CEC

Making Posters

Common Problems Printing Posters

Last revision January 29, 2014

Poster is being "held" by the printer and not printing

This problem only affects print jobs sent to the printers from Acrobat or PhotoShop (and likely other programs that use the standard Windows printer driver) while logged into the Windows operating system. It does not affect jobs sent from Illustrator. It does not affect any jobs sent from programs running under Mac OS X.

There is a bug in the Windows printer driver for these HP printers. It sometimes adds a "hold" instruction to the print job. Then after you release your poster, your job is sent by the server to the the printer where it sits in "hold" status and nothing happens. You must tell the printer directly, using its control panel, to let it print. Windows doesn't always do this - so far, we have not been able to understand what triggers this bug.

Follow these instructions, with screenshots, to see how to let your print job "continue" if it is held by the printer. The screenshots are from the ptolemy printer, but the same instructions work for escher.

Posters have been released, but nothing is printing.

A very rare timing bug can cause the printer queue on pangea to get stuck. In this case, even though you have properly released your print job on the poster release form, nothing happens. The printer just sits there idly and your released job stays in the queue.

The solution is simple. Open the appropriate poster release form for the printer you are using. Click the Abort button near the bottom of the page. Wait a couple of seconds, then go back to that poster release form again, and this time click on the Restart button near the bottom of the page. Sometimes, you have to do the Abort and Restart cycle twice.

Printer has run out of paper

Paper rolls are 100 feet long. That is enough for 15 to 20 posters. If the printer runs out of paper, you can put in a new roll yourself! These detailed instructions describe how to change the paper roll on ptolemy; escher works the same way.

If the printer runs out of paper while printing your poster, it should automatically reprint once you load a new roll. In that case, you don't have to do anything (except wait for the reprint), and you won't be charged for the reprint.

If the printer does not automatically reprint a poster that failed due to paper running out, you will have to resubmit and release your poster again. That will trigger a second charge. Follow the instructions below to request that the charge be removed for the first failed print.

Printer says that one or more ink cartridges are "very low"

Ignore this message and keep printing. This is just a reminder to order more ink. We keep extra inks on hand at all times.

When the printer actually runs out of ink, it will stop printing and ask you on the control panel to replace the empty ink cartridge. Then it will keep going and finish your poster.

Find new ink cartridges in the small wooden file cabinet between the "saxton" computer and the "GRID Proofer" printer. Make sure you take the correct type and color of ink cartridge!

My poster did not print correctly. Can I avoid the charge?

You are responsible for all paper used, including formatting errors, unless a failure in the printer itself ruined your poster.

The poster charge has already been recorded in our database by the time it is released to the printer, whether it prints or not. Therefore, you have to request an adjustment if there is a printing error or you cancelled the print job at the printer part-way through.

You can request that the print charge be completely eliminated if your poster never prints at all or is ruined by a problem in the printer, such as running out of paper or ink (and not automatically reprinting when the paper or ink was replaced), or a mechanical problem such as a roller skip causing an empty stripe in the middle of your poster.

If you cancelled the print job part-way because you noticed a formatting error (including incorrect rotation or scaling), then you can request a reduction in charge to just the actual paper used.

If your poster completely printed, but you decided it was not formatted correctly and reprinted it, no adjustment will be made. This is a self-service operation with very low rates and you are responsible for the correct formatting of your poster.

Make all requests for elimination or reduction of charge on failed print jobs by email to the G.R.I.D. lab management. Provide the date and time that the print job was submitted, the name of the computer that you used, the intended size, the amount actually printed, and the cause of the error or cancellation.