunting!

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