Arizona slow

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After 2 months of normal operation our Arizona started printing slower, like if it had the drying time increased from its normal 1,5 second drying time. The carriage stops for about 2 seconds on each end , and printing a large 3 meter long job takes about 1 hour, when normally it prints in only about 24 minutes. This situation is not always the case, for we have send the same file to the printer several times , and some times it prints fast and other it prints slow. Few weeks ago we had a week-long repair session , until all the electronics were replaced by the tecnician because of a Carriage Error message. We still do not know which circuit exactly produced the error, but it seems that the SCSI card in the printer was defect, among other things.But since then we have this erratic printing situation. The firmware was loaded new , but with no effect. We have several times turned off the printer and on again, and sent the file again for printing, and it printed fast. Is there a solution to this problem?

-- Anonymous, September 29, 1999

Answers

When PosterShop sends print data to the Arizona, the Arizona buffers this data in an uncompressed format on its internal hard drive. After that, it is up to the printer to extract the data from the internal hard drive and output it onto paper. In other words, once the data is on the Arizona, PosterShop is out of the picture. My first impression of the problem from your desciption is that the internal hard drive needs defragmenting. I don't know if Raster Graphics provides funtionality from their printer control panel in order to clean up its internal hard drive. You need to contact Raster Graphics again and explain the situation with them. Because, at this point, it is a hardware problem. You may still be experiencing "Carriage Errors" that are not being reported to you by the Arizona. You may also be experiencing new SCSI problems because the SCSI interface card is used to access the internal hard drive as well as communicating with PosterShop. You might also want to check out your SCSI termination situation. The rule of thumb for SCSI is that "the two end devices on a SCSI chain must be terminated". On the printer side, you should have received a Termination Plug to plug into the second SCSI connector on the printer. On the computer side, you are connected to a SCSI card or a motherboard provided SCSI port. If you are connected to a SCSI card and it has no other devices connected to it (such as internal hard drives in your computer), then you need to make sure that the SCSI card itself is terminated. The termination of the SCSI card depends on the card. Some cards allow you to terminate using software, other cards terminate using jumpers or resistor packs on the card itself. If you have other devices connected to the computers SCSI card, then you need to terminate the end device on the chain and make sure that the card itself is not terminated. Remember that the SCSI card itself is a SCSI device on the chain. If you have a motherboard provided SCSI port, the same situation applies, just think of the motherboard itself as the SCSI card and therefore a SCSI device in the chain. You may also have a faulty SCSI termination plug that is plugged into the Arizona, or a faulty SCSI terminator or card in the computer. Any faulty situation that you can think of on the SCSI chain can have an effect on the speed of communications on the SCSI chain. Not having termination correct on the SCSI chain does not mean that communications is shut down, it usually just means that the communication will go through, but at a much slower rate because of retries and other hardware related slow downs. Because the SCSI card in the printer was defective, it could mean that something else on the SCSI chain was the cause of the defect and it will eventually cause another defective SCSI card in the printer. Also, if the SCSI card in the printer itself caused a defect on the SCSI chain, your other devices and/or termination plugs, etc., may now be defective and they need to be evaluated. I hope this helps you.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 1999

We have tested all sort of situations regarding SCSI with Arizona , and the intermitent problem with slow printing has not gone away. But...., today we have noticed something which throws a new light on the problem, and that is that the print file generated by Postershop itself produces the slow printing.Here is what happened: We ripped a billboard 800x300cm , fractioned into 10 tiles 80x300cm each. We sent the file to print , and the first 2 tiles printed very slow , making those 2 second stops on both sides of the vinyl. The other 8 tiles printed at the normal speed. We had to print 2 more sets of the same billboard, but instead of printing from the data stored in the Arizona, we did send all the tiles again to the printer. The same 2 first tiles printed slow , and the rest printed at the normal speed. Same situation sending the file to the printer a third time. So the problem seems to be in Postershop. I have the ONX file still stored in the HDisk in case that might be valuable to find the error. What is happening in Postershop when ripping for the Arizona ?

-- Anonymous, October 20, 1999

While the first and second tiles are printing, the data for the 3rd - 10th tiles is being buffered to the printers hard drive. The SCSI interface card in the printer must split its processing time between reads for printing tiles and writes for buffering new tiles. Once all tiles are buffered, there are no more writes. Therefore, the 3rd - 10th tiles are printed at normal speed because all data is buffered and reading data does not have to conflict with writing data.

-- Anonymous, October 20, 1999

I too run an arizona and have experienced the same problem. One thing to keep in mind is to check snd make sure that you have nopt accidently manually changed the drying time for your media. About the 2 second stop, i find i get that depending on the size of my print (if it is smaller) and if i have unidirectional or biderectional settings turned on. The 2 second stop, from what i understand is that it gives the heater enough time (2 seconds) to dry the image before it will roll it. If the image is smaller, it takes the head a shorter period of time to print it, thus not allowing the heater its normal amount of time to dry an area before it advances. Try printing a 50 inch strip and see if you have the same problem. I hope this is of help to you

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2000

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