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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

very slow load of printer dialogue box

The first time I launch either ID, PS or IL and do an apple P for print, it takes a full minute and a half to load the print dialogue box. Once the application has been opened and I do a second print it takes a fraction of the time, it's only the first print try on opening the application which takes an age. Doesn't seem to be a problem on apple apps like text edit. I've recently upgraded to CS2 but it was doing it with CS1 as well. Anyone have the same problem or any clues? Can't find any reference to this problem elsewhere. I've seen tales of iDisk causing problems, but I don't have a .mac account so don't have an iDisk, although why do I see an iDisk icon in the left hand menu of an open window? any thoughts? That minute and a half seems a very long time!! THANKS!

G4 Quicksilver 733 MHz 1.2GB memory, Mac OS X (10.4.8), Titanium powerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) 256MB memory

Posted on Feb 1, 2007 12:54 PM

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15 replies
User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 1, 2007 2:36 PM in response to Kathykate

Hi there,

Do you have more than one printer configured for your Mac? Are those printers connected directly (ie USB) or networked?

As for the iDisk, you can go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar and deselect the iDisk from displaying, however the presence of the iDisk icon is not dependent on this setting so there must have been some instance of syncing, maybe you used the 60 day trial? To see when your iDisk was last synchronized, select the iDisk icon in the sidebar and at the bottom of the window, you'll see when your iDisk was last synchronized along with a progress bar and if your iDisk is currently syncing. To turn off automatic synchronization, select the iDisk icon in the sidebar, click the Action button and disable Automatic Syncing.

Paul
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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

Feb 1, 2007 2:55 PM in response to PAHU

Hello! Thanks for reply. I have one printer connected directly through a usb cable. There are two more items in my printer list - Adobe PDF 7.0 3016.102 and Flashpaper. I think these have both appeared recently since I A. installed my new printer software and B. installed Adobe Acrobat 7 professional (as part of the CS2 install). But this problem was happening prior to these events.

I did have a trail of iDisk. This expired ages ago. When I tried to click on the iDisk icon in the sidebar I got a message saying iDisk cannot be found. I've now removed it from the sidebar as you suggested. Still having the minute and a half loading time of print dialogue box. I hate seeing that spinning beachball! Any other ideas?
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User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 1, 2007 8:52 PM in response to Kathykate

At this stage I would try the following;

1. Running Repair Disk Permissions located in Disk Utility. If no good then;
2. Downloading and running the 10.4.8 Combo updater for PPC. If still no good then;
3. Download the Printer Setup Repair utility from Fixamac.

If after all of the above you still have the delay, then have a look at the cups error log. This is located in the Console application under the entry /var/log/cups/error_log. This may show which service is causing the delay as each process has a time stamp. This log may help with determining the next step.

Paul
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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

Feb 2, 2007 6:42 AM in response to PAHU

****, I run repair disk permissions a lot. I'm already on 10.4.8. Have had a go at Printer Setup repair, it told me I had a problem with my root user (scary stuff), which it fixed, I had high hopes but the problem is still there, although printer dialogue box only took one minute to load, so a slight improvement!

I took a look at the cups error log and noticed this

E [01/Feb/2007:12:07:06 +0000] load_job: Unable to queue job for destination "http://127.0.0.1:631/printers/DESKJET_1125C"!

was there about 130 times all in a row. That deskjet printer I don't have any more and it's not even in my printer list. Could that be causing problems?

I also have an error log.O in console too. With a whole bunch of stuff in.

Thanks for helping. I'd love to beat this thing.
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User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 3, 2007 12:51 PM in response to Kathykate

That DJ1125 sounds like it may be the culprit. To remove it from the cups list, open the Printer Setup Utility, click on the title menu and select Reset Printing System. This will remove the current printer but it also should remove the old printer entry. Restart the Mac and add the current printer again. Then try printing again - hopefully the speed issue has been resolved. If not, check the error log again to see if the DJ1125 is still appearing.

As for the error_log.0, this is a older listing of the error_log, so no need to look in here as I think what we need is in the current log.

Paul
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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

Feb 4, 2007 1:07 AM in response to PAHU

Pahu, I did all you said, again had high hopes. Initial load of print dialogue box is now 90 seconds. It's so annoying as second time I try to print it comes up in literally 1 second.

Anyway, I decided to do a test, there was so much in that log you said to look in and I couldn't make head nor tail of it. So this morning I've just done three things. Started mac, opened mail, opened InDesign, and tried to print a document. Then looked at log - this is what it says (for today's date):

I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Listening to 300a80:0
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Full reload is required.
E [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] LoadAllClasses: Unable to open /private/etc/cups/classes.conf - No such file or directory
I [04/Feb/2007:08:50:18 +0000] Full reload complete.

Now, I don't know a thing about it but to my untrained eye that last section looks a bit suspect - full reload required etc. Do you know what it means and how I might fix it?

Thanks for all your help (will be marking you as very helpful!)
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User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 4, 2007 11:07 PM in response to Kathykate

Hi there,

This log looks fine. The classes.conf error is not the cause of your problems, it occurs on all Mac's.

What I was hoping to see was an entry for the job your attempted to print and the times associated with each service that was used to print the job. For example, a print to our network printer looks like this...

I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Adding start banner page "none" to job 138.
I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Job 138 queued on 'LP on_nsnrprint088' by 'paulh'.
I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Started filter /usr/libexec/cups/filter/cgpdftops (PID 223) for job 138.
I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Started filter /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops (PID 224) for job 138.
I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Started filter /Library/Printers/Canon/PS/Cores/pstonctps (PID 225) for job 138.
I [30/Jan/2007:09:19:48 +1100] Started backend /usr/libexec/cups/backend/mcd (PID 226) for job 138.

You can see the time for each service that was used to print this document and how long a gap there was till the next service started. In your case I am expecting that one of the services is taking a long time to start or pass the data and that is what is causing the delay.

So, try turning the Mac off again, turn it back on and just try to print a document. If it takes the usual 90s then check the error_log for this most recent job and see what the times show. Post it back it here also. I'm travelling at the moment but I will check in when I can.

Also, do you know if the previous old printer still exists? To check, open your Internet browser and type http://127.0.0.1:631/printers. This will show the printers installed on your Mac, and of the old HP is still listed, you can delete it from here. You will have to authenticate but it is another way to delete a printer, especially one that isn't displayed.

Paul
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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

Feb 5, 2007 1:23 AM in response to PAHU

Ah OK, as I was just doing a test once the print dialogue box was coming up and I knew it was still taking a long time I was cancelling the print and not actually sending it. Here is today's log. All I've done is startup, read your mail, started inDesign and sent a document to print:

I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Listening to 300a80:0
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Full reload is required.
E [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] LoadAllClasses: Unable to open /private/etc/cups/classes.conf - No such file or directory
I [05/Feb/2007:09:02:13 +0000] Full reload complete.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:07:46 +0000] Adding start banner page "none" to job 6.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:07:46 +0000] Adding end banner page "none" to job 6.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:07:46 +0000] Job 6 queued on 'Photosmart C3100series' by 'katechar'.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:07:46 +0000] Started filter /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr (PID 307) for job 6.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:08:26 +0000] Started "/usr/libexec/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=309)

Dialogue box is varying between 45-55 seconds to come up. Gotta look on the bright side as at the beginning it was 90 seconds!

Also, as suggested, have checked if the previous printer still exists, and it doesn't.

Thanks again, will wait to see if the new log throws any light on it. Regards
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User profile for user: John Blanchard1
John Blanchard1
User level: Level 5
5,841 points

Feb 5, 2007 9:16 AM in response to Kathykate

Something that may be helpful is to remove any of the drivers for printers you don't use. Sometimes the print dialog will take a long time to appear because it's trying to load the PDEs from all of the installed drivers.

Go to /Library/Printers/ and remove the folders for the manufacturers you aren't using or don't expect to use..

Hope this helps.
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User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 5, 2007 1:14 PM in response to Kathykate

OK. I think we can see the cause of the delay however I need you to do a print again, but this time print after you have already done your first print as I want to compare the logs.

From the latest log there is the following...

I [05/Feb/2007:09:07:46 +0000] Started filter /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr (PID 307) for job 6.
I [05/Feb/2007:09:08:26 +0000] Started "/usr/libexec/cups/cgi-bin/printers.cgi" (pid=309)

You can see that the Print Job Manager starts at 9:47:06 and then another 40 seconds later the printers.cgi starts. Now, the Print Job Manager is responsible for receiving a print job from the print server and then sending the file to other modules so as the job can be printed. What I can't determine from the log is why the print job manager is taking so long and whether the printer.cgi is having any impact, as this usually only appears when you view the CUPS web interface. However, if the HP driver also has some sort of job viewing that relies on the printers.cgi then this may explain the delay, as the service wouldn't be running the first time you print but then once you do it starts and keeps running until you turn off the Mac.

So, restart the Mac, do your print from ID, wait till it finishes printing and then print again from ID. Then copy these last two print job logs from Console back here. Note that the start of each job is indicated by the entry:

Adding start banner page "none" to job #

Here's hoping the new info sheds some more light.

Paul
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User profile for user: Kathykate
Kathykate Author
User level: Level 2
248 points

Feb 5, 2007 1:48 PM in response to PAHU

I feel like a detective! Here is the log from the two print sends, as you requested (from the restart, as I wasn't sure when to copy it from).

I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Listening to 300a80:0
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:42 +0000] Full reload is required.
E [05/Feb/2007:21:31:43 +0000] LoadAllClasses: Unable to open /private/etc/cups/classes.conf - No such file or directory
I [05/Feb/2007:21:31:43 +0000] Full reload complete.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:34:37 +0000] Adding start banner page "none" to job 10.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:34:37 +0000] Adding end banner page "none" to job 10.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:34:37 +0000] Job 10 queued on 'Photosmart C3100series' by 'katechar'.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:34:37 +0000] Started filter /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr (PID 302) for job 10.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:35:36 +0000] Adding start banner page "none" to job 11.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:35:36 +0000] Adding end banner page "none" to job 11.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:35:36 +0000] Job 11 queued on 'Photosmart C3100series' by 'katechar'.
I [05/Feb/2007:21:36:02 +0000] Started filter /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr (PID 309) for job 11.

Ist load of print dialogue box was about a minute, second time a nano second.

Just for your information, this is a new printer I'm using (HP Photosmart C3180), got it the beginning of January. Before that I was using two HP printers, both quite old, a deskjet 1125c and a 960c. I was having this same problem using both of those too. There was a time when I didn't have this problem, of course I should have noted it at the time it started happening but you know how it is, always to busy, always something else to sort out. The only thing I can remember doing a while back concerning drivers was someone recommended downloading and installing the Gutenberg driver (forgive me if that is spelt wrong) to try and solve another print prob I was having (stairstepping print, long story, let's not go there) but I didn't like the way it printed (kind of pointalist effect so I uninstalled it. Just though I'd mention in case it throws any light.

Regards

Kate
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User profile for user: PAHU
PAHU
User level: Level 6
16,705 points

Feb 8, 2007 4:21 PM in response to Kathykate

Hi Kate,

Looking at the log, it seems that job 10 was quicker than job 11, with regards to when the job was queued and the filter was started. This doesn't match with what you have said about the first print taking a minute (this should be job 10 which shows 0s) and the second taking a nanosecond (job 11 which shows 26s). So it seems that this log is of no help with showing the cause of the delay 😟

The only thing I can suggest is to delete the printer, reset the printing system via the printer Setup Utility, delete the contents of the HP folder (Library > Printers), delete any HP printer files from the Preferences folder, run repair disk permissions and then restart the Mac. Then add the C3180 driver again and see what happens. If it is still slow the first time then you may have to live with it, unless you want to backup your data and reinstall OSX using a complete overwrite of the original files. Sorry I couldn't get this resolved for you...

Regards,

Paul
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very slow load of printer dialogue box

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