Sometimes, I hate technology...

My printer has apparently become delusional. right in the middle of a BIG urgent print job. I have to print these stupid tent cards for the convention I'm working at this weekend... need to finish printing, so I can sit down with a creasing tool and make extra creases/folds... I have to get this all done by Friday morning...

My printer, halfway through printing 142 tent cards, doesn't want to acknowledge there's cardstock/paper in the feed. I can see it's there... apparently my printer does not. You can imagine my frustration here. I was going to have Staples print them out... but the girl there yesterday gave me a blank look when I told her what type of file it was (Adobe InDesign). She had no clue what it was... *sigh*

So, here I am with a temperamental printer, and 70-some-odd tent cards still needing to be printed...

I really do not like technology sometimes...

Maybe my printer is telling me to get my costume dress done first... I don't know... I'm almost afraid that if I go sit back down at the sewing machine, it'll break... you do know technology talks to each other... (yes, I sound crazy, but that's how I feel... and I am convinced they communicate with each other)

Ggrrrrrrrr....

Amanda

Oh yes. Technology, my arch-nemesis. It can be a great tool if it works correctly, but when It stops working it can really put a kink in things. I hope you get all the cards printed and creased in time.

What brand and model is the printer? Someone may be able to figure out if there's a quick fix for it or if a sensor is out.

It's a Canon Pixma MP800. A multifunction. It will, after a little bit, print a few sheets.. but then it kicks back out... so I'm letting it go until I feel like dealing with it more... probably later this evening...

Amanda

Sounds like it might be something physically wrong with the printer, then, instead of a driver issue. Clean it out maybe? If one has a cat, chances are cat hair found it's way inside (as it does with everything). I did see one mention that MP800s didn't like heavier paper, but that doesn't make much sense.

I have a IP4000 that I'm having driver issues with, myself. No one has written a good one and I don't want to buy TurboPrint. Oh well, if I can't use it I'll just let DH have it and yell "print this" at him.


(I just clicked on your sig - call me slow. cute. I like working with wire, myself.)

I just tried resting it... I got two more out and then it stopped again... the gears are working but something isn't moving... I did the maintenance cleaning of the rollers (went to Canon's site)...

I hadn't heard that MP800's don't like heavier paper... but then again, I haven't really used much heavier stock... until now. Guess we know the answer, huh? I'll put some regular paper in the cassette underneath and see if it still prints normal from there... if so, I'll just make a PDF of the remainder of the cards and march back up to Staples (and hopefully I'll get someone knowledgeable) tomorrow... if not... well, I have a really nice scanner... urgh. One more thing to replace soon, if it won't take regular paper either. Great. I chose this one three years ago because it scans negatives... I need that. There were very few on the market back then that were reliable and scanned negs...

Gotta go finish getting fabric glue off my hands now... this costume dress is killing me. At least all I need now is the velcro for the cuffs... it's not as perfect as I'd like it to be, but I have to keep telling myself: it's a COSTUME!!!

Amanda

Well, the bright side is that there's bound to be holiday sales soon - probably the day after Thanksgiving if you feel like fighting over a printer. You can still use it as a scanner, as you pointed out.

Are there any other printing shops besides Staples? Maybe an independent one? Even if you have to pay a little more it would be worth it to have them printed right.

If you have InDesign, just Export it to a PDF so the girl might know what type of file it is and have it printed that way. Might be the best and fastest solution for you right now if your printer doesn't want to play nice.

And if you want to go fighting for a printer on Black Friday, check out bfads.net to see if there's a deal worth fighting for before the Thanksgiving Day ads.

I'll probably be working Black Friday... and I won't be able to afford anything for some time.

Update: Well, apparently, the report I pulled the info from for the tent cards left out one GLARING detail... what rooms each panel is in... hmmm... I was so worked up over trying to get them done that I didn't notice it. So, I got actual tent card stock from Office Depot (wish someone had told me weeks ago where i could get it), which i think is slightly lighter weight... if I try a few sheets and it gives me trouble, I can take it in early and they can print it there... it won't take long... hopefully. So now the trick is to find a version of the report that HAS that info... yeesh.

We'll be sitting down with the programmer after this is all done and going over things that need to be added or changed in the software we're using (that he designed for it).

I'll be up for a while... argh!!!!

Amanda