HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

micky wrote:

he can print a test page but he can't print a pdf file.
Any idea why not?

To do a test print, he'd presumably be looking under
Settings/devices/printers at the officejet?

However if a different printer was set as the default, he might not
realise where the pdf prints were going to ...

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

On 8/3/2017 12:58 PM, micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Too many variables!

The simplest answer is that the PDF file is invalid.

The next simplest is that the printer is not the default, and the PDF
file is being sent elsewhere.

It gets complicated after these possibilities.

--
best regards,

Neil

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.


The printer is "Wifi B/G/N 2.4Ghz" and it is also USB.
There is no Ethernet connector.

The printer and router would not have received the loving
touch of the repairman, so the printer is probably still
visible on the LAN (printer WEP or WPA2 settings still valid).
The repairman could screw up the Wifi connection from the
computer to router, but you don't mention that as a symptom.

You could try test-prints with other file types, like
a vanilla text file perhaps.

The Universal Print Driver, it may rasterize materials to
be printed, and send a pixmap to the printer. If a proper
driver was used, then the PDF could be converted to PCL6
or something, and sent to the printer. Sending pixmaps is slow,
and is used mainly as a crutch for lazy software development.
(Microsoft makes the Universal Printer Driver, then companies
like HP, all they have to do is configure the printer for that
driver.)

In my experiments with a UPD here, I was able to generate both
pixmap and vector output, after some fiddling with the thing.
My purpose is normally "PRINT TO FILE" capability, and that's
why it matters to me. Either should work with the printer
(with a difference in speed).

You can try printing a .txt, a .jpg (from a Photo Editor),
or an XPS (from the XPS viewer or something), and see if the
problem is isolated to just PDF (from Reader).

Paul

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

In comp.periphs.printers, on Thu, 3 Aug 2017 18:03:36 +0100, Andy Burns
wrote:

micky wrote:

he can print a test page but he can't print a pdf file.
Any idea why not?

To do a test print, he'd presumably be looking under
Settings/devices/printers at the officejet?

More like Devices and Printers, Printer Properties for his printer,
Print Test Page.

However if a different printer was set as the default, he might not
realise where the pdf prints were going to ...

No, I was doing the printing and I checked each time which printer it
was going to.

He only has one real printer. There are those 3 thingst come with
windows, Microsoft Print to PDF, Microsoft XPS Document WRiter, and Fax,
but I printed 4 times using only the actual printer.

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

In comp.periphs.printers, on Thu, 3 Aug 2017 13:41:58 -0400, Neil
wrote:

On 8/3/2017 12:58 PM, micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Too many variables!

The simplest answer is that the PDF file is invalid.

IIRC it was a form a professional organization sent him, which he filled
in.

Shouldn't there be an error message if it is invalid?

The next simplest is that the printer is not the default, and the PDF
file is being sent elsewhere.

Another thing: Even when he printed the test page, which printed
quickly but remained on the queue screen for 5 minutes until I actually
pressed Finish on the Install Printer screen, the print queue screen
didn't even show an icon in the systray.

Is that cause it's HP? My Epson and Brother printers display icons
that look iirc like printers, and when I click on one, I get the print
queue.

It gets complicated after these possibilities.

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

In comp.periphs.printers, on Thu, 3 Aug 2017 13:41:58 -0400, Neil
wrote:

On 8/3/2017 12:58 PM, micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Too many variables!

I suspect he didn't need win10 in the first place. It was probably the
only thing the guy knew how to do, or his excuse to charge 130.

The simplest answer is that the PDF file is invalid.

The next simplest is that the printer is not the default, and the PDF
file is being sent elsewhere.

It gets complicated after these possibilities.

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

In comp.periphs.printers, on Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:30:49 -0400, Paul
wrote:

micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.


The printer is "Wifi B/G/N 2.4Ghz" and it is also USB.
There is no Ethernet connector.

The printer and router would not have received the loving
touch of the repairman, so the printer is probably still
visible on the LAN (printer WEP or WPA2 settings still valid).
The repairman could screw up the Wifi connection from the
computer to router, but you don't mention that as a symptom.

You could try test-prints with other file types, like
a vanilla text file perhaps.

That's a good idea. I didnt' think of it, but he had to go to work
anyhow.

I also should have printed it to a file, to see if that part works.

The Universal Print Driver, it may rasterize materials to
be printed, and send a pixmap to the printer. If a proper
driver was used, then the PDF could be converted to PCL6
or something, and sent to the printer. Sending pixmaps is slow,
and is used mainly as a crutch for lazy software development.
(Microsoft makes the Universal Printer Driver, then companies
like HP, all they have to do is configure the printer for that
driver.)

In my experiments with a UPD here, I was able to generate both
pixmap and vector output, after some fiddling with the thing.
My purpose is normally "PRINT TO FILE" capability, and that's
why it matters to me. Either should work with the printer
(with a difference in speed).

I might be able to do all this with Teamviewer, but to expect my brother
to do it the next time is.... what's the word?.... Ridiculous will do.

You can try printing a .txt, a .jpg (from a Photo Editor),
or an XPS (from the XPS viewer or something), and see if the
problem is isolated to just PDF (from Reader).

OKay, I guess he doesn't get home until 10PM. I wish his wife would
stop spending money.

I should have had him leave us connected.

Paul

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

micky wrote:

Neil wrote:

The simplest answer is that the PDF file is invalid.

Shouldn't there be an error message if it is invalid?

Some PDFs disallow printing, tried another one?

HP Officejet 4630 prints test page but not pdf file.
 

On 8/3/2017 2:38 PM, micky wrote:
In comp.periphs.printers, on Thu, 3 Aug 2017 13:41:58 -0400, Neil
wrote:

On 8/3/2017 12:58 PM, micky wrote:
My brother has an HP Officejet 4630 which describes itself as a wireless
printer and maybe a web-based printer, but doesn't use the word wi-fi.

He can't print.

His computer was slow or errratic and some "repairman" said he needed to
upgrade to win10. He paid $130 and when he got the computer back it
worked worse or not at all, so the guy came over, charged another 130
and he can't print.

He called me and we found out it no longer had Teamviewer, which he
installed, and it no longer had his printer in the list of printers. We
don't know what else is missing.

I installed it, and now the printer is in the list of printers including
when one tries to print, and he can print a test page but he can't print
a pdf file.

Any idea why not?

AFAIK, there is no cable connecting the printer and I didn't install any
wireless features, but if if the pc sees the printer (which it did. I
didn't have to search the list of printers for it. It was the only one
showing, on the first installation screen), if the pc finds the printer
and if I can use the PC to tell the printer to print a test page, how
can it not be sufficiently connected to do everything else (except fax
of course).


He called the "repairman" again and he said he needed a cable and he'd
give him one (not sure if he's delivering it or mailing it) and the
printer is now right next to the laptop, so maybe this will work, but in
a prior apartment, it was in the next room. What if he wants to move it.
Shouldn't the "repairman" install the wireless feature?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Too many variables!

I suspect he didn't need win10 in the first place. It was probably the
only thing the guy knew how to do, or his excuse to charge 130.

That's another issue altogether. This doesn't sound like a Win10 problem
to me. The way one prints a test page is from the printer dialogue box.
To print the PDF, the printer needs to be selected (or the default).

--
best regards,

Neil