Cannot make Tray 2 default tray on Laserjet enterprise M506

[ElsaS]

Cannot set tray 2 as default on the laserjet enterprise M506.

Cannot use printing preferences as workaround.

The paper is Any Size/ Any Type for tray 1 and A4, plain for Tray 2. There does not seem to be Any size for tray 2 as in other printer models.

Any thing we print we get a message: "Load Tray 1: Plain, Legal. Confirming twice per printout will not be acceptable for the usage the printer will get.

We have tried to change the type and size of paper of tray 1 to something else with the same result. Tray 1 has no paper loaded.

[dansdaduk]

>> ... Any thing we print we get a message: "Load Tray 1: Plain, Legal ...

Which means that the incoming print job has requested a paper size of Legal and a paper type of Plain.

This does not match the size = A4 and type = Plain which is what the printer believes it has in tray 2, therefore it issues the prompt.

[ElsaS]

On other printers like the LaserJet M605 we are able to override this. Is there a way of doing it on the M506?

[dansdaduk]

>> ... On other printers like the LaserJet M605 we are able to override this ...

But what is the point?

Legal paper is 8.5" x 14" (216 mm x 356 mm).

A4 paper is 8.27" x 11.69" (210 mm x 297 mm).

So printing a document which requires Legal size, on A4 paper, risks losing data in both the width and length.

I've tried some tests with local printers, each of which has A4 paper loaded in tray 2, but (via the Embedded Web Servers) I've configured to set size = "Any", or "Any size" (depending on the printer) in that cassette tray.

I've sent (the same) print-ready print job, which requires size = Legal and type = Plain, to each of these printers, with the following results:

• LaserJet 1320n: no prompt; selects (A4) paper from tray 2; data missing from both width and length (bottom end).

• LaserJet pro 400 Colour MFP M475dn: no prompt; selects (A4) paper from tray 2; data missing from both width and length (bottom end).

• PageWide Enterprise Colour 566xh: prompt to load Plain, Legal in tray 1; I don't have any Legal size paper, so I over-rode this by indicating that paper should be taken from tray 2 (which the printer knows contains A4 paper); data missing from width; data missing from both top (first inch or so of the page) and the bottom end.

[ElsaS]

It does not require Legal size.

It seems to be set up as some default on the app server. We are trying to get this changed but have not been able to yet as the app is a 3rd party app.

With other printers this was not an issue, but at the moment most of the printers we have been assigned are this M506.

if there is anyway to get this fixed would be great.

All the other printers have tray 2 with any size and any type. The M0506 does not allow us to set any size like tray 1 does.

[dansdaduk]

>> ... All the other printers have tray 2 with any size and any type. The M0506 does not allow us to set any size like tray 1 does ...

>> ... if there is anyway to get this fixed would be great ...

The available paper sizes are constrained (to a certain extent) by the physical hardware (e.g. very short widths or lengths cannot be used because of the minimum distance between paper feed rollers), and by the printer firmware (this is obviously the likely restriction for the "Any" size).

So (unless there is already a later firmware version available which addresses this issue), you'd have to wait for a new version - and I don't think that HP would put much of a priority on making such a change.

You'd be better off addressing why this third-party application requires Legal size paper (but presumably doesn't require anything larger than an A4 image size).

Perhaps you could load one or two printers with (real) Legal size paper (likely to be several times the price of A4 paper outside of US/Canada) in the existing cassette tray, and use only those printers with that application.

... or purchase an additional cassette tray for each of the printers, so you have Legal in one tray, and A3 in the other.

[Jim_Asman]

@dansdaduk

Both my LJ4+ and LJ5000 permit Tray 1 to be configured either as a cassette or as a Manual Feed tray. If configured as the manual feed tray, the printer will pull from there if there is pager present. It appears that the printer, when using the manual tray, will cycle for the largest sheet permitted by the printer regardless of what is actually loaded. Maybe this is what was being described as a "default" tray. When configured as a cassette the behavior would be as it is now.

As my printers are pretty old now, do current printers not have the ability to configure Tray 1 as manual feed?

[dansdaduk]

@Jim_Asman

I'd discounted use of tray 1, since the questioner stated "... Cannot set tray 2 as default ..." and "... Tray 1 has no paper loaded ...", which implied that he/she wanted to use tray 2 (perhaps because there are hundreds of pages to be printed, and tray 1 capacity is limited, or perhaps because they don't want the drop-down tray in use (paper is not protected from dust, drop-down increases printer 'footprint', tray is more susceptible to damage, etc.?)).

Just for the record, on my two printers which each have a drop-down multi-purpose tray 1 (configured as size/type Any/Any), but loaded with a few dozen sheets of plain A4 paper, sending the same sample print job (portrait Legal) as yesterday to these printers results in:

• LaserJet pro 400 Colour MFP M475dn: no prompt; selects (A4) paper from tray 1; data missing from both width and length (bottom end); printer enters cleaning cycle after page is printed.

• PageWide Enterprise Colour 566xh:  no prompt; selects (A4) paper from tray 1; data missing from both width and length (bottom end); some data, which is printed in 'rotated mode' and hence relative to the bottom/right edges of the paper, is printed in the 'wrong' position.

[Jim_Asman]

OK. The behavior you are seeing makes sense if your 566xh printer is capable of A3 or ledger size paper, whereby, A4 or letter size is fed in "sideways" with the wide edge leading. As legal size would lead with the short edge, I would expect the printing to be rotated as you see it.

My guess is that @ElsaS gets the prompt because there is no paper in tray 1; otherwise, the printer would pull from that tray without prompt. Maybe ElsaS's printout would be satisfactory if tray 1 were loaded with letter size paper. We don't know how far down from the top of the paper her printing actually extends. Obviously, A4 is short on both dimensions, but the printing might very well fit on A4.

In this comtext, I'm not really sure what default tray actually means. Is it the tray that is used if there is a tie for the paper requested and the settings for two different trays?

Elsa, what happens if you define tray 1 as letterhead or somesuch?

[ElsaS]

If tray 1 has paper there is no prompt, but tray 1 is too flimsy for the required use. We need to use tray 2. One of the things we tried is to change the type and size of try 1 and that does not work either. Whatever we do the printer tries to print from tray 1 unless we use windows printing preferences which in our case will not be adequate. We really need to be able to set Any Type/Any size for tray 2.