M602n out performs M604n

[daxq]

I have two printers - an M604n that replaced an aging M602n. Both printers are basically identical in hardware [I think the 602 has a little larger harddrive] and RAM (512mb) with vanilla settings on both - however when I print a 1300 page document to the M604 - it prints roughly 600 pages then starts over printing page 1. When the same job is sent to the M602 - its prints in entirety without issue.

Since the printer is out of warranty - the call into HP support suggested plugging the printer into the wall socket (no UPS or surge suppressor), upgrade the firmware, factory reset - if those don't fix - take to HP certified service center.

Has any one ever experienced any thing like this or have any suggestions to resolve? This entire process came about because printing large documents like this could not be done directly from our report writer in the program we are using. We had to create a single PDF file from the program report creator - otherwise the job had to be cut up into much smaller chunks (like 300 pages at a time). When we learned of the printing to PDF first - then sending the job to the printer as a single job - it was wonderful, until we tried to send the job to the M604. All our testing was done on the M602 which never experienced an issue processing the job during testing and we kind of assumed the newer M604 should handle it the same.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or information. 

[Valsimot]

Save you 1300 pages pdf on a USB drive. There is an USB port on the printer M604 somewhere on the front close to the control panel. Insert USB and try to print directly from USB to see will it print or start from 1 after 600 pages printed.
If it works then you have a computer/driver issue.

Try to use drivers for M602 on M604 to see how will then print, or use a universal print driver that might help too.

[Repairatrooper]

While these printers are similar they are not identical.

The 602 is the middle performance model of the series which consists of the m601, m602,  m603

The M604 is the base model of the M604, M605, M606 series. 

The biggest difference is the 604 will not take high capacity toner catridges . Speed wise the 602 is rated 2 ppm faster than the 604 and stock out of box both have the same amount of memory at 512MB but both support upgrades, the 602 to 1Gb, the M604 to 1.5Gb.  I would confirm that you are using the latest drivers and the firmware is up to date as both of these can affect performance.

[daxq]

Great idea ! Thanks for the suggestion I will test it out. We were going to have the user with the 602 print from his desktop to the 604 but I really like the USB idea as a means to test the printer itself with a desktop involved. Thanks for your input. 

[daxq]

We did ensure the firmware was up to date - don't think that was the culprit, thanks for the detailed information though!