Illustrator will not print to network printer

[billq@adobeforums.com]

We have a ricoh 6300 printer, and Illustrator, version 10.0 stopped printing to this on printer. All other programs will print to it, and Illustrator will print to all other network printers. There are no error messages. The file looks as though it is being sent to the printer, but there is no response from the printer. The computer which runs illustrator has 512 meg of Ram, about 50 gig of available hard drive space.

The software is almost acting as though it is looking for a local printer, and not seeing the network setup. It was working until a new file (an AI file of about 20 meg) was transfered from another machine this morning. Any idea on what setting could have been changed and how to change it back?

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Bill,

Is the work to be printed also being stored on the network? If so, try bringing it to your local station and print to the network printer from there. Could this be a postscript problem?

Bob

[billq@adobeforums.com]

We attempted that already. It was after a new file had been transfered to this machine that it ceased to work with the printer.
Is it possible that the file could have changed the postscipt settings?
Due to its location, this particular PC is a virtual stand alone machine. It's network is composed of a series of label and graphic printers.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Bill,

How pure is the electronic path form that printer and the printer you've selected for it to print to? Are you using an electronic router to printer select? Could this routing be the problem? Have you tried printing to this printer (if possible directly) to see if it's the routing or the printer?

Bob

[billq@adobeforums.com]

Yes, we can print with other programs to this printer, and with Illustrator to other printers. Today, I was able to get a small file to print to the Ricoh from Illustrator, but the larger files still hang up and never clear the printer spooler.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

This appears to either be a spooler limitation due to size or Driver compatibility problem. Your latest note makes me think it's the spooler limitation. Have you cleared away plenty of defragged freespace for that use?

bob

[billq@adobeforums.com]

The pc should not need to be defraged as it is only a few weeks old. If it is the spooler that needs to be degraged, that might be the cause, I will give that a try and see if that solves the problem.

Thank you.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Bill,

When working in graphics, even with a power system, you SHOULD very regularly Defrag your working hard drives (system drive and cache drives). Although newer Windows don't require it for SwapFile cache, they say, Illustrator works far far better when it's ScratchDisk area is as contiguous as possible. And especially when you are having a problem you want to cover all bases until you find the fix.

Bob