WD97: Shading of Solid Black or Gray Wont Print Duplex on NT (176189)

SYMPTOMS

When you print in duplex mode to an HP LaserJet 5si running under Windows NT 4.0, your document does not print on both sides of the page. Instead it prints only on one side of the page.

CAUSE

This problem will occur if your document contains a table with solid black shading.

This problem is more likely to occur with shading of higher percentages of gray (70% and higher). However, there is no certain percentage of shading at which this problem occurs. Sometimes the document will be printed on both sides of the page if it is formatted at 70-80% gray shading; however, other times it will not be printed at all.

NOTE: If the shading is of lower percentages of gray shading (5% to approximately 65%), duplex printing should function correctly.

This problem occurs with the HP LaserJet 5si driver that shipped with Windows NT 4.0. Changing any of the settings in the driver does not provide a workaround to this issue.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet 5si driver for Windows NT 4.0 from the HP Web site. If you have trouble installing the new driver, contact Hewlett-Packard (HP) technical support. There are four printer driver versions provided with the HP driver:

HP LaserJet 5si (Standard)
HP LaserJet 5si Mopier
HP LaserJet 5si Mopier PS
HP LaserJet 5si/5si MX PS

NOTE: The standard HP LaserJet 5si driver does not have the duplexing feature.

For information about how to contact HP, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

MORE INFORMATION

The driver mentioned in this article is manufactured by Hewlett-Packard (HP), a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.