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

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.

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.

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

For information about how to contact the companies mentioned in this article, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

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.