Onyx out of RAM?

[robb thurmond]

Hey guys,

I am trying to print a 59"x277" banner through Onyx Productionhouse. The file gets ripped and cached, and the printer waits for the approval to print. When I initiate the print, it appears to print (the time remaining steadily decreases, percentage done slowly increases) but the printer receives no data. When the percentage completed indicator reaches 7% the print fails and the whole job gets rejected, the cache is cleared.

Printing small files (8x10) is no problem.  I can even print 90" of nested images without a hick up.

My first thought is that its a memory issue, but I am not sure if it would be HD or RAM. My set up is:

Processor: Intel Pentium 3.2ghz
RAM: 3 gb
HD Free Spage: 151gb

Onyx Version 7.3.0.57

File size: 7mb, 150dpi, .tiff

Anyone have any clues where I need to beef up the system?

[Doyle Yoder]

What printer are you using? If your using a Canon iPF I would send the job through the PS plugin.

What OS Version.

Ram is pretty low. I would look at, at least 16GB and be sure to use a 64-bit OS. Onyx not being a 64-bit app does not help either.

You may have already tried this. Defrag the hard drive. Reboot and kill unnecessary application that are running. Look at Task Manager processes for this. Then open only Onyx and give it a try.

[robb thurmond]

Thanks for the response. It's WinXP, not 64 bit.

I am printing on an HP Z6100.

Unfortunately, I can't print in windows natively due to the print size limitations. I might also add that I could send it to the printer directly, but the colors aren't as good. The job was signed off with an onyx printed proof, and the colors were great, so I am locked in to the workflow.

3gb of RAM is pretty low, and I am trying to get it upgraded but to get the funds to do that I need to know if that could be the problem. When the RIP runs out of RAM does it just quit with no error? Normally when I have problems it happens in the RIP stage, not the print stage. This seems like the spool just doesn't make it to the printer. Maybe the print spooler is just ADHD and gets distracted : )

[Doyle Yoder]

Have you watched how much hard drive space is being used when Onyx is ripping. Also what printer resolution are you setting in Onyx. For a banner that size if no one is going to be closer than 4' to it, it probably does not need to be print at the higher res printer settings.

[robb thurmond]

You know, I hadn't checked the rez. It's saved as 150dpi, but Onyx may be up-sampling the resolution.

However, it doesn't answer the question about the symptoms of a memory shortage. If I knew what it looked like, it would be a whole lot easier to diagnose. In my experience, low resources have only slowed things down, not killed them.

[robb thurmond]

SO, theres an update.

I printed to a file, with the current settings, and it worked. I'm not sure that its a problem with memory. I've watched my RAM usage and the hard drive as the problems have occured, they havent even come close to running out of resource. Maybe the resource monitors aren't accurate?

The problem seems to be in the transfer of a large file. I will be loading the print generated file in to the printer throught the file upload tool in the printer itself tomorrow morning.

Does onyx have a size limitation?

[pulley]

Windows XP 32 bit can only utilize roughly 3.5 gig of ram. So, I wouldn't bother adding ram.

[stretchdcanvas]

I use Wasatch, not Onyx, but 500MB of memory is about all that is required per printer so I would think you're fine Ram-wise (and HD-wise).
What kind of file is it? 
Could it be some kind of Postscript problem?