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jtice · Oct 11, 2004, 10:20 PM

I have a LaserWriter 630 that has been giving excellent service for more than a decade with nary an issue other than cartridge replacements. Pages are looking as good as they ever did. Now all of a sudden it has slowed way way down. It will eventually print the page, but a simple text doc with only a few words takes 5 minutes. I've turned it off and restarted several times, deleted and reinstalled it in OS X 10.3, rebooted all the computers (3) on the network. I've been printing with Appletalk (with an Asante eithernet/appletalk adapter). What could cause it to slow down like this? If the main board were bad wouldn't it quit printing altogether? Can anyone give me suggestions as to what to check for? I'd rather keep this one running, even if it is ancient, rather than have to buy a new one which probably wouldn't be half as durable.

Thanks,
John

Graymalkin · Oct 12, 2004, 01:04 AM

You could open it up and grab some static-free canned air to blow it out. Sometimes paper and toner dust will get inside the various wheels and drum mechanisms and can gum them up. Give it as good of a cleansing as you can with the canned air and see if that helps as all. Also make sure the paper you're using in it isn't too heavy to make it through the mechanism. I know some of the LaserWriters didn't like to handle heavy bond paper very well.

jtice · Oct 12, 2004, 07:29 AM

I'm pretty sure this is not a mechanical problem. I can tell by the sound when if finally prints that the paper is moving through just fine. This is either a network problem or a processing problem inside the printer. I think that if it was the network it would be affecting the computers as well, and the printer would probably not be seen at all rather than just slowing down to a crawl, but who knows. I suppose it could be the Asante Appletalk adapter. Maybe bad memory, maybe a problem with the main board. I timed it last night and it took 11 minuted to print a Text Edit document with 3 words in Helvetica. I just hate to replace it before making 100 percent sure that it really done.

Other suggestions�please?

Thanks,
John

jtice · Oct 12, 2004, 10:39 AM

Bingo... problem solved. Nothing wrong with this 13 year old workhorse at all! It was a router glitch (I assume). First I plugged the printer directly into the computer and it worked fine so I knew it was a network thing. Then I shut down all the computers on the network and unplugged the router and DSL modems, waited 5 minutes and brought the whole network back up as prescribed and it worked great.

I bought this LaserWriter Pro 630 in the summer of 1991 for about $2,000 (the going rate at that time). Although it hasn't had heavy use it has been in service all of that time and has remained on most of that time. Nice to know it will be here awhile longer.
J.

Graymalkin · Oct 13, 2004, 12:20 AM

Paying $2,000 for a printer that has lasted 13 years is about $153 per year (not including toner etc.). That is not a bad deal for a nice PostScript printer you can share on a network. I'm glad to hear you got it working again!