Plotting to HP 800 is green (both raster & vector) from Map & Land 2006 / 2007

[rosie]

Hello fellow AUGI-ites!
I have a plotter problem and I was hoping that someone here would be able to help. I used CAD to create maps with an aerial photo background onto glossy photo paper. Every time I plot something from CAD, it turns out VERY GREEN.

I have already read this thread (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.ph...ighlight=green). I tried the fix that was linked, but it did not work. I have tried all the "fixes" from HP and none of them have worked. Since the problem only happens when I plot from CAD, I was hoping that there might be some sort of fix through CAD.

Background: My office has two workstations, one with 2007 and one with 2006. Both have Map and Land Desktop. Our network plotter is a relatively new HP 800 PS, and it worked great until a couple of months ago, when the plots started coming out green. When I feed something through the attached 42" scanner to copy it, the copy turns out just fine with true color. WTF?

I have tried all the suggested fixes from HP and the HP forums to no avail. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced this issue in the hopes that changing a setting in CAD could fix the problem.

We have tried the following, none of which solved the problem:
Install brand-new ink cartridges (we only use new ink, not refurbished)
Try different media
Update drivers
Reinstall new drivers
Roll back to the 2005 drivers
Remove the network printer, re-map it to our network, reinstall plotter drivers
Uninstall CAD, reinstall new version
Uninstall CAD, roll back to previous version

Anyhow, thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for your time and help!

[CADDmanVA]

We have the HP 800 too, but not the post script version, good choice . We had a problem similar to this a while back. The difference was yellow was hyper-saturated, and greens were severely desaturated. Turned out to be a color profile a user had set up. Since you reinstalled drivers, I doubt that would be the problem. Try this punch list and see what you find:

• What's the condition of the print heads? Check the menu to see where they stand in their life-cycles. I like to swap mine at 80%.
• Run a print head alignment. Maybe some print heads are clogged?
  
• Have you done a color calibration for the media you are plotting on?
• Is the driver set to allow the plotter to determine colors, or the software sending the plot job?
• Are any other programs giving you the same problem?
  

[rosie]

We have the HP 800 too, but not the post script version, good choice . We had a problem similar to this a while back. The difference was yellow was hyper-saturated, and greens were severely desaturated. Turned out to be a color profile a user had set up. Since you reinstalled drivers, I doubt that would be the problem. Try this punch list and see what you find:

• What's the condition of the print heads? Check the menu to see where they stand in their life-cycles. I like to swap mine at 80%.
• Run a print head alignment. Maybe some print heads are clogged?
  
• Have you done a color calibration for the media you are plotting on?
• Is the driver set to allow the plotter to determine colors, or the software sending the plot job?
• Are any other programs giving you the same problem?
  

This started happening randomly a few months ago. I do not know when my boss upgraded her system to 2007, so I don't know if the problem coincided with any software updates that she performed. I can tell you for a fact that I have not changed anything because my boss is the CADD manager, so she makes the decisions on what to install. There are only 2 CAD users in my building/network: my boss and me. I have never set up a color profile, so I will ask her to see if she did.

1. Print heads: we have changed out everything. We have cleaned the print heads as well with the little cleaning kit that came with it.
2. Color calibration: Yep, we run a color calibration each time we change media.
3. Driver vs Plotter: We use software to send each plot job. I will ask my boss if she can set the driver to allow the plotter to determine colors and see if that helps. We've gotten all the stuff possible from the HP wubsite, and ain't nothin' helpin'.
4. Other programs: My boss has had the same green cast in everything sent to the HP800PS in all programs...CAD, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, everything. That makes me wonder if the problem isn't with the plotter determining the colors. I will ask her to switch it so that the software determines the colors.

I just downloaded a bunch of **** from the Autodesk site and have put it on a jump drive for my boss to look over so she can decide what she wants to install. I got the service packs for 2007, plus the AutoCAD 2000 Plotting Update Patch.

P.S. Great avatar, I'm a huge fan of the lolkittehz on icanhascheezburger.

EDIT: Whoa, there's a filter for the word "****"?

[CADDmanVA]

This started happening randomly a few months ago. I do not know when my boss upgraded her system to 2007, so I don't know if the problem coincided with any software updates that she performed. I can tell you for a fact that I have not changed anything because my boss is the CADD manager, so she makes the decisions on what to install. There are only 2 CAD users in my building/network: my boss and me. I have never set up a color profile, so I will ask her to see if she did.

1. Print heads: we have changed out everything. We have cleaned the print heads as well with the little cleaning kit that came with it.
2. Color calibration: Yep, we run a color calibration each time we change media.
3. Driver vs Plotter: We use software to send each plot job. I will ask my boss if she can set the driver to allow the plotter to determine colors and see if that helps. We've gotten all the stuff possible from the HP wubsite, and ain't nothin' helpin'.
4. Other programs: My boss has had the same green cast in everything sent to the HP800PS in all programs...CAD, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, everything. That makes me wonder if the problem isn't with the plotter determining the colors. I will ask her to switch it so that the software determines the colors.

I just downloaded a bunch of **** from the Autodesk site and have put it on a jump drive for my boss to look over so she can decide what she wants to install. I got the service packs for 2007, plus the AutoCAD 2000 Plotting Update Patch.

P.S. Great avatar, I'm a huge fan of the lolkittehz on icanhascheezburger.

EDIT: Whoa, there's a filter for the word "****"?

Heh, I like cats, and I like Dune...seemed like a logical avatar to make.

From what you've said, it seams like a color profile problem. Keep us up to date.