Topic: Single Workstation Unable to Plot Through Server

[Dinosaur]

All of our workstations have been playing nice with our new server and HP 500c plotters for several weeks.  We have a mix of brand new Workstations and some up to 7 or 8 years old.  One of the ancient stations has never been very successful at plotting even with our old servers and at least one repair install.
I have been given the task of finally getting the thing working and as this if used by #2 manager in the company, I would really like to not fail.  So far, that is all I have accomplished.  I am seriously considering the nuclear option and erase all trace of Autodesk and perform a fresh install.  This will likely happen Monday unless someone here can suggest something that could be a persistant problem through many different servers and drivers.
Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[JCTER]

#2 manager in the company

hmph... we always called them "custodial engineers"...

[mjfarrell]

sounds like...deleting ALL printers, and their associated drivers followed by at least one reboot is in order for the suspect machine...
this I would follow with install of new printer drivers
then verify from template that your named page setups work on said machine

[Dinosaur]

#2 manager in the company

hmph... we always called them "custodial engineers"...

Yes ... cleans up everybody's messes ... usually swept right out the door.  I really don't want to go down the road kicking rocks in this "rebounding" economy.

Said computer has freshly installed today all of the pre-sets, drivers, PC3 and PMP files withwhich every other workstation is successfully plotting.  This one, however immediately disables either of our 500C plotters requiring the unplug - move the carriage - reboot shuffle to reawaken the plotter.

[M-dub]

Can you print to it from other programs on the same computer?

[Dinosaur]

Can you print to it from other programs on the same computer?

not consistently ... our design software prints out in Windows Forms and works about as well as AutoCAD, but a PF file will almost always work

[Dinosaur]

Even a complete reinstall of AutoCAD failed to clear this problem.  All of my pc3 and pmp files work with every other computer in the office, but this computer has had troubles plotting since before I came here.  Occasionally now, a simple plot from the model tab will at least go through but nothing works from a layout tab.  This computer is nearing retirement age so the next step might be out the window if I can't find a solution.  Any more ideas?

[mjfarrell]

did you manually REMOVE all printer drivers and software on that machine? some manufacturers offer driver removal tools some don't, as removing the printer doesn't always result in removal of the drivers.

will it plot to PDF?

[mjfarrell]

slap a new network card in it, and direct cable it to the server...I suspect there is most likely a newtwork issue at play...little else explains why it has persistently displayed this issue...other than string theory 

[M-dub]

Go with plan R

How much time and money has been spent trying to fix the computer?  If it's an old POS, just replace it.  The squeeky wheel gets the grease for only so long.

[Dinosaur]

We have an Out<of>House IT contract that has been dealing with this.  I know they scrubbed the registry with the reinstall but a number of old Doc & Set folders and files were still around despite my request that ALL traces of Autodesk be removed.  I am not sure how the drivers were dealt with but they appear to be working with every computer / software / printer combination in the office except this computer to the 500c plotters.
The plotting issue seems to be only affecting LT at this point and Layout tabs specifically.  PDF files can now plot and plots from our design software that uses Windows forms for the drawing frame is working.

[mjfarrell]

what happens...

start a brand new drawing in LT NOT from your normal template just any random one
Create a NEW, Named Page Setup to appply to a NEW layout tab
save file and plot?

[Dinosaur]

It will be a day or so before I can get to his computer and check that.  The thing is, all of the pc3, pmp, mnc and dwt files are residing on the server and all workstations point to the same files.
There were issues last spring with the plotter firmware causing similar problems with all of the workstations and occasionally one will throw the same error code that requires a power down and manually moving the printhead carriage to its proper position.  The other stations can then continue plotting with no further problem but they persist with this particular computer.

[Keith™]

Sounds to me lke it is a network error within Windows and nothing to do with AutoCAD. AutoCAD plotting drivers merely access the devices available. If the device is not reported as available, AutoCAD will not plot to it.

If the plotter is in sleep mode and cycling the power works, then it is indeed a problem of the computer, not AutoCAD.

What OS is installed on the system in question?
The reason I ask is that home versions of Windows will fail miserably in a networked environment where there are more than 5 computers installed.
How do you access the network plotter? UNC? IP?
If you access through UNC then the UNC controller could be dropping the older system from the stack, meaning it cannot access network resources. If the state of connection is not set to persist this could be the problem. If you are plotting to IP address, then check to see that there isn't an IP conflict elsewhere on the network. We had a situation once where a computer had a static IP and the plotter had a dynamic IP, but because of the order of boot in the morning, getting the computer with the static IP to plot was a nightmare because the DHCP server would occasionally get the IP address of the static IP system, then an IP conflict would leave the system unable to plot, yet still able to access other network resources.

[Dinosaur]

Sounds to me lke it is a network error within Windows and nothing to do with AutoCAD. AutoCAD plotting drivers merely access the devices available. If the device is not reported as available, AutoCAD will not plot to it.

If the plotter is in sleep mode and cycling the power works, then it is indeed a problem of the computer, not AutoCAD.

What OS is installed on the system in question?
The reason I ask is that home versions of Windows will fail miserably in a networked environment where there are more than 5 computers installed.
How do you access the network plotter? UNC? IP?
If you access through UNC then the UNC controller could be dropping the older system from the stack, meaning it cannot access network resources. If the state of connection is not set to persist this could be the problem. If you are plotting to IP address, then check to see that there isn't an IP conflict elsewhere on the network. We had a situation once where a computer had a static IP and the plotter had a dynamic IP, but because of the order of boot in the morning, getting the computer with the static IP to plot was a nightmare because the DHCP server would occasionally get the IP address of the static IP system, then an IP conflict would leave the system unable to plot, yet still able to access other network resources.

I am also suspecting something in either hardware or in Windows also.  This computer has XP Pro installed with a variety of profiles (most unused).  I would like to nuke those profiles but that is up to the aforementioned IT staff.  The server itself is Windows 2007 and was put in service over the past summer.  Most of the problems mentioned pre-date the new server.  Most of our worksations are Windows 7 but the remaining XP boxes seem to have no problems.
We do access all devices by IP address.  This machine is typically left on and logged onto the network almost continuously but a shutdown with a cold startup does not appear to have any effect.

[Dinosaur]

Resolution -
I still have no idea what caused this problem but I know what solved it ... a new quad core duo box with Windows 7.  Set up last night and with a few minutes pointing LT to m customization folder and the VP can now plot trouble free from AutoCAD, PDF and our design software for the first time in months.

[Keith™]

lol .. who knew it would be as easy as throwing some dollars at the problem

[mjfarrell]

Go with plan R

How much time and money has been spent trying to fix the computer?  If it's an old POS, just replace it.  The squeeky wheel gets the grease for only so long.

We Have a WINNER!   

[Dinosaur]

lol .. who knew it would be as easy as throwing some dollars at the problem

This was a very abnormal response from the BIG boss man who is quite notorious for his tendency to never give up on hardware until at least three things no longer work and then stack the carcasses in a corner to be scavanged for spare parts.  This box was only about 6 years old and just on its 3rd user.