Slow to print to Kip 777

[Anonymous]

We have two  Lenovo ideacenter 710 machines (16GB ram, i7 processors, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 730) both of which have the same specific problem with one networked printer. 

Both machines can print to pdf within seconds, print to several network printers within seconds but slow way down when attempting to print from our networked KIP plotter. The slow down is anywhere from 3-5 minutes then after you hit print it will take another 3-5 minutes to process the request before the print begins. 

Attempted solutions:

I have printing and plotting in background turned off. 

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the printer and driver with no affect. 

I have tested for malware, and found nothing. 

I have replaced the network card to promote better connectivity with no affect. 

All of the printer properties are the same for all users as they are locked down. 

The plotter menu will load quickly with any layout selection other than the kip. Meaning DWG to PDF, Bluebeam to PDF, other network printers all process the print request within seconds. 

Lastly we have nine other computers on the network that all print to the KIP with no slowdown.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Troubleshooting something like this can be a bit tricky since it is only affecting two computers.

Please tell me if you can print from other applications to the KIP in a normal manner. For instance, can you print a spreadsheet or a PDF to the KIP?

If this does work then we can isolate the problem to being just one that involves AutoCAD.

In AutoCAD, can you print to the KIP as a system printer (not a a PC3)?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for replying. 

Yes we can print directly to the kip from autocad. When selecting the kip from available printers this is where the first 3-5 minute wait will happen. Then once it has finished processing and you press ok to print the progress bar appears and will take another 3-5 minutes before the print begins. 

We can print to the kip from a pdf document it takes around 35 seconds for the PDF to process from the affected machines. This is a significant improvement however when looking at other machines that on average take around 5 seconds to print to the same kip printer from PDF it is still an issue. 

Additionally, I will add to the things we have tried in our testing:

Printing other peoples files from the affected machines which are just as slow. 

Other people printing the affected machines files with no slow down. 

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

Thanks for the tests. It does sound like these two machines are having some issues that the other workstations aren't.

So this might actually be a network issue rather than an AutoCAD one.  Are you running a print server for your network connection? Or, are you printing straight to the Kip's network interface?

Are you using both ipv4 and ipv6? Can you try turning off ipv6?  Perhaps run a tracert to the printer IP address to see how many hops compared to one of the functioning workstations. If you ping from one of the bad workstations, how long does it take?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

We are not using a dual stack for IP addresses only IPv4. 

Command line: 

Tracert:

Less than 1MS 

One hop to printer

Ping: 

zero packets lost

Less than 1MS return

Last week I actually installed wireshark and watched the network traffic of the print process.

That made us see the relationship of autocad to our file server. We have a number of lisps stored on our file server that are being used and we thought that we copied them over to the local machines that would resolve the issue, but it didn't. 

Speed test returns over 100 Mbs up and 35 Mbs down. 

We do store all of the DWG files on our sever instead of locally on the PC's but again out of the 11 PC's running autocad these two are the only two with this specific problem with only this specific printer. 

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Let's recap a bit of this.

2 Workstations exhibit very slow printing from AutoCAD to a networked Kip 777.

Printing is performed directly to the networked interface of the printer via IPv4.

Printing from applications other than AutoCAD are also slow on these two computers but not as slow as printing from AutoCAD.

Please tell me the AutoCAD versions being used, the OS installed. Kip driver installed.  Where are you storing all of your printer related files? (plot styles, PC3s, pmp files, etc)

Please also test to see if you log on to one of the bad workstations as a different user does the behavior continue?

If you perform a Reset Settings to Default on one of the bad workstations does it change the behavior?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Both machines are running Windows 10 (with most recent windows updates installed) 

One is running Autocad 2016

One is running Autocad 2017 (subscription)

All computers run the following driver: 

KIP 7770 series Version 0.3.4103.17

Both are storing printer related files in the default location: 

Local disk/users/USER/appdata/roaming/autodesk/VERSIONOFAUTOCAD/R20.1/enu/plotters/

Tested user with elevated privileges on one of the PC's in question and the slow printing persists.  

One of the users leaves around 14:30 I will follow up with you regarding resetting AutoCad 2016 back to default after they leave. 

[Anonymous]

@john.vellek

Update: 

After resetting AutoCad back to default the issue remains the same. 

I also logged onto a functioning PC with one of the affected users profiles and was able to print to the kip without issue. 

The issue remains the only the two lenovo ideacenter 710 towers. 

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for the additional information.  Can you tell me how the driver is installed for the Kip? Is it getting pushed through PRINT MANAGEMENT from the server? Is it getting installed locally? Please confirm if all the other applications are printing slowly too.

I suggest totally removing the print drivers and then reinstall fresh drivers.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Good morning @john.vellek

All applications print slower than all other computers. However the slow down is not as sever as in AutoCad (as stated before). 

We typically download the driver over the network once the printer connects to the PC in question to finalize the setup.

We have reinstalled the printer driver and that has not resolved the issue. 

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Yes, since the other applications also print slower, I do not believe that this is an AutoCAD specific issue.

I suggest that you do not push the driver from the network as a test. Some driers do not behave well or consistently in this manner. Try installing the KIP driver on the local workstation to see how this might affect the print performance.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

@john.vellek

Yes, I too do not believe this is specific to AutoCad at this point in time and likely a hardware related issue. 

We have installed the driver separately and that has not resolved the issue. 

Having done some additional research I found that Kipp has some specific Autocad drivers and the installation seems like it is installing the printer all over again. Are you familiar with the following process: https://www.kip.com/legacy.php

About halfway down the page it shows as "KIP PC App: AutoCAD driver"

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

It has actually been a couple of years since I had to work directly with any KIP drivers.

I suggest installing their Window driver first (locally again so we can isolate the  issue). Try then printing out of Wordpad Or Word to see if the print time is any different than the workstations with the same driver from the network. 

Then try their AutoCAD driver and print to it without creating a PC3. 

I am curious if you are seeing other speed issues on these two workstations on your network.Have you tried turning off all security apps for testing temporarily?

Have you tried removing them from your domain and adding them back as new workstations?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

@john.vellek

Oddly enough yes we have tried turning off security features to verify if those are causing the problem. 

We have run speed tests on the device and are not seeing a latency that would be indicative of a NIC problem, we even installed an after market NIC thinking that the on board NIC's were faulty or having issues. The new NIC while it does show an increase in network speed did not resolve the issue. 

We have not tried taking them off the domain and then adding them back to it, but I'm not sure what that would accomplish. The logic being that all other networked devices do not suffer from the same slowdown. We have four other networked printers all of which a user can print directly through AutoCAD and other applications with no slow down at all. 

Which is why we also thought it would be a driver problem, but when every other computer on the network is also running the same driver that argument falls a bit flat. However, if there is somehow a hardware and driver compatibility issue with this specific desktop, tracking down the specific issue becomes a bit more cumbersome.