HP Laserjet M506 Tray 3 always duplex's but no other tray does

[deb46]

I have a user who when printing to tray 3 it always duplexes even if I uninstall the duplex option under her printer devices.  Tray 2 works fine.  No matter what program they print from as soon as they pick tray 3 it duplex's.  If they choose Tray 2 it doesn't.  Any ideas?

[dansdaduk]

I have a vague recollection that some printer drivers:

• Include the requisite 'set duplex' control sequence in the generated print job when the user selects duplex for a print;
• Do not include the requisite 'set simplex' control sequence in the generated print job when the user selects simplex for a print;
• Hence the 'simplex' jobs do not override the printer's own default simplex or duplex setting; if this default is set to duplex, the job will print on both sides.

So perhaps there is some vagary (along these lines) in the driver, which only manifests itself when the optional tray 3 is selected?

What you should be able to do is change the printer's default from duplex to simplex.

Easiest way to do this will probably be via the Embedded Web Server interface: on the System tab, select the Paper Setup page, and change the Duplex setting from On to Off.

[deb46]

I have a new issue now.  If I have the duplex installed and the Print on Both Sides is set to Yes then it duplex. Great.  If I change it to No then it prints two pieces of paper. If I uninstall the duplex it still prints on two pages.  I just downloaded the latest drivers from the internet hoping this would help and it does not.

[dansdaduk]

You state that "... If I have the duplex installed and the Print on Both Sides is set to Yes then it duplex. Great.  If I change it to No then it prints two pieces of paper. If I uninstall the duplex it still prints on two pages ...".

Unless I'm misunderstanding something that you are saying, this is the behaviour that I would expect!

With the Duplex Unit set to Installed on the Device Settings tab of the Printer properties dialogue:

• With Print on Both Sides set to Yes on the Finishing tab of the Printer Preferences dialogue, the printer driver should include the requisite "set duplex" printer 'commands' in the generated print job. so that the printer will print duplex pages.
•  With Print on Both Sides set to No, the printer driver should include the requisite "set simplex" printer 'commands' in the generated print job. so that the printer will print simplex pages (so two pages would come out on two sheets of paper); but as I've already mentioned, this may not always happen; if the 'commands' are not there, the result will depend on whether the Duplex setting on the printer itself is On or Off.

With the Duplex Unit set to Not Installed on the Device Settings tab of the Printer properties dialogue, the driver will assume that pages cannot be printed in duplex, so will never include the "set duplex" printer 'commands' in the generated print job (I wouldn't have thought that it would offer the 'print on both sides' option anyway).

[deb46 · Accepted solution]

I got it all fixed.  In the Printer Software under Print, Manage Trays there is a drop down box called "Alternative Letterhead Mode"  I set this to Disable and now the printer only prints 1 piece of paper to Tray 3 when the Duplex is not installed.   And for when the  user who's Duplex is installed and set to Not Duplex it actually doesn't Duplex.

Thank you for taking the time to help me. 

[dansdaduk]

>> ... called "Alternative Letterhead Mode"  I set this to Disable and now the printer only prints 1 piece of paper to Tray 3 when the Duplex is not installed.

>> ...  And for when the  user who's Duplex is installed and set to Not Duplex it actually doesn't Duplex ...

There are some odd interactions going on here.

With many modern LaserJet printers, when printing on 'sided' media (like Letterhead or Prepunched paper), the paper has to be loaded in the cassette trays in one way for simplex prints, but loaded differently for duplex prints, due to the mechanics of the paper path.

This is obviously (very) inconvenient with departmental-level printers, when it is usually impossible to predict if the next job for such 'sided' media will be simple or duplex.

For this reason, "Alternative Letterhead Mode" was introduced (on some printers):

• With this option set to Enabled,  the 'sided' media should always be loaded as per the instructions for duplex printing; a duplex job will then print correctly; a simplex job (one which specifies a 'sided' paper type) will also print correctly, because the printer will automatically insert a 'blank' rear face for each page, and send the paper through the duplex unit (an unwanted side-effect is that the throughput will be halved).

• With this option set to Disabled, the printer will not automatically insert a 'blank' rear face for each page, and so the 'sided' media must be loaded differently according to whether the incoming job is simplex or duplex; if your media is not 'sided', this is not a problem.

So it looks like the driver perhaps still has a fault, since it shouldn't attempt to include the print commands associated with setting "Alternative Letterhead Mode" to Enabled in print jobs, if the driver has been told that the Duplex Unit is Not Installed.

But at least you have a resolution which seems to work for your users.