USB printing on a teal G3 iMac & HP printer

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Level 1

84 points

USB printing on a teal G3 iMac & HP printer

I posted a tech support request to HP with no reply so I am posting my printing question here.

I bought a Teal G3 iMac (OS 9.2.2) for my mother and connected an HP officeJet 4215. I installed the HP printer software from the supplied disk and attempted to print a directory window and a page of text from MS Word. I got an error message that there wasn't enough memory and was given the option to increase the memory allocation. I did this several times with no success. I then went to the HP Utility and sent a test page which printed successfully so I know the computer is communicating with the printer. I remember that the G3 computers had a limited range that the USB connections were capable of so I began to suspect the printer may be getting a weak signal. I wanted to ask if a powered USB hub might solve this problem. I wanted to get some opinions before I went out and bought one.

Posted on Oct 16, 2005 4:12 PM

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Answer 1

Elizabeth

Level 6

13,435 points

Oct 16, 2005 5:28 PM in response to Mark Hannon

Did you increase the memory allocation for Word or for the printer? Doing the latter is not an option for all printers, but you may be able to increase the memory allocated for certain HP extensions, printer spoolers, etc.

Have you restarted the computer since you installed and made the memory allocation changes? How much physical RAM do you have in the computer? What are the settings in for virtual memory in your Memory control panel? How much free space is still available on the hard drive?

I personally don't know about the possibility of a powered hub, but I'm sure you'll hear from others who do. In the meantime, tell us a little bit more about your computer. HTH

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Answer 2

Mark Hannon Author

Level 1

84 points

Oct 16, 2005 7:53 PM in response to Elizabeth

Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the total installed memory last time I was at my mother's house but I will write that down next time I go. I didn't try increasing the memory allocation for Word but I got the same error message and failure to print when I tried to print out a directory window. That shouldn't be that huge a load on the printer.

As far as free space on the disk, there are several hundred MB available. More than sufficient to print out a simple page of text or a directory window.

In OS 9 and prior, I always made a point to switch Virtual Memory OFF in the control panel since it was often responsible for many memory issues.

I can't remember if OS 9.2.2 uses USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. Could that have any bearing on printer communication? I am still puzzled as to why I was able to print a test page from the printer utility but can't print a page of text from Word.

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Answer 3

Elizabeth

Level 6

13,435 points

Oct 16, 2005 8:12 PM in response to Mark Hannon

I'm afraid I don't know much about the details of USB. As you say, if it prints the test page, that seems to verify adequate communication between the printer and computer. And you should be able to print simple Word documents with no issues. I'd play around with the memory allocations for Word and the virtual memory settings. It seems there are some apps and devices that look for standard virtual memory settings. Maybe this printer is one of them. Good luck!

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Answer 4

Mark Hannon Author

Level 1

84 points

Nov 6, 2005 10:10 PM in response to Elizabeth

I finally have details abot the configuration of this teal G3. Hopefully it will give someone an idea of why I get out of memory message when I try to print.

OS 9.2.2
built-in memory 96 MB
Printer model: hp officejet 4215 all-in-one

From Apple System Profiler:
Printer Name: officejet 4200 series
Printer Status: Idle
Printer Type: Not Available
Printer Driver: hp aio print v.5.6
Printer version: 5.6
Printer Icon Name:officejet 4200 series
Printer Location: Not Available

I have increased the printer's memory allocation which didn't solve the problem.
I have spoken to HP tech support and I don't have a lot of faith in them. Their suggestion was to turn virtual memory on. It didn't work and I didn't think it would but I had to try.

Anyone have any ideas of what I can try to get this printer to print? I successfully printed a test page from the printer utility but still get out of memory messages when I print from any application, in spite of all I tried.

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Answer 5

Henry B.

Level 9

78,719 points

Nov 8, 2005 7:10 PM in response to Mark Hannon

The system requirements for this printer on HP's web site indicate the minimum RAM requirement is 128MB, with a recommended 256MB. Your Mac falls far short of that. Those requirements are quite believable - all-in-one inkjet printers are complex devices with complicated drivers. While the simple test page might print, you likely don't have enough physical RAM to run the driver, the software application you are printing from, and the rasterized image of the page you are trying to print.

If you mom really doesn't need an all-in-one, consider getting her a basic printer with more modest hardware requirements. Or, upgrade the amount of RAM in this Mac - that will improve its overall performance as well.

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