Printing problem with HP LaserWriter 1200

[Mala]

I'm using a PowerBook G4 running Panther (v10.7.3), with an HP LaserJet 1200 connected either directly by USB or through AirPort Express.

My problems started as a result of one of two simultaneous events. It began when I decided to become efficient. So I bought a) an A5 Filofax into which I could insert alphabetically listed addresses, and b) an AirPort Express.

I set up the AirPort Express, including plugging in the USB from the printer to it, and adding this wireless printer as "HP LaserJet 1200 Living Room" (I couldn't see any way to change the name) in Printer Setup Utility.

I would have liked to use a different name, to make it easier to distinguish the two LaserJets from each other - the driver that operated when I had the printer plugged directly into the computer by USB, and the driver that operated through the AirPort network called Living Room.

All seemed well; I was pleased with how easy it was to print off my normal A4 documents.

I set to work and spent a day typing up my 29 pages of addresses and making them properly alphabetical, setting up the document as an A5 one.

Then I put some A5 paper in the printer and pressed Print, choosing the "Living Room" LaserJet 1200. Printing started halfway down the page, and leaked off the left-hand edge.

I spent the rest of the day, and the hours between 4am and 6am last night, trying *everything*.

Finally I thought of something else. I plugged the printer directly into the computer, chose the USB version of the printer and pressed Print, and it printed off happily.

So obviously the "Living Room" version was corrupt. I deleted it.

Then I went to print out something I was writing and wished to edit, still using the USB directly plugged into the computer. It printed it out starting halfway down the page and leaking off the bottom edge.

I deleted this printer too, and then pressed Add Printer (both in Printer Setup Utility). The Setup Utility offered me two identical options of HP LaserJet 1200, among other options. I chose one and tried. It printed off the edges. I deleted and chose the other and tried. It printed off the edges.

I deleted the Printer Setup Utility Preferences and restarted, and went to Add Printer again. Again it offered me two HP LaserJet 1200 items. I tried Manual; it told me that there were multiple versions of the printer description.

I searched for and deleted the printer description (only one) for HP LaserJet 1200, and also for HP LaserJet 1220, just in case, and restarted. I went to Add Printer, and there they were again, the two HP LaserJet 1200 items.

I tried using an Apple LaserWriter item instead. Still printing off the edges of the pages.

I'm now officially stumped. What have I not done? What should I do? What is causing the problem?

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be clear about what I'd tried and not tried. If there's anything I've not tried.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Are you doing these labels in Word or something else?

 

[Mala]

Not labels but A5; I think somewhere in that long explanation I mentioned that I'd tried printing in different programs in case it was a Word problem. It happens across all programs.

 

[MisterMe]

I'm using a PowerBook G4 running Panther (v10.7.3), with an HP LaserJet 1200 connected either directly by USB or through AirPort Express.

My problems started as a result of one of two simultaneous events. It began when I decided to become efficient. So I bought a) an A5 Filofax into which I could insert alphabetically listed addresses, and b) an AirPort Express.

I set up the AirPort Express, including plugging in the USB from the printer to it, and adding this wireless printer as "HP LaserJet 1200 Living Room" (I couldn't see any way to change the name) in Printer Setup Utility.

I would have liked to use a different name, to make it easier to distinguish the two LaserJets from each other - the driver that operated when I had the printer plugged directly into the computer by USB, and the driver that operated through the AirPort network called Living Room.

All seemed well; I was pleased with how easy it was to print off my normal A4 documents.

I set to work and spent a day typing up my 29 pages of addresses and making them properly alphabetical, setting up the document as an A5 one.

Then I put some A5 paper in the printer and pressed Print, choosing the "Living Room" LaserJet 1200. Printing started halfway down the page, and leaked off the left-hand edge.

I spent the rest of the day, and the hours between 4am and 6am last night, trying *everything*.

Finally I thought of something else. I plugged the printer directly into the computer, chose the USB version of the printer and pressed Print, and it printed off happily.

So obviously the "Living Room" version was corrupt. I deleted it.

Then I went to print out something I was writing and wished to edit, still using the USB directly plugged into the computer. It printed it out starting halfway down the page and leaking off the bottom edge.

I deleted this printer too, and then pressed Add Printer (both in Printer Setup Utility). The Setup Utility offered me two identical options of HP LaserJet 1200, among other options. I chose one and tried. It printed off the edges. I deleted and chose the other and tried. It printed off the edges.

I deleted the Printer Setup Utility Preferences and restarted, and went to Add Printer again. Again it offered me two HP LaserJet 1200 items. I tried Manual; it told me that there were multiple versions of the printer description.

I searched for and deleted the printer description (only one) for HP LaserJet 1200, and also for HP LaserJet 1220, just in case, and restarted. I went to Add Printer, and there they were again, the two HP LaserJet 1200 items.

I tried using an Apple LaserWriter item instead. Still printing off the edges of the pages.

I'm now officially stumped. What have I not done? What should I do? What is causing the problem?

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be clear about what I'd tried and not tried. If there's anything I've not tried.

First, you don't need to tell your life story. You need to explain the problem with your printer. You also need to explain how you set-up your printer. If you want help, the rest is more information than we need.

IIRC, you cannot use the USB driver for a printer that you have networked. Download and install the GIMP-print CUPS driver for the LaserJet 1200 when accessing it over your network.

 

[Mala]

IIRC, you cannot use the USB driver for a printer that you have networked. Download and install the GIMP-print CUPS driver for the LaserJet 1200 when accessing it over your network.

What is a GIMP-print CUPS driver and where do I find it, please? I can only find something described as a driver for a HP LaserJet 1200.

 

[Mala]

Hmm, found the GIMP printer application, but it works only for USB printing.

What I need is something that will allow me to print to the printer plugged in to the AirPort if possible.

 

[Mala]

Also, when I probed deeper into the HP settings, there are no CUPS+GIMP print drivers for the LaserJet 1200. There are such drivers listed for most of the other HP models (though not all), but not for the LaserJet 1200.

It's weird the way the LaserJet 1200 still appears twice under "Model name" in the Printer Setup Utility's "Add Printer" dialogue.

 

[MisterMe]

Also, when I probed deeper into the HP settings, there are no CUPS+GIMP print drivers for the LaserJet 1200. There are such drivers listed for most of the other HP models (though not all), but not for the LaserJet 1200.

It's weird the way the LaserJet 1200 still appears twice under "Model name" in the Printer Setup Utility's "Add Printer" dialogue.

If you had scrolled down the page, you would have seen that the LaserJet 1200 uses the LaserJet 6 driver.

 

[Mala]

Thank you, I'll try the LaserJet 6 driver.

 

[Mala]

I went to Printer Setup Utility, chose the HP LaserJet 1200 offered in the dialogue box, and then went down the list of model names and chose the GIMP-print CUP driver listed as HP LaserJet 6, and accepted it for installation.

Then I opened up the first of the two documents I'd been trying to print and told it to print one page. It printed the page, but in landscape, with the print falling off the edge of the page. The same with the other document.

Then I looked at Page Setup to check that it was set as portrait, not landscape. It was, but the Paper Size was set as "OTHER". I opened the drop-down menu to set it to A5, but there is no such setting on it.

 

[Mala]

....so I tried setting the document as A4, but making huge margins, so that it would print on A5 paper. It printed fine on a single page, but when I tried to print the whole document it did a strange thing.

First it presented the normal Print dialogue box, and I accepted this. Then it presented the same dialogue box again. I pressed Cancel. Then it started to print the document on the A5 page, but as if on an A4 page, with the title at the top, but the copy printing off the edge on right and left and bottom.

I went to the Printer Setup Utility, chose the HP LaserWriter 1200 and pressed Stop Printing.

But there appears to be no way to delete items from the print queue, so unless I delete the actual printer and start again, I have to let it print off 29 pages of junk, wasting paper.

 

[Mala]

I finally solved this with the help of a writer, who told me to set the page size to A4 and set stonking great margins on all sides, which worked.

Thank you for directing me to the GIMP site and drivers, MisterMe, I'm using the LaserWriter 6 one, which seems slightly more reliable than HP's.

The Printer Setup Utility is still listing two each of HP LaserWriter 1200 and HP LaserWriter 1220 for some reason; I assume that the utility has become corrupt. But I'll solve that problem another day, or else someone will actually produce a simple, cheap printer that works well, with a good driver of a quality of workability and presentation equivalent to other types of software.

 

[MisterMe]

I finally solved this with the help of a writer, who told me to set the page size to A4 and set stonking great margins on all sides, which worked.

Thank you for directing me to the GIMP site and drivers, MisterMe, I'm using the LaserWriter 6 one, which seems slightly more reliable than HP's.
....

You are welcome. I am happy that you solved your problem.

 

[superbovine]

heh