Personal Weapons of Charted Space PDF Error???

[MrMorden]

Hello all...

I bought the PDF version of "Personal Weapons of Charted Space" and have run into a very strange problem.

For some reason, I cannot print out the PDF! I have tried two separate computers, using two different printers, with two different downloads from this site...On one printer, after the document spools, I get a "document could not be printed" error. On the other, it spools but just never actually prints.

This is really weird...I looked at the PDF permissons, and printing is allowed. I have had no problem printing any other PDFs I have purchased from this site.

Anybody else have this problem, or know how to fix it? Please?

 

[tjoneslo]

I've seen problems printing PDFs before, but the all related to either:
* Printer problems, where you need to get updated drivers for your printer. Probably not the case.

* Older or buggy versions of the PDF reader. What specific program and version are you using to read/print the document.

* The PDF pages being the wrong size for your computer. Americans and Europeans use slightly different size of pages. The PDF will render the pages in the correct size, but some printers die if trying to render the wrong size of page.

* Reinstall the OS, if you are using Windows. This fixes all problems.

 

[MrMorden]

Hmm...

I just updated the reader to latest & greatest (Acrobat 7.x I think), so that should not be the issue.

This was tried on three different printers, so printer drivers are not the problem

I am an American and pulled this off a US site (here), so I assume 8.5"x11" is standard for us both...it is for all the other PDFs from this site.

I am not reinstalling my OS on my work AND home computers to print a PDF! As a computer tech for a living, this is really just a shotgun approach and can cause more problems than it fixes.

Thanks for the ideas, but I'm pretty sure these are not the problem.

 

[far-trader]

Odd. I thought maybe it was something wrong with the file since I did print my earlier download no problem. So I downloaded the file again and tried a print (just one page in the middle) and it printed fine. Reader 7.0.5, Win XP, and US letter size.

Are the printers you're using maybe incompatible in some way with the PDF settings for this document? I seem to recall discussion of some issue with TrueType fonts or something.

 

[MrMorden]

I don't see how...I print all the other PDFs from this site with no problemo. I'll play with it some more tonight and see if I can find the problem.

 

[far-trader]

I do recall some problems when this PDF was first released. It being the first and a bit of test case. I thought they were all cleared up but the trouble you describe is what was happening then iirc. TA#1 wouldn't print but later TA's would. I'll do a quick search and see if I can find those discussions to link for you.

 

[far-trader]

First hit is probably not what you're dealing with but here it is:

PDF Printing Problem with TA#2

But it did remind me of my own PDF printing problem back a while ago. There was something buggy with either my version of Reader or the printer drivers or something. It would not print, any PDF, when I used the print icon. From the menu it worked fine. When it first happened I thought it was the PDF I'd downloaded since other PDF's had printed fine. It took a while to figure out that my habit had always been to do it from the menu or key shortcut and this was the first time I'd used the icon shortcut. Probably also not your problem but you never know.

 

[far-trader]

Not getting any other hits on the problem. Either my memory is off or my search check failed

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by MrMorden:
I am not reinstalling my OS on my work AND home computers to print a PDF! As a computer tech for a living, this is really just a shotgun approach and can cause more problems than it fixes.

I was joking about that. It's a silly thing to do.

A little googing about the error message indicated there is a combination of computers, Adobe, specific PDFs, and printers that just don't like each other.

Suggestions to fix include: Try renaming the PDF to something with a shorter name, and no spaces (ie 8.3 name). Use the Reader's Print as Image... option, rather than a straight print. If you have the Acrobat distiller, try "printing" the PDF to the Acrobat PDF printer, creating a new PDF file. If you have the full version of Acrobat, not just the Reader, try doing a file -> Save as... under a new name.

I would ask on the Adobe Acrobat support fora.
They may have a suggestion.

Edit: Look long enough on google and you will find the correct answer. Adobe's specific answer to your question:
http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/316508.html

 

[MrMorden]

Cool guys, thanks for helping out, I'll play around with it tonight.