Overview

PostScript Error Types: This is a list of common error types grouped under headings that indicate a general cause. Something is exceeding the PostScript interpreter's memory or a PostScript language limit: dictfull fatal system error at [various] limitcheck vmerror Communication problem error types: interrupt ioerror (also caused by a problem with the printer's hard disk) timeout The file contains unintelligible PostScript code: configurationerror dictstackoverflow dictstackunderflow execstackoverflow handleerror invalidaccess invalidcontext invalidexit invalidfileaccess invalidfont invalidid invalidrestore nocurrentpoint rangecheck stackoverflow stackunderflow syntaxerror typecheck undefined undefinedfilename undefinedresource undefinedresult unmatchedmark unregistered PostScript Offending Commands: This is a list of common offending commands, grouped under headings that indicate a general cause. Problem with specific text or font element: ashow awidthshow charpath definefont findfont imagemask kshow makefont selectfont show stringwidth widthshow Problem with specific masks (for example: clipping paths): clip eoclip Problem with fills and lines, often in imported object-oriented, or vector, graphics (for example, EPS, PICT): arc arcto currentpoint curveto eofill fill lineto moveto rcurveto rlineto setdash setlinecap setlinejoin stroke Problem with bitmap data: colorimage image imagemask (associated with 1 bit image bitmap graphics and bitmap fonts.) Problem with any element or graphic: array def dict exch get index itransform nostringval packedarray put restore save setgray setpageparams setscreen [random characters] PostScript Error Dictionary: From the list below, select the PostScript error being encountered for information on the error and troubleshooting steps to resolve the error. configurationerror dictfull dictstackoverflow dictstackunderflow execstackoverflow handleerror interrupt invalidaccess invalidcontext invalidexit invalidfileaccess invalidfont invalidid invalidrestore ioerror limitcheck nocurrentpoint rangecheck stackoverflow stackunderflow syntaxerror timeout typecheck undefined undefinedfilename undefinedresource undefinedresult unmatchedmark unregistered vmerror configurationerror -Occurs when a device request cannot be satisfied For example, the PostScript file requested an unavailable page size This error means that you have attempted to set or request a feature for your output that is not available because it is not implemented on the device, or is temporarily unavailable because of the state of the device. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command setpagedevice or setdevparams . dictfull -A dictionary (used to store PostScript variables) is full Usually this is userdict , the main dictionary This may represent an incompatibility between the application that created the graphic and the application that is printing or spooling the document. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command def , store , or put . dictstackoverflow - Too many dictionaries are being used simultaneously Usually caused by too many layers of nested graphics (one inside another, inside another, and so on). Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command begin . dictstackunderflow - The PostScript code tried to implement an 'end' command at the wrong time Most likely due to file corruption. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command end . execstackoverflow - An attempt has been made to execute an additional procedure when the PostScript interpreter has reached its maximum limit May appear if the PostScript is stuck in an infinite loop. Troubleshooting handleerror - Incorrect or corrupt PostScript code was sent to the printer. Troubleshooting interrupt - Most likely the wrong data format was sent to the printer, such as binary data to a device that cannot accept it. invalidaccess - The program tried to access data that is not allowed, like the inside of a font, or to store a value in an array that is read-only. Troubleshooting Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting invalidcontext - Most likely an application error. Troubleshooting Reload and restart the application. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting invalidexit - An exit operation has been encountered where there is no valid process to terminate. Troubleshooting Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command exit . invalidfileaccess - Tried to access an unallowed file, such as write to a read-only file. Troubleshooting If running an output device with its own file system (such as an attached hard drive), make sure that the file system is ready. If the file is a font or other file that you have created or loaded onto the file system, reload the file. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command file . invalidfont - The PostScript interpreter attempted to access a font that is either corrupted or does not exist on the output device. Troubleshooting Try using different fonts to see which one is at fault. Reload the offending font onto the system. If the font is accessed from a hard disk attached to the printer, reload the font onto this disk. Try printing a simple text document using only this font If that font still will not print, contact the font manufacturer If it does print, download the font from your system into the printer before printing the document. Contact the vendor of the font for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command findfont or selectfont (for invalid fonts) or setfont and makefont (for damaged or corrupt fonts). invalidid - Most likely an application error. Troubleshooting Reload and restart the application. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting invalidrestore - The PostScript code tried to implement a restore command at the wrong time Most likely a corruption of the file Often occurs when there are many embedded graphic files in a document. Troubleshooting If you have embedded graphics, remove the element that was processing at the time the error occurred. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command restore . ioerror - A real I/O error may have occurred (such as a disk fault), there may have been incorrect communications setup or a broken file connection, or the file could be corrupt. Troubleshooting Reset the printer and then resend the application file. Make sure that the file is correctly terminated with a PostScript end-of-file (Ctrl-D) command. Check any devices (such as an attached hard drive) connected to the printer. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. When printing a PDF file, click on [File] on the toolbar, and then select [Print] from the menu The Print window will be displayed Click on the [Advanced] tab, and then click on the check box next to [Print as Image] to insert a check mark. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command deletefile , filter , run , status , file , or renamefile . limitcheck - The printer has reached an internal limit Some limits are fixed, some depend on memory The most common cause is a path that is too complicated; for instance, a cutout, or a drawn outline; also outlined text Using the Magic Wand in Adobe Photoshop it is possible to get a very complicated clip path. Troubleshooting If the error is an image processing error, try to run on a device with more memory If this is not possible, try rescanning the image at a lower resolution Cropping or shrinking the image is not likely to solve the problem. If the error is a painting error, change the complexity of the object being painted Complex paths are those that cross themselves many times or that have curved interior regions Paths, in particular curved paths, may also be too long to process correctly The error location will tell you the exact object that is too complex Return to the application that created the graphic and simplify the path. If the path is curved, changing the flatness of the path may correct the problem Flatness is a measure of how closely the PostScript interpreter follows a curved line If the flatness is set too high, the curved line will become ragged, showing a large number of slightly straight sides If the application has a control for flatness, set the flatness variable to a larger value You may usually use a flatness of value of 4% of the resolution of the output device without noticeable change in the output; for example, a 600-dpi printer would translate into a flatness of 24. If the error is a path construction error, the error location will tell you the exact path that is too large Return to the application that created the graphic and split the path into small segments for output processing. If the error is on some other limit and you have an external file system, delete all caches on the external device This will free up more room for processing your document, although it will slow processing down If you do not have an external file system, try to remove large bitmapped data files from the document and reprint. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command image , imagemask , or colorimage for image files too large or too complex; fill , eofill , stroke , clip , or eoclip for paths being painted that are too long or too complex; or closepath , curveto , flattenpath , lineto , moveto , rcurveto , or rlineto for paths being constructed that are too long or too complex. nocurrentpoint - A program tried to do something relative to the current point, but the current point was not set to anything yet For instance, attempting to write text without saying where on the page it should go Probably indicates file corruption. Troubleshooting Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting rangecheck - A value was outside the printer's acceptable range, or just wrong (like an attempt to get the fifth character from a four-character string) May also result from very large values or objects well off the page. Troubleshooting If the error involves a number, determine what object on the document is connected to the error Then check your document to see if you have entered this value incorrectly for some process or feature associated with that object If so, correct the value and try again. If the error involves a matrix, check your document to see if you have created or transformed any object associated with the error If so, remove that transformation. If the error is a matrix and related to a font, check the font to be sure that you have set a valid, non-negative size for the font. If the error is too short a string, this represents a transmission error or an application error Try to print the document again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command getinterval , put , or putinterval for attempts to insert entries into an object using a wrong size or incorrect sign; index , log , or repeat for invalid numbers for operations; copy , readhexstring , or readstring for invalid strings; or concat , currentmatrix , itransform , makefont , scale , selectform , transform , image , colorimage , or imagemask for matrices that do not have precisely six elements or whose component values are invalid. stackoverflow - Too many items have collected on the operand stack, or you may have too many embedded graphic files in the document. Troubleshooting Try printing fewer pages. Remove embedded graphics, starting with the largest, one at a time and try printing again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting stackunderflow - An attempt was made to remove something from the operand stack that was not there This typically indicates a transmission or application error. Troubleshooting Try printing the file again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting syntaxerror - The PostScript interpreter has encountered program text that does not conform to the PostScript language syntax rules Typically, this results from unmatched beginning or ending string delimiters or unmatched beginning or ending procedure delimiters This probably represents a transmission error. Troubleshooting Try printing the file again If the error still occurs, save the file in PostScript format and then download it directly to the printer. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting timeout - The printer was waiting for something to happen, but it did not happen Usually, a PostScript device will have three timeout values: Troubleshooting In general, make sure that the timeouts are set as recommended, a CTRL+D is appended to the end of the job, and try sending the job again. Troubleshooting typecheck - The PostScript operator was expecting one type of information and instead got another, such as finding a string instead of a number If you are sharing a printer on a network, someone loading data into the printer that has remained after the job has completed or a corrupt file may cause this error. Troubleshooting Power OFF the printer, wait 30 seconds, then power ON the printer to remove all other information and then resend the file. Restart the software application and try sending the file again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting undefined - The PostScript interpreter found something that it did not understand The offending command will indicate what the unknown syntax was, and it may often look like a string of random characters. Some typical causes: File corruption, especially if the offending command is a bunch of random characters. Trying to print an EPS by sending it directly to the printer EPS files do not work this way. An extra CTRL+D in the file where it is not required, especially if printing from UNIX or Macintosh platforms This is likely if the offending command is a single character, or simply blank. If the offending command is: setgray (or any command that starts with set ) - there is a font error. md - the file has been processed without a valid LaserPrep header file being present. windict - the file has been processed without a valid Windows header being present. setpageparams - the wrong printing device has been selected. punctuation or special characters - you may be processing non-PostScript data. currenthalftone , currentglobal , currentpagedevice , setcolorspace , setglobal , sethalftone , setpagedevice , setstrokeadjust , for example, a PostScript level 2 file may have been sent to a level 1 device. Troubleshooting If the error is in a font, reload the font in use on the system or printer hard drive and try printing again. If the error is with a header file, be sure that the correct header has been loaded on the host device If you are printing from Windows, be sure that Send Header with Each Job in the Options dialog box is selected. If you have imported the file from another platform and lost the header file, regenerate the PostScript and be sure the header is included If you have selected an incompatible printer, select the correct one. If the error is related to processing non-PostScript data, verify that you have selected the correct printer in Windows If there is a bitmapped image or font in the document, this may be the source of the non-PostScript data. If the error report shows that the problem is an image file, you probably have a transmission or formatting error On the Macintosh, send the file directly from the application and be sure that the Print Monitor is disabled For Windows, turn off Print Manager by clicking on the check box next to [Use Print Manager] to remove the check mark If that fails, try printing the problem file directly from the original application, and combining it manually with the second output. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting undefinedfilename - The PostScript interpreter could not find a file name used in the PostScript code This often occurs with PostScript documents that contained called files, which then cannot be accessed later on If the PostScript is sent to a printer, it will be unable to access any files stored on the computer Also, many interpreters do not allow file access, for security reasons, and many printers do not implement file access at all Finally different interpreters may have different conventions for naming files Some will allow abc.ps where others would require %os%abc.ps . Troubleshooting If the file name is %stdin or %stdout , check that the output device is correctly attached to the host computer; it may be that communications have been lost or interrupted This error may indicate that the PostScript file being processed was created on or for an environment that has an external file system If you have an external file system, such as an attached hard drive, be sure it is mounted and accessible. All other situations are program errors Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command run , deletefile , file , or renamefile . undefinedresource - The PostScript interpreter is searching for a built-in resource that is not present The resource category exists, but the specific resource requested is not available. Troubleshooting If you have an external file system or attached hard disk, make sure it is mounted and accessible If the requested item is expected to be on that attached hard disk, reload the resource and try printing again. If there is no external system, load the resource onto the printer using a font downloader or equivalent, then run the document again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command findresource . undefinedresult - The PostScript code tried to implement an invalid mathematical operation, such as calculating the square root of -1. Troubleshooting If the offending command was: div or idiv , an attempt has been made to divide by zero (0) Look for a place in the document where an invalid zero value may have been assigned If an embedded graphic is being processed, you will have to access that graphic in the original application to check Some programs allow for a scale factor of 0% to be used, which can cause this type of error. invertmatrix or itransform , an attempt has been made to invert a matrix that has no defined inverse. any other operator, an error has occurred in a numeric calculation. If the error is not a division by zero error, identify the file or graphic being processed at the time of the error Look for any coordinate transformations (scaling, skewing, etc.) applied to that graphic and remove them Try printing again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting unmatchedmark - Most likely there is a missing bracket [ somewhere in the PostScript file Probably caused by corruption. Troubleshooting Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Troubleshooting Typically appears with offending command cleartomark , counttomark , or [ . unregistered - This error is highly unusual and generally represents an internal error in the PostScript interpreter It should never occur. vmerror - The printer is out of memory Fonts use printer memory; use fewer fonts in the document, or use the fonts resident on the output device Use a smaller page size, if applicable. Troubleshooting If the offending command was: array , dict , or string , an attempt to create the item specified has failed. image , imagemask , or colorimage , an attempt to process an image has failed because the image is too large. any other command, an action has been taken which has exhausted any virtual memory resources available to the interpreter. The object that caused the error is only a symptom of the problem; the actual problem is a lack of memory in the printer There is no direct correlation between the size of a PostScript file and these types of errors Small files may consume more resources than larger ones Also, different printers have different amounts of memory; if there is another printer available, try printing to that one instead Re-scan any images at lower resolutions to generate a smaller file. Each PostScript application downloads a header, or prep, file If you are running several applications, a large part of the available memory may be used to store these files Clear the printer's memory to eliminate these files and then try printing again. You may have downloaded (possibly automatically) too many fonts in the document Each font requires between 20 Kb and 50 Kb of virtual memory to store, and too many fonts in the device at one time can exhaust the virtual memory There may be too many fonts in the document, or possibly too many on one page Simplify the number in use. Add more memory (RAM) to the printer.   Troubleshooting   Return to the application and make sure that you have selected the correct printer in the Printer Type menu. Check the output device specifications to make sure you have requested a valid feature. Reload and restart your application. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If you are working with an embedded graphic, return to the original application and export the graphic again. Contact the manufacturer of the software application for technical support. Remove embedded graphics from the file, especially the largest embedded graphic, and try again. Contact the manufacturer of the software application for technical support Contact the manufacturer of the software application for technical support. Print on another PostScript output device, if one is available. Try removing embedded graphics from the file and printing again, especially the largest embedded graphic. Contact the manufacturer of the software application for technical support. If an older version of a software application is being used, upgrade to a newer version. Download and install the most recent version of the driver for your printer Drivers for all Xerox printers can be found by clicking on the [Drivers & Downloads] link under the Product Resources section on this window. Contact the manufacture of the software application for technical support. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Reload and restart the application. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If running an output device with its own file system (such as an attached hard drive), make sure that the file system is ready. If the file is a font or other file that you have created or loaded onto the file system, reload the file. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Try using different fonts to see which one is at fault. Reload the offending font onto the system. If the font is accessed from a hard disk attached to the printer, reload the font onto this disk. Try printing a simple text document using only this font If that font still will not print, contact the font manufacturer If it does print, download the font from your system into the printer before printing the document. Contact the vendor of the font for technical support. Reload and restart the application. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If you have embedded graphics, remove the element that was processing at the time the error occurred. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Reset the printer and then resend the application file. Make sure that the file is correctly terminated with a PostScript end-of-file (Ctrl-D) command. Check any devices (such as an attached hard drive) connected to the printer. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. When printing a PDF file, click on [File] on the toolbar, and then select [Print] from the menu The Print window will be displayed Click on the [Advanced] tab, and then click on the check box next to [Print as Image] to insert a check mark. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If the error is an image processing error, try to run on a device with more memory If this is not possible, try rescanning the image at a lower resolution Cropping or shrinking the image is not likely to solve the problem. If the error is a painting error, change the complexity of the object being painted Complex paths are those that cross themselves many times or that have curved interior regions Paths, in particular curved paths, may also be too long to process correctly The error location will tell you the exact object that is too complex Return to the application that created the graphic and simplify the path. If the path is curved, changing the flatness of the path may correct the problem Flatness is a measure of how closely the PostScript interpreter follows a curved line If the flatness is set too high, the curved line will become ragged, showing a large number of slightly straight sides If the application has a control for flatness, set the flatness variable to a larger value You may usually use a flatness of value of 4% of the resolution of the output device without noticeable change in the output; for example, a 600-dpi printer would translate into a flatness of 24. If the error is a path construction error, the error location will tell you the exact path that is too large Return to the application that created the graphic and split the path into small segments for output processing. If the error is on some other limit and you have an external file system, delete all caches on the external device This will free up more room for processing your document, although it will slow processing down If you do not have an external file system, try to remove large bitmapped data files from the document and reprint. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If the error involves a number, determine what object on the document is connected to the error Then check your document to see if you have entered this value incorrectly for some process or feature associated with that object If so, correct the value and try again. If the error involves a matrix, check your document to see if you have created or transformed any object associated with the error If so, remove that transformation. If the error is a matrix and related to a font, check the font to be sure that you have set a valid, non-negative size for the font. If the error is too short a string, this represents a transmission error or an application error Try to print the document again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Try printing fewer pages. Remove embedded graphics, starting with the largest, one at a time and try printing again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Try printing the file again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Try printing the file again If the error still occurs, save the file in PostScript format and then download it directly to the printer. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Job timeout - The amount of time that a job may run before the interpreter will flush the job. Manual Feed timeout - The amount of time that the interpreter will wait for a piece of paper to be inserted into the manual feed slot before canceling the job. Wait (or Communications) timeout - The amount of time that the device will wait for additional characters from the host device before canceling the job For example, a job has not yet been completed, but nothing has arrived at the printer in some time This can be caused by the computer giving up, or being asked to do something else for too long Also the lack of a end-of-file (CTRL+D) character can cause this error. In general, make sure that the timeouts are set as recommended, a CTRL+D is appended to the end of the job, and try sending the job again. Power OFF the printer, wait 30 seconds, then power ON the printer to remove all other information and then resend the file. Restart the software application and try sending the file again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. File corruption, especially if the offending command is a bunch of random characters. Trying to print an EPS by sending it directly to the printer EPS files do not work this way. An extra CTRL+D in the file where it is not required, especially if printing from UNIX or Macintosh platforms This is likely if the offending command is a single character, or simply blank. If the error is in a font, reload the font in use on the system or printer hard drive and try printing again. If the error is with a header file, be sure that the correct header has been loaded on the host device If you are printing from Windows, be sure that Send Header with Each Job in the Options dialog box is selected. If you have imported the file from another platform and lost the header file, regenerate the PostScript and be sure the header is included If you have selected an incompatible printer, select the correct one. If the error is related to processing non-PostScript data, verify that you have selected the correct printer in Windows If there is a bitmapped image or font in the document, this may be the source of the non-PostScript data. If the error report shows that the problem is an image file, you probably have a transmission or formatting error On the Macintosh, send the file directly from the application and be sure that the Print Monitor is disabled For Windows, turn off Print Manager by clicking on the check box next to [Use Print Manager] to remove the check mark If that fails, try printing the problem file directly from the original application, and combining it manually with the second output. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If the file name is %stdin or %stdout , check that the output device is correctly attached to the host computer; it may be that communications have been lost or interrupted This error may indicate that the PostScript file being processed was created on or for an environment that has an external file system If you have an external file system, such as an attached hard drive, be sure it is mounted and accessible. All other situations are program errors Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If you have an external file system or attached hard disk, make sure it is mounted and accessible If the requested item is expected to be on that attached hard disk, reload the resource and try printing again. If there is no external system, load the resource onto the printer using a font downloader or equivalent, then run the document again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If the offending command was: div or idiv , an attempt has been made to divide by zero (0) Look for a place in the document where an invalid zero value may have been assigned If an embedded graphic is being processed, you will have to access that graphic in the original application to check Some programs allow for a scale factor of 0% to be used, which can cause this type of error. invertmatrix or itransform , an attempt has been made to invert a matrix that has no defined inverse. any other operator, an error has occurred in a numeric calculation. div or idiv , an attempt has been made to divide by zero (0) Look for a place in the document where an invalid zero value may have been assigned If an embedded graphic is being processed, you will have to access that graphic in the original application to check Some programs allow for a scale factor of 0% to be used, which can cause this type of error. invertmatrix or itransform , an attempt has been made to invert a matrix that has no defined inverse. any other operator, an error has occurred in a numeric calculation. If the error is not a division by zero error, identify the file or graphic being processed at the time of the error Look for any coordinate transformations (scaling, skewing, etc.) applied to that graphic and remove them Try printing again. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. Contact the software application manufacturer for technical support. If the offending command was: array , dict , or string , an attempt to create the item specified has failed. image , imagemask , or colorimage , an attempt to process an image has failed because the image is too large. any other command, an action has been taken which has exhausted any virtual memory resources available to the interpreter. array , dict , or string , an attempt to create the item specified has failed. image , imagemask , or colorimage , an attempt to process an image has failed because the image is too large. any other command, an action has been taken which has exhausted any virtual memory resources available to the interpreter. The object that caused the error is only a symptom of the problem; the actual problem is a lack of memory in the printer There is no direct correlation between the size of a PostScript file and these types of errors Small files may consume more resources than larger ones Also, different printers have different amounts of memory; if there is another printer available, try printing to that one instead Re-scan any images at lower resolutions to generate a smaller file. Each PostScript application downloads a header, or prep, file If you are running several applications, a large part of the available memory may be used to store these files Clear the printer's memory to eliminate these files and then try printing again. You may have downloaded (possibly automatically) too many fonts in the document Each font requires between 20 Kb and 50 Kb of virtual memory to store, and too many fonts in the device at one time can exhaust the virtual memory There may be too many fonts in the document, or possibly too many on one page Simplify the number in use. Add more memory (RAM) to the printer.