Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

wyousef · 2017-12-21 15:39:56

Some PDFs do not print; the printer takes too long then prints just a single white paper or single paper with weird words. I use the most recent PPD file from RICOH site. This is an example of a PDF that does not print. The printer is RICOH Aficio SP C420DN (what more details should I add for the printer?). The problem exists even I print from the command line. I hope this help.

EDIT01:
I tried to print the same document, which does not print from Arch, from Windows. When I use explorer it prints but very slowly and with weird small black boxes (5mm x 5mm) scattered randomly on pages This is a scan from the print of the first page. However, when I use Adobe reader on Windows as well the document prints smoothly and cleanly.

EDIT02:
I tried converting the document to ps before printing using:

pdf2ps tmp.pdf tmp.ps

Sadly, the ps does not print as well from Linux.

EDIT03:
I tried converting the document using the following; same problem:

pdfjoin tmp.pdf --fitpaper false --paper letter --outfile tmp2.pdf

I tried printing from xournal; same problem.

EDIT04:

Also, the following conversion does not help:

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=tmp2.pdf tmp.pdf

EDIT05:
I tried from Xournal; same problem. Then, finally, I tried printing from Okular; it is done But why it is only successful from Okular but not from all others including Xournal, lp, lpr, ...

Last edited by wyousef (2017-12-25 21:11:18)

robg · 2017-12-21 16:02:43

You have already been told here how to ask questions properly. Please provide information that actually allows us to help you. What file are you trying to print (your link is bogus)? How are you printing it? Does printing work from the command line, i.e., lpr? What are the details of your printer?

wyousef · 2017-12-22 07:26:59

I edited the post to reflect the information you asked about.

robg · 2017-12-22 14:18:15

Thank you for the added information. I have tried printing your document at my university (which uses a Debian system, but the printer configuration should be solid...) and it works neither from evince nor from the command line, using `lpr`. Given that your document can be printed from Adobe Reader, it is clear that some intial conversion process is not working on the common Linux PDF readers (or outside Adobe Reader, as it would appear from your second edit). Unfortunately I have no idea how to decisively determine what part of your document is causing trouble, but as a temporary solution you might for instance try to convert it to a .ps document manually or an image file.

wyousef · 2017-12-22 14:40:07

Thanks so much; I will try. The problem is that this frequently happen with many PDFs (almost 50% of times)!!

Trilby · 2017-12-22 15:45:10

Where are you getting these pdfs that don't print? Can you share any at links that don't require a google log in?

wyousef · 2017-12-22 17:58:03

The links are in the main post; I edited it for clarification. You will find both links working now.

Trilby · 2017-12-22 18:06:20

I suspect the problem is your printer expect a certain size page (e.g. US Letter), but the pdf you shared, and quite a few journal articles, are not in US letter. Adobe's tools resize the pdf as needed, many other tools will not do so automatically. When I print journal articles I always pass them through a resize first. This is from my print script:

pdfjoin "$1" --fitpaper false --paper letter --outfile /tmp/print.pdf

then print.pdf is sent to the printer.

wyousef · 2017-12-22 18:53:08

You are right; your trick has done the job! But I am wondering about two things:
1. Why this happens whereas I always pass the option:

Default RICOH fit-to-page=true Resolution=600 sides=two-sided-long-edge collate=true media=A4,Auto

2. I always print from Emacs (using helm or pdf-view) how I automate that?

Thanks so much.

Trilby · 2017-12-22 18:56:21

Did you use my command just as it is or did you replace "letter" with "A4"? Judging from what you posted above, your printer uses A4 paper, right?

If sending a "letter" page to your "A4" printer works, then the problem isn't actually a mismatching size, but rather pdfjoin's recoding of the file otherwise masked/fixed the problem.

wyousef · 2017-12-22 19:09:58

I just did as you wrote with mentioning the file explicitly than by shell argument. This is exactly what I did:

pdfjoin tmp.pdf --fitpaper false --paper letter --outfile tmp2.pdf

Then I printed exactly from emacs as I used to. So, I think the problem is as you just speculated. It is not the size; rather, it is something else that

pdfjoine

does regarding encoding, fonts, ... Please, refer to my post where I mention the small black squares that appear when I print from Windows. May be this is relevant.

Trilby · 2017-12-22 21:32:53

You can run pdffonts on the before and after pdfs and see that there's no difference in fonts inclued, embedding, etc.

The most notable differences I see are the pdf version (1.4 to 1.5) and the optimization (yes to no). You could play with these to see if one of them is the relevant change if you really want to pinpoint the cause.

wyousef · 2017-12-22 21:55:12

I tried generating PDFs from the same PDF, using gs options; all failed. I tried to re-print the document generated by pdfjoint; it failed as well!!! It seems that when I said it printed that was because I sent an order for the first two pages only!! In fact, I am confused. I do not know what's going on.

wyousef · 2017-12-24 08:31:15

Have you been able to print the pdf? which system do you have?

Trilby · 2017-12-24 12:13:12

I didn't try and will not be near a printer for a while. Which page causes it to fail? Can you print if you print just 3 pages, or 4, etc? Is it the number of pages that are relevant, or a specific page range? If the latter, what is on those pages?

Last edited by Trilby (2017-12-24 12:14:00)

wyousef · 2017-12-24 17:51:55

Thanks for your reply. As you see from this reply it is a problem with others. When I print the whole document definitely it fails. If I try to print a single page it may pass! No problem at all with any document on the same printer but from windows and adobe reader.

R00KIE · 2017-12-24 18:20:42

wyousef wrote:

I tried generating PDFs from the same PDF, using gs options; all failed.

GS works fine here to "convert" the pdf. Try 'gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf'. See if the "converted" pdf prints properly.

Edit:
I was looking at the documentation and for the prepress configuration the default setting of CompatibilityLevel is already 1.4 so you don't need to specify it.

Last edited by R00KIE (2017-12-24 18:36:03)

Trilby · 2017-12-24 18:54:17

wyousef wrote:

Thanks for your reply. As you see from this reply it is a problem with others. When I print the whole document definitely it fails. If I try to print a single page it may pass!

Exactly. This is why I made the suggestion I did to help pinpoint the problem.

wyousef · 2017-12-24 21:34:20

I tried gs as you suggested; the output PDF does not print either. Did the original PDF print with you before converting using GS?

R00KIE · 2017-12-25 13:51:58

I haven't tried printing it, use paper sparingly and save the planet and all that

On the other hand, have you tried printing to a different printer? I'm starting to suspect that it might be either that printer or the driver that chokes on something.

wyousef · 2017-12-25 21:11:56

Thanks so much; I just updated the post. It printed from Okular!!!

wyousef · 2017-12-25 21:15:24

Thanks so much; I just updated the post. It printed from Okular!!!

Arch Linux

#1 2017-12-21 15:39:56

Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#2 2017-12-21 16:02:43

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#3 2017-12-22 07:26:59

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#4 2017-12-22 14:18:15

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#5 2017-12-22 14:40:07

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#6 2017-12-22 15:45:10

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#7 2017-12-22 17:58:03

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#8 2017-12-22 18:06:20

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#9 2017-12-22 18:53:08

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#10 2017-12-22 18:56:21

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#11 2017-12-22 19:09:58

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#12 2017-12-22 21:32:53

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#13 2017-12-22 21:55:12

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#14 2017-12-24 08:31:15

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#15 2017-12-24 12:13:12

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#16 2017-12-24 17:51:55

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#17 2017-12-24 18:20:42

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#18 2017-12-24 18:54:17

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#19 2017-12-24 21:34:20

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#20 2017-12-25 13:51:58

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#21 2017-12-25 21:11:56

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

#22 2017-12-25 21:15:24

Re: Problems with printing some PDFs on RICOH Aficio SP C420DN

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