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CUPS/Samba help please



All,

I have a strange situation that I cannot figure out.

When printing to an HP LaserJet 3550N printer via CUPS/Samba on a Sarge box
_from_ a Windows XP box the bandwidth and CPU usage on the client (XP) machine
is insane.

The network usage applet (on the XP machine) will typically show 25% usage
(100mbit LAN) and 100% CPU usage for 5-6 minutes and the XP box will basically
freeze during that time.

In contrast, when I print directly to the printer from Windows (it's a network
printer) via a standard TCP/IP port, this doesn't happen. CPU usage might spike
to 10% for 10-15 seconds or so, and network usage might register 25% for a few
moments.

In both operations I use the print drivers supplied by HP for this model
printer.

The easy solution is just to ditch CUPS for my printing, but I really like being
able to go back and restart jobs regardless of which machine I'm currently
using. I have quite a few documents that are printed regularly, and being able
to sit down at any machine and restart the job via a web browser is very handy.

I also have an HP LaserJet 4000N (black/white) printer on the network, and
printing to it via CUPS also results in the same scenario, but not quite as
pronounced.

Also, it doesn't matter what program I am printing from, be it Photoshop,
Acrobat, Word, Excel (although Excel is the worst) attempting to print from any
of these applications gives the same insane CPU/Network usage.

The print jobs always end up being printed but, needless to say, having to wait
5 mins between clicking print and my XP box "unfreezing" is not something I can
live with.

Anyone have some insight into this? Maybe you experienced something similar and
can give me a few tips on how to resolve it?

Thanks in advance!




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