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Author Topic: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac  (Read 1405 times)

glyph

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Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« on: September 11, 2020, 08:54:04 pm »

As the title says, I have a new iMac, and am able to print and use all of the features now, but am unable to profile. I can create a new paper type and calibrate it, but when I go to profile it it gives me a useless error message saying that "Cannot create ICC profile, An error has occurred". When I ask it to print without measuring, or even measure an existing chart, HP Printer Utility crashes. No HP errors show up in Console, either.

I had an almost hour long discussion with HP Support and got a fairly knowledgeable and helpful tech, but he conceded that there was no known workaround at the moment, and might not be for Mac. He suggested reverting to an older version of the OS (I'm running 10.15.6). OK, ridiculous, but I figured I'd play along. Aaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!
I first tried Parallels, with the intent of running 10.14 or older, but it seems that Apple has removed all old copies of their installers and is no longer signing them. Even the developers' site only has updaters, not full install DMGs.

OK, I've done it before, I decided I'll just run Windows 10 in Parallels. Easy, right? Well, it seems that I can print and interact with the printer just fine running Windows 10, but the Windows Printer Utility is unable to see my printer. I tried all sorts of connection methods, before finally doing some research to find that Parallels actually uses Mac drivers, so it is a workaround that is not useable for making profiles (or so it seems to me now). I tried to install and use native Windows drivers, but it fails to see the driver.

A really odd thing I learned from the HP tech is that the HP Designjet Utility, the renamed version of Printer Utility, that HP says is right for up to OS 10.14 is not supported for Z3200s, despite the website saying that it is. The tech said that they had discussed it in a support meeting recently, but that in typical HP fashion, there was no solution in sight. Left hand/right hand-itus. In OS 10.15, I have tried both Printer Utility and Designjet Printer Utility, but get the same results.

HP actually recommends HP Click as the utility for Catalina, but in another head scratcher, it won't launch and says it is damaged, even after multiple downloads and tries. I've even run the Terminal command to make sure that it isn't a sandboxing issue. A web search found one other person with the same problem, but again . . . no solutions.

One more bit of weirdness: on the new computer, when I load either the HP PS driver or raster driver, there are no controls for gloss enhancer to be found in the interface. I asked the tech about this too, and he had no answer for me (poorly supported, he says!). The only way that I can have any control over gloss enhancer is to use the Generic Postscript Driver. WTH? It works, but I can't rationalize why, or why I need to resort to a generic driver to get hooks for native features. Using the native driver doesn't seem to affect the profiling problem, regardless.

I've been using Z3100 and Z3200 printers since they were first introduced, and am stumped over this problem. I can't wrap my head around the thought that my only solution to make my own HP profiles is to have to buy a Windows computer for this one purpose.

With all the amazing people on this site that use these printers, are any of you using a Mac and able to offer any insight or suggestions for how I should move forward? I'm exhausted from beating my head against the wall.

Thanks,
Ron
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MHMG

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2020, 11:15:18 pm »

How is your Z3200 connected to your Mac? In the past a direct connection of the ethernet cable to the Mac worked fine, but I ran into trouble on OS Mojave and the newer HP Designjet Utility. My solution (suggested by HP support) was to use a WIFI booster (extender) to connect my HP Z3200 and my Z9 to my network rather than directly to my Mac. Stringing ethernet cable to my router was not a good option in my old historic house. The wifi network connection solved a lot of Designjet Utility weirdness.

Due to other legacy software issues and some trepidation about older printer drivers and Catalina, I remain on Mojave and have not moved to Catalina. So, I can only vouch for Mojave...I have full Designjet Utility features with my Mac Pro tower (2013 model) running Mojave (OS 10.14.6).

Good luck. It is no doubt frustrating, but I think you will get it sorted.

cheers,
Mark
« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 11:20:33 pm by MHMG »
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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2020, 11:35:21 pm »

Thanks for the reply, Mark. My printer is connected directly via Ethernet. I am using the Bonjour connection method. When I connect it via IPv4, all my printer controls are dumbed down to just what can be set online, and no profiling is even offered.

One odd feature that I'm unsure about is why, when I run the legacy Utility (v5.37.1) I don't even get the option for Color Measurement, and its whole nested menu that the newer Designjet Utility 1.0.0 offers (although it immediately crashes when I select it).

What version of the Utility software are others able to successfully profile with? Version 1.0.0 being over a year and a half old with not even a 1.0.1 release seems rather suspect for HP's software track record.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2020, 12:17:01 am by glyph »
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kers

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2020, 07:00:14 am »

I am just busy with profiling on Mojave  (but i am on a Z3100)
HP-Utility works fine, profiling works as it should.

HP Utility version 1.0.0 (2)
printer proxy  Versie 14.4 (555.6)
printer driver ( in system peferences)  version 52.0

My printer is attached through ethernet with manual sttings:   i use 192.168.2.1 on the computer and 192.168.2.2 on the printer.

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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2020, 12:24:03 am »

Update: I've made minor progress. After wiping all print settings and re-reinstalling drivers, utility and firmware, I can now get as far as asking the utility to print and/or measure a chart without crashing, but it doesn't see any charts. Can someone suggest how I can acquire a csv file for a chart to download and select for profiling? I don't think it has to be from inside the utility, as it allows you to select another.

FYI: I've given up on Parallels or VMWare workarounds, as I can get Mojave or Windows running in a virtual window, but can't get them in bridge mode to access the printer through direct networking. They communicate just fine with the printer for everything except using the utility, as they are working with the printer as a shared device, and the utility won't work that way.
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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2020, 11:09:14 pm »

Can one of our resident profile wizards either furnish me with a profile to try printing and scanning via the manual chart method as a workaround for my profiling problems, or, help guide me though problems I had in creating my own chart with i1Profiler?

For some unknown reason, no matter how many times I wipe and reinstall the HP Designjet Utility or the older HP Utility, the software fails to load it's own CSV files and is still unable to profile.

It does appear as if I can print and scan my own, though, so I tried to create a file to load via i1.

I made a 4357  patch chart following the directions on a prior thread, changed the custom GCATS .txt file to .csv, and asked the utility to print. Unfortunately, after several tries, it continues to say that the chart is not valid. It may be that my chart is fine, and the utility is just screwed up, but I'd like to rule that out by trying a CSV file that is known to work for others.

FWIW, this is what I swapped out all the header info for in my i1 created text file:

LGOROWLENGTH   21
CREATED   "12/10/2017”   #Time:   12:57
KEYWORD   "SampleID"
KEYWORD   "SAMPLE_NAME"
NUMBER_OF_FIELDS   5
BEGIN_DATA_FORMAT
SampleID   SAMPLE_NAME   RGB_R   RGB_G   RGB_B
END_DATA_FORMAT
NUMBER_OF_SETS   4357
BEGIN_DATA

If something about this is wrong, or you have better directions for creating the file, I'm happy to keep trying on my own. It would be nice to be able to create my own patch sets.

Thanks,
Ron
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kers

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2020, 05:25:46 am »

I dont' know, but always choose a rowlength in a way i get a solid block of patches.  4537 is a difficult number.
Just used 5832- rowlenght = 36:  5832/36= 162
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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2020, 02:53:54 pm »

I just found and downloaded Mark's 3315 patch file and tried it, and also get an error message when I try to use it to print a chart from Designjet Utility. The utility says that the chart is not valid. I guess I can rule out my user error in preparing a file for this purpose, since this is a known working file.

Back to the drawing board again for more floundering. Unfortunately, I'm running out of bullets.

In some ways this is more frustrating that if nothing worked at all, because at least that would be easier to make sense of. As is, everything works as it should except for profiling. I know my color sensor is working, my printer communicates fine with my iMac, and I've even made sure that the utility has full disk access under my security settings. Booting in safe mode still produces the same results, so it isn't a software conflict with any third party applications.
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dajaka

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2020, 09:14:58 pm »

I only have a Z3100 so I can't speak to whether this would work on at 3200, but at some point I couldn't profile while connected via ethernet so I tried while connected by USB and that did and still works fine for me. I don't know if the 3200 even has a USB connector.
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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #9 on: September 15, 2020, 09:46:14 pm »

Brilliant idea that had not occurred to me yet to try. I'm off now to go buy a USB B cord to test with. I must have thrown out the last of many a year or two back, as my electronic graveyard drawer came up empty.
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kers

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #10 on: September 16, 2020, 04:13:48 am »

I would try to start up with a clean system ( USB external drive) and try again. also you could make a new user  and try from there.
good luck!
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Pieter Kers
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plasakow

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2020, 11:27:06 pm »

I agree with Kers- start from scratch with a fresh OS.

I run 2 Z3200s flawlessly on Mojave MacBook, cracking out about 75 prints on each weekly. My only glitch was when I upgraded to Catalina. Trainwreck!  I'm back to Mojave and smooth sailing.

i'm curious, though, how you got HP to even talk to you. As soon as I mention "Z3200" all I get is "we no longer support that printer in any way."  I can't even buy a service ticket.
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glyph

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2020, 04:22:19 pm »

Just a follow up to say that the USB connection method didn't help, nor did a clean installation or new user. Unless someone else running Catalina chimes in, I guess it is just an OS problem that is almost certain to not be fixed with future updates. My only option is to revert to Mojave on my laptop, since my iMac can't run an older OS. All just to be able to profile one new paper.

Regarding my getting HP to talk to me, I guess it was just dumb luck. I was prepared to pay them, but I wound up explaining my problem and talking to the tech for 15 minutes before I asked him if I needed to pay. He said that they would only charge if they were able to provide a solution, and they had none.
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kers

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Re: Unable to profile my Z3200 on new Mac
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2020, 06:39:08 pm »

OK - that is my position;
I have to go all the way down to OSX 10.6 to make profiles for my Z3100 ( profiles with more than 440 patches for  the HP utility works in Mojave)
Since i do not profile everyday it is a solution. But i need an old computer ( have two).
and fortunaltely i made diskimages of every OSX i have used ( for Apple makes it very dificult to install an old system)
Bad Apple! ( ask Adam)
« Last Edit: October 07, 2020, 06:42:19 pm by kers »
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Pieter Kers
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