CP1025nw - Printer will not print accented characters

[Snain]

I have a CP1025nw and when trying to print certain pdf files, the characters with accents (é è à ê ù û etc) will not print at all on the document which makes them nearly impossible to read!

I have a Mac running OSX 10.10 Yosemite.  At first I thought it might be a problem with printing from Preview but the issue persisted with Adobe Acrobat Reader.  I tried on The windows 7 laptop we have and, same problem!

I emailed the document to a friend who is using a LaserJet Pro 400 and no issues.  

My printer is connected with a network cable to my router.  

The Mac connects wirelessly to the network and the Windows 7 pc connects via network cable to the same router as the printer.   

Printing the document to a .pdf file or saving it as a .pdf file produces the accented characters but sending that new file to the printer does not.  

I have looked in the printer settings to see if there is any sort of "printer language" setting (and by that I don't mean french or english, I mean something like ASCII or unicode or I can't remember what they were called) that I could adjust, but didn't find anything.   

I can't recall anything changing on either computer before the problen started.  

The OS on both computers has been updated to the latest version, the firmware on the printer has also been updated to the latest version.  

Any help would be appreciated.  

Thank you

[dansdaduk]

As far as I can make out, the only Page Description Language supported by Colour LaserJet CP1025 printer models is PCL3GUI.

This is a raster-based language, where all of the formatting of text and images is performed on the host workstation.

Apart from a few introductory initialisation sequences, all that is sent to the device for each page is a series of encapsulated, compressed, raster (bitmap) images.

The printer just unencapsulates and uncompresses these images, and prints the resultant dots.

i.e. the 'conversion' of text characters (including accented ones) into something that the printer understands is done on the host workstation, not in the printer formatter.

[Snain]

Ummm, thank you for this information.  But forgive me if I don't fully understand.  

From what I gather, you are suggesting that the issue is at the computer end and not the printer end?

I'm pretty sure I verified that hypothesis by trying another OS (Win 7) and having the same result, and getting another computer (iMac vs MacBook Air) running the same OS to print the file correctly.  

You seem a lot more knowlegable in the nitty gritty of what a printer does than I am.  Could the problem be with the router? or the printing over LAN? I would assume communication over the LAN protocols would be pretty universal.  I did not try connecting the printer over USB directly to the computer(s) to see if that made a diference.  

Do you have any suggestions for a solution? I don't use e-print and have the wifi disabled on the printer (and the Wireless Direct also, obviously).

Thanks again! 

[Snain]

A quick update:

I printed using a USB connection, (directly from the computer to the printer, not connecting the printer to the router via usb) and the problem persists.  I guess this eliminates the network as a source of the problem.  

It should also be noted that not all .pdf files give me this problem, only some.  

Is there some sort of program I can "print" my file to, to change the encoding of it and have some sort of workaround?

Is there another .pdf reader that would work better than what I have?  or are they basically all the same? 

Thanks, 

[dansdaduk]

There is some confusion as to the Page Description Language supported by this printer.

The document http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02467384 suggests (in the Printing specifications section) that the (only) supported PDL is PCL3 GUI, which (as I mentioned before) generates raster images; it doesn't send any text characters (plain or 'encoded') to the device.

But the document http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2010/InnovationSummit/CP1025nw.pdf indicates that the printer is host-based (which means that it will use a proprietary language, such as JetReady, which is also raster-based, and where all of the formatting is also performed on the host workstation. 

>> ... you are suggesting that the issue is at the computer end and not the printer end? ...

Yes.

>> ...Could the problem be with the router? or the printing over LAN? ...

Not in my opinion.

>> ... Is there some sort of program I can "print" my file to ...

You could perhaps 'capture' the generated print job to a file by selecting the 'Print to file' option in the Print dialogue.

Analysis of the resultant .prn file should then confirm (as I maintain) that what is sent to the device is a series of (encapsulated, compressed) raster images.

The PRN File Analyse tool in the PCL Paraphernalia application (available via http://www.pclparaphernalia.eu ) may be able to perform some analysis, although (since it is designed to interpret PCL5 and PCL6 print streams) it may not give much information about a PCL3GUI or JetReady print stream - but it should probably at least confirm my beliefs about the raster image mechanism.

>> ... to change the encoding of it and have some sort of workaround? ...

It is not encoded (in my opinion) in the sense that you mean; it is just a series of encapsulated, compressed, raster images, generated on the host workstation.

[dansdaduk]

I think that the PDL supported by the Colour LaserJet Pro CP1025nw printer is probably JZJZ - not documented outside of HP, it seems.

It appears to be a host-based language, but I don't know the format - the PRN File Analyse tool won't make much of it, i'm afraid, although it will show that the first few characters of the 'captured' print file are JZJZ.

But the fact remains that with host-based PDLs, all of the formatting is done on the host-workstation. 

[dansdaduk]

This link http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c00374690&lang=en&cc=us provides a brief overview of host-based printing, albeit for the LaserJet 2600 printer rather than yours, and using Windows (rather than MAC) terminology.

[Snain]

Hi dansdaduk,

Thanks for all your information and input, I was going to try that program to see if I could make sense of it but now will not.

I suppose then that the host based language (JZJZ) is part of the printer driver and not the OS.  Am I correct? Since Win 7 amd OSX on the same printer caused the same problem but 2 OSX computers on different printers produced different results?

So I just have to wait for an update in shining armour to come riding in on its white stallion?   

Sorry, saw your posting just after I posted this.  I'll look at that and see if it answers my questions.  

[dansdaduk]

... and a bit of background on the JzStream (JZJZ) protocol: see http://web.archive.org/web/20020830075425/http://ddk.zeno.com/Reference/ZjStream/Default.htm

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Thanks, this answers a lot of my questions, I'm ok with windows terminology too, I am transitionning from one to the other.  Slowly.  So my hunch about the driver seems confirmed in that last document.  And I will guess my friend's more powerful printer (M451dn, I think) is using HP PCL 6, HP PCL 5, HP postscript level 3 emulation instead of my PCL 3.  

I guess I just wait for a fix?