IR8500 printing issue

[emujo]

I have 2 IR8500s both at one time had M2 controllers but because of problems maintaining them we decided to install network boot roms and upgrade system software to allow them to print (I am not a canon tech, so I am not involved in the service support tool side, but I'm confidant that the tech is sure of the procedure and did the update properly). I now show a "N" boot rom and version numbers in the pcl/ps area on firmware versions. Set all network info, loaded drivers onto server, device information retrieval passed and printing was perfect. Turned on department codes, did a "get info" again and it succeeded. But now it wont print, jobs spool but never make it to the 8500 (no job log info). My user name/password pass the verify test. Disable department codes and printing picks up again. Any thoughts as to what I am missing? Ir 5000 sitting next to the 8500 that prints just fine with department codes. Emujo

[charm5496]

The problem has been found to be with the driver configuration after pulling the Device Status in the print driver. When Department ID Management is enabled on the copier and it does not include a default Department ID and password, the driver populates the Job Accounting check box automatically as shown below.


The user should be prompted to enter this info when printing. However, if they hit OK and send the job without a Department ID and password, the imageRUNNER will drop the job without printing it. The printer will do this even with the Department. ID feature set to Allow jobs with unknown IDs and passwords. It does this is because the driver will send a null value to the printer in the field of the packet for the Department ID and password. It interprets this as a Department ID and password and tries to match this value with a value in its database. If no match for the null value appears in the database, no match is found and the job is lost.

The only solution to this is to turn off Job Accounting every time you get Device Status or to set the driver up with a default ID and password and to uncheck the Confirm ID/Password box so the user never gets prompted for a Department ID and password.

[emujo]

So would the soution be to turn off department codes, do a "get device status", then go back to the copier, input a department codes (s), then go back and do a "get status" again. I follow what you're saying if the driver attempts to pull the codes before any are actually inputted, but normally, I enable the codes, input one for the technician, do a "device status", verify I can print. Then I either put the rest if the codes in myself, or teach a user how to input and utilize the driver to reflect the new codes. My other issue is we have 20-25 8500 that never had M2s installed and are not experiancing this problem, this is what leads me to belive it may be a firmware issue. Emujo

[Canuck]

Back up the user data, and do an MMI clear on the machine,re-install network settings

[emujo]

MMI clear was done after the M2's were removed as we wanted to start from scratch, in fact, we did "card clear" "MMI clear" loaded firmware then input network settings. Test print passed, enabled department managment and then we ran into the problem. Emujo

[D_L_P]

Did you delete and add the printers yet? If I remember correctly the department ID's were dependent upon the netspot service running. And the netspot service could only be added from the setup.exe program, not the windows "add printer" wizard.

[emujo]

I have never used "netspot", Device info service is running, and all other 5000 and 8500 retrieve info fine. Emujo

[Canuck]

Have the tech get a P-print,user data,etc from one of the 8500's that are working properly. Compare all the settings. Its a start...Also did you get rid of the M2 drivers? Blow them away then re-install the PCL driver if you haven't

[D_L_P]

I have never used "netspot", Device info service is running, and all other 5000 and 8500 retrieve info fine. Emujo

Older version drivers used Canon Netspot Suite Service (VDC), but I see the newer ones use Driver Information Assist Service (DIAS).
Make sure the DIAS service is running on the workstations or server in order for the dept ID to work. If it is installed and running you may need to reinstall the driver so they can attach to the service. If you just recycled the old printer the new drivers might not have attached to the DIAS service correctly.

[emujo]

Just an update to this post...it seems the department code export file is the problem. I backed up the codes and tried restore them to another 8500 and I had the same issue, no prints, no messages in the job log, and each department code will verify within the print properties dialog box. I am guessing that the exported backup file is not allowed to be transferred to another 8500, probably a s/n issue. if anyone can verify this I would appreciate it. Emujo