Windows – Simulate printers on AD network

I remember back in the days when I was having trouble with Laserjets, I would revert back to the good old Laserjet 5 driver. Always seemed to be able to print using that.

Would be interesting to see if changing to that driver on the new print server helped your issue...

Printing issues can be frustrating, especially because there are so many issues at play with printing. In my experience, though, more often than not with issues like you've described the issue is at a software level. From what you describe it sounds like the issue is either a driver issue or perhaps a spooling issue.

I would do the following to isolate the issue :

1. Print with another piece of software that will work with the file type. For instance, if the issue is with an 80 Mb PDF, then try FoxIt Reader instead of Adobe Reader. Sounds silly but you'd be surprised how often this works.
2. Most production or office computers come with two driver types - PS and PCL. If you have PS installed now, try PCL. If you have PCL installed then try PS.
3. Try setting up another server as a print server temporarily. This should be a quick setup and may determine if the issue is with your server or with the document itself.
4. If it is an MS office document, try saving it as DOCX if it's DOC or DOC if it's already DOCX. Check for compatibility and strip all comments from the document.