Printer out of memory with Vista: Needs more memory?

My HP dv7 with Vista, is connected to a Laserjet 5L HP printer. I get an "out of memory" message when I send a 430 Kb Microsot Publisher document to the printer. However if I send only part of the document (20 out of 30 pages), it will print.

I increased the size of the virtual (paging) memory to 20,000 meg but it doesn't help.

Do I need to add memory (RAM) to the printer?

 

The printer is running out of memory.
A few things to understand:
1) The printer is loading the whole print job into its memory before it prints.
2) Despite the size of the original document, it is converting every page to an image that the printer understands and can print out. This image is much larger than the original document.
3) Not all printers can have RAM added, the HP LJ 5 series CAN have RAM added. I forget the specifics of the printer though, I think it either has 16 or 32mb in its default configuration. All of this info will be available on HP's documentation for the product... but I wouldn't recommend adding memory to the printer unless you regularly are having issues printing. Note that the printer will use special (read: possibly expensive) memory, not standard memory.

 

The standard memory for the Laserjet 5L is 1 MB of RAM. I can add up to 8 MB for a total of 9 MB.

I have read here before, that low memory wouldn't prevent a document from printing and that it would just print slower:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=359819

Apparently, this is not true.

 

Well, he's right that it could be a driver issue.
If the printer is in a bi-directional mode it should be able to take the job page by page until its memory is full, print, then accept more. Otherwise, it will need to load up the whole print job at the start of the print. When you're sending less pages, it's a smaller print job so it fits into the printer's buffer.
How is the printer connected to your PC? What drivers are you using (PCL 5? PCL 6? Something else?)

 

The printer isn't showing in Device Manager, although I selected Show hidden devices. So I can't even see the driver or update it.

 

I am used to XP, not Vista. When I first attached the printer to the computer, it didn't recognize it: I had to install it manually. Then it searched the Internet for the driver. I have no idea which driver it is, and can't find the info.

 

How is the printer connected to the PC?
Network, USB, Parallel?

 

It's connected through a USB port.

 

I just found this on the HP web site:
HP has a Windows Vista driver solution available for your product. This driver will enable your product's basic function to work.

"Basic function" ?! Does that mean the driver shouldn't be expected to give full functionality to the printer?

 

There aren't full fledged driver sets for many legacy HP printers. So multifunction devices, like scanner/copier/printer combos may have problems doing anything beyond printing, as you must use the PCL driver. This will not be a problem on your printer, you have no other functions to lose. I reccomend installing PCL 5 on your computer and see if that assists with your problem.

 

Any idea where I can get this driver? I tried HP's site but unfortunately, the link doesn't work.

 

Here you go:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ja-35999-15

 

Thanks for the link. However, it won't install!

Here is what I did:

I deleted the installed printer, then clicked on Install to install the driver. I get an error message saying: Operation could not be completed.

I then tried Add a printer manually. It didn't work either.

I did both as Admin.

 

What exactly does virtual memory or the page file have to do with a PRINTER that is running out of memory?

Gary

 

I added 8mb for a total of 9mb of RAM. Everything is printing now.
So it was memory after all!

Thank you all for your help.

 

Glad that all worked out for you.