HP Z3200 delay in print settings

[bluebird]

I have owned an HP Z3200 24 inch for about 4 years and while I don’t love everything about it it makes great prints and is easy on ink compared to Epson.  My problems started when I went from PS CS 4 to CS 5, at that time I was running windows Vista 32 bit.  The problem was that every click in the printer dialogue boxs took 1 to 1 ½ minutes to take.  I could eventually get a good print but it was painful.  I looked all over for solutions, found none and finally just accepted my fate.

When I bought a new computer with Windows 7 64 bit and thought surely this would fix this problem. But no it did not.  I then upgraded to CS 6 thinking this will certainly take care of this problem.  It did not.  I now have PS CC and hoped the problem would be gone but no it is still there.  At every change I installed the latest firmware, driver and HP utility available.

I’m hoping someone out there has experienced this problem and has a solution.  Any and all advice would be much appreciated

[Justan]

Have not come across this before so don’t have a direct answer.

Some things to check/try:

1) are you using wireless keyboard and mouse? If so, check that the batteries are okay. Also try using wired devices or different wired devices, as a test.

2) Do you have any utility and/or anti-virus anti-spyware software installed? If so, try disabling/removing all of them long enough to test.

3) make sure the computer is current for windows updates and related. Also make sure that your keyboard and mouse driver are updated.

4) Not a direct solution but from the dept. of fwiw, I started to use Qimage a few years ago and never looked back.

[bluebird]

Thanks for the reply.  I have tried most of the things you suggested except key board and mouse changes.  I probably should have added more details.  The only application this is an issue with is Photoshop.  It all works as it should with Q image, Lightroom, word and any other application that I have tried.  It is just Photoshop and as I said in my original post it was fine with PS until CS 5 and it has remained a problem with all newer versions of PS. I could  use Q image but I find it kind of cumbersome to edit in PS then print with Q image.  But it is a fine program with some resampling advantages over Photoshop.  Perhaps someone with a Z3200 has run into this but I have read on other forums about folks having a similar issue with other printers and Photoshop.  Adobe has sort of responded saying it is on Microsoft or HP.

[Justan]

Thanks for the reply.  I have tried most of the things you suggested except key board and mouse changes.  I probably should have added more details.  The only application this is an issue with is Photoshop. 

Details make all the difference. I have CS 5.5 installed on a pretty bare OS build, meaning CS5.5 and Qimage are about all I use this particular machine for. The machine does not run any anti-virus or related software, or much of anything else. I did a brief walk through of the print settings and found no slow down with the driver for my Z3100 or Z3200.

It all works as it should with Q image, Lightroom, word and any other application that I have tried.  It is just Photoshop and as I said in my original post it was fine with PS until CS 5 and it has remained a problem with all newer versions of PS.

Another test would be to install a new printer driver of your choice and see if the problem continues with the new driver.

I could  use Q image but I find it kind of cumbersome to edit in PS then print with Q image.  But it is a fine program with some resampling advantages over Photoshop.  Perhaps someone with a Z3200 has run into this but I have read on other forums about folks having a similar issue with other printers and Photoshop. 

In the other forums you read, has anyone suggested a solution? Regarding printing by way of Qimage, in the past I found printing through PS to be unbearable. Qimage makes sizing and placement nearly effortless. But that said, personal preference and acquired experiences make the difference.

[bluebird]

Thanks for the reply.  I assume in your response about your bare bones machine you were printing from PS 5.5 with the HP driver not Q Image. 

I’m not sure what my options are for trying another driver of my choice.  Can you suggest one or more.  Are you thinking about the gimp driver?  I didn’t know I had options other than the driver from HP.

In terms of solutions offered on other forums, there really aren’t any.  The usual suggestions about updating firmware, drivers and OS etc but no one has said I had this problem and here is what solved it.  Most seem to want to blame Adobe and I’m inclined in that direction too.

I guess I’ll have to continue to live with it until I find a solution.  Fortunately for me I’m not a production printer.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Printer connections through Ethernet or USB?
Bidirectional information exchange could be slow with the last.
An odd question; sheet mode with skew check on or off?
I always keep skew check on as the other choice slows down my printer in both roll and that sheet mode. Probably not related with your issues.

Ernst, op de lei getypt.

[Justan]

Thanks for the reply.  I assume in your response about your bare bones machine you were printing from PS 5.5 with the HP driver not Q Image. 

Correct. I was using the printer interface in CS 5.5. Apology for the ambiguity of the previous response.

I’m not sure what my options are for trying another driver of my choice.  Can you suggest one or more.  Are you thinking about the gimp driver?  I didn’t know I had options other than the driver from HP.

If I understand correctly, the question at issue is why there is a dramatic slow response when selecting features using the HP print driver. You can use any print driver for the sake of testing. By installing another print driver, you may find the problem occurs with the newly installed print driver. If it does occur, that would suggest the problem doesn’t have anything to do with the print drivers.

In terms of solutions offered on other forums, there really aren’t any. The usual suggestions about updating firmware, drivers and OS etc but no one has said I had this problem and here is what solved it.  Most seem to want to blame Adobe and I’m inclined in that direction too.

It would be easy to blame Adobe but not productive or necessarily valid. I can report my own anecdotal reply to state there is no obvious slowdowns when using the print driver for a HP Z3100 or  HP Z3200 with CS 5.5. Given the number of people on this site who use these printers, the topic would likely have come up before.