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Chapter 8 Using Page Level Recovery On P5000LJ Printers
Restarting at a user-specified page number in a command
Processing of a spool file can be suspended and then res umed. It can be
suspended by using the spooler command with the suspend parameter
or by using the suspendspool command. It can be resumed with the
spooler command with the resume parameter or by using the
resumespool command. When the spool file resumes printing, it can star t
exactly where it left off or at another specified page.
For P5000LJ printers, the optional offset parameter in the spooler
command can only be used to specify an absolute offset (i.e., absence of a +
or – sign). When the offset parameter is not used, printing resumes where
it stopped. When the offset parameter is used, a silent run (PLR) will occur
up until the specified starting place.
For example, to suspend spooling and to position 7 pages from the beginning
of the spool file, enter the following command:
spooler 6;suspend;offset=7
In this case, the absence of a + or – sign indicates an absolute offset from the
beginning of the spool file.
Because P5000LJ printers are typically connected to the network with the
NIC, many of the spooler commands (e.g., those described above) should be
avoided for mid-file suspension. This is because of two rea sons: 1) a great
deal of data is buffered in the network process and must be comple ted, and,
2) the network connection can be dropped if the printer is ready to receive
data but no data is being sent. (Refer to the HP e3000 MPE/iX N ative Mode
Spooler Reference Manual.)
Restarting at the point of interruption when a device exception occurs
When a device exception occurs, this is an unexpec ted recovery situation. A
device exception includes things such as paper jams, lo ad paper error, etc.
Assume that the P5000LJ printer is connected to the network with the NIC. In
order for PLR (silent run) to take place after a device exception and without
specifying spooler commands to restart, the printer must be power cycled
(e.g., after the jam). This is different from the way it may work with other HP
printers that support PLR and use an “internal” JetDirect interface. This is also
different from the way it works with the C256X printers that use the HP- IB
interface. This caveat may be one of the reasons it appears that PLR does not
work for P5000LJ printers. Note that printing will start with the page fol lowing
the last one printed.
Note The CIPER protocol devices (e.g., C256x using the HP-IB interface) allow
you to specify the offset parameter with the + or – sign. With spooled
network printers such as P5000LJ printers, unpredictable resu lts will occur
if the offset parameter is used with the + or – sign.