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March 3, 2008

"LPR time-out" Error when using Custom Print

The information in this document applies to the following products:

  • Image Arranger, UltraPrint

Symptoms

When using Custom Print the following error occurs:

"LPR time-out. Please restart LPD service."

Cause

The LPR service uses TCP ports 721 through 731 for LPR connections. This complies with RFC 1179 but limits performance because it only enables 11 TCP ports to be in use by the service at one time. Per RFC 1122, each port must not be reused for four minutes. This can cause available ports to become exhausted in a busy printing environment or when using Overlays to merge large amounts of variable data.

Resolution

Use Registry Editor to enable individual IP address ports to use ports 1024 and higher.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Alto Imaging Technologies cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To use Registry Editor, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, click Run, and then type regedit in the Open box.
  2. If the following value exists, double-click the entry. If the value does not already exist, on the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then type the following information: 
    Value Name: <IP address of LPR printer port> 
Data Type : REG_DWORD
Value : 1
Value Type: Binary
0 = uses ports 721-731 (default)
1 = uses any port >1024
  3. Restart the Spooler service for the changes to take affect. At an MS-DOS command prompt type net stop spooler. To restart the Spooler service, at an MS-DOS command prompt type net start spooler.

More Information

For more information see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
KB 179156: Updated TCP/IP printing options for Windows NT 4.0 SP3 and later

Posted by altotech at March 3, 2008 4:43 PM