I think my HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni is a lemon

Hi group,

I know this might seem a self-evident problem :\ I bought a HP Color
LaserJet CP1518ni brand new a few months ago. The first time I tried
to use it was about a month after buying it. It took forever to print
a document. I've always had HP printers and they were always pretty
good. It took forever to print a document and right now I'm trying to
print a 100KB doc. The display says "Ready" but no doc is forthcoming.
Windows XP is not spouting forth any errors. I've power cycled the
printer and no luck. Occsasionally something inside whirs for several
minutes, but no printing happens.

Was buying this printer a mistake? I'm hoping not...but it seems to me
that this shouldn't be so hard to use.

Thanks,
Christine

On Apr 26, 2:27*pm, Christine wrote:
Hi group,

I know this might seem a self-evident problem :\ I bought a HP Color
LaserJet CP1518ni brand new a few months ago.

Was buying this printer a mistake? I'm hoping not...but it seems to me
that this shouldn't be so hard to use.

This model is, to be fair, sluggish. If I was considering a new model
I'd look at the Brother HL-4040CN in terms of speed and cost per
page. B&W isn't too bad, but color is super sluggish.

But it obviously should print when you ask it to. Have you tried
simple text documents from notepad, swapping the cable, trying on
another PC?

Christine wrote:

Hi group,

I know this might seem a self-evident problem :\ I bought a HP Color
LaserJet CP1518ni brand new a few months ago. The first time I tried
to use it was about a month after buying it. It took forever to print
a document. I've always had HP printers and they were always pretty
good. It took forever to print a document and right now I'm trying to
print a 100KB doc. The display says "Ready" but no doc is forthcoming.
Windows XP is not spouting forth any errors. I've power cycled the
printer and no luck. Occsasionally something inside whirs for several
minutes, but no printing happens.

Was buying this printer a mistake? I'm hoping not...but it seems to me
that this shouldn't be so hard to use.

You may try to print a "test page" from your printer independently of
the UC. So you may measure the amount of time it needs to print this
page.

Alain

The display says "Ready" but no doc is forthcoming.
Windows XP is not spouting forth any errors. I've power cycled the
printer and no luck. Occsasionally something inside whirs for several
minutes, but no printing happens.

The Win printer status display shows the file size, and how much
has been spooled to the printer. How long for this to reach 100
percent? How long from 100% until the page comes out?
If the page never comes out it's a warranty job.
What's the interface? USB, wireless, ethernet, Centronics?

Hi there,

This model is, to be fair, sluggish. *If I was considering a new model
I'd look at the Brother HL-4040CN in terms of speed and cost per
page. *B&W isn't too bad, but color is super sluggish.

LOL, I guess I shouldn't be so brand loyal sometimes!

But it obviously should print when you ask it to. *Have you tried
simple text documents from notepad, swapping the cable, trying on
another PC?

Swapping the cable did the trick. Thanks so much for the suggestion -
I feel rather embarrassed now, but I was so frustrated at the time!

Best,
Christine

You may try to print a "test page" from your printer independently of
the UC. So you may measure the amount of time it needs to print this
page.

Hi Alain,

Swapping the USB cable fixed the problem, but I'll still take your
advice. I didn't think about timing a test page at all.

Best,
Christine

Christine wrote:

You may try to print a "test page" from your printer independently of
the UC. So you may measure the amount of time it needs to print this
page.

Hi Alain,

Swapping the USB cable fixed the problem

The same at home, an IBM 3116 worked fine with one certain cable usb but
refused to work with others cables, astonishing !

Alain

"Christine" wrote in message
...
You may try to print a "test page" from your printer independently of
the UC. So you may measure the amount of time it needs to print this
page.

Hi Alain,

Swapping the USB cable fixed the problem, but I'll still take your
advice. I didn't think about timing a test page at all.

Best,
Christine


Maybe the cable you were using was only capable of
USB 1.1 data rates.

The USB 1.1 and 2.0 protocols are basically the same in terms of wiring
and grounding, etc. However, USB 2.0, because it pumps so much more
data, requires better quality components to avoid errors, so if it was a
defective or of particularly poor quality it could cause the connection
to go to USB 1.1 or repeat the data transmission to correct errors.

Art


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Ian D wrote:
"Christine" wrote in message
...
You may try to print a "test page" from your printer independently of
the UC. So you may measure the amount of time it needs to print this
page.
Hi Alain,

Swapping the USB cable fixed the problem, but I'll still take your
advice. I didn't think about timing a test page at all.

Best,
Christine


Maybe the cable you were using was only capable of
USB 1.1 data rates.