What's with the HP Laserjet 5MP Memory Print Error?

I’ve had my HP Laserjet 5MP printer for 12 years. And it has served me well…until now. And no, it’s not the printer going bad. It is just not compatible with today’s technology. Here is the error I get:

This job requires more memory than is available in this printer.
Try one or more of the following , and then print again:
For the output format, choose Optimize for Portability.
In the Device Settings page, make sure Available PostScript Memory is accurate.
Reduce the number of fonts in the document.
Print the document in parts.

While these options, and a few other suggestions might work in some cases, it will not solve your problem overall.

WHAT OTHER OPTIONS WON’T WORK:

- Pushing the yellow clear memory button on your printer

- Restarting your printer or computer

- Resetting the Postscript options in your printer preferences

- Increasing the printer memory allotment on your computer

- Hooking up your printer to a different computer

- Calling HP tech support. They stopped supporting the 5MP in 2001.

- Perusing the HP website. No search brings up the 5MP. It is just too old.

- Throwing your cat at the monitor*

WHAT’S GOING ON:

You may have noticed that this problem began gradually and became worse and worse. You also may have noticed that you can still print from Word, Pagemaker, and Photoshop, but are having trouble printing from internet browsers and PDFs. The reason is this. Documents that are generated now, especially when acquired off of the internet, are larger files and contain more bits of information. When your 5MP was sold about 12 years ago, it was made to handle an incredible amount of information, but nothing close to what printers can handle now. The technology is simply outdated.

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

These are the only options you have:

- Add memory to your printer. A 16mb upgrade goes for around $17 (part #C3146). But this will only solve the problem for some documents and only temporarily as the technology continues to advance.

- Cut and paste the info you are trying to print into a Word or Notepad document. This will only work if the formatting is not crucial to your document.

- For a PDF file, try printing one page at a time. Sometimes this will work, sometimes it won’t.

- Use Adobe Acrobat (or other PDF editing programs) to simplify, or reduce the size, of your PDF file and then try.

- Print from and inkjet printer. These do not use a Postscript printing format so are not slowed up by document size.

- Replace your beloved 5MP with a newer laser printer.

But don’t throw it out. Not yet. You 5MP will still work with most Word documents and all the older files on your computer. Keep it hooked up for that, or donate it to a school or charity that can use it for simple documents.

I hope this helped. I wrote this article because no one offered the right answer when I searched the internet. Hope my discoveries help all of you out there who yearn for the truth.

*No animals were harmed in the troubleshooting that brought this article about. Please don’t harass me about it. I don't even have a cat. I'm allergic. So I can't even touch one to throw it. I'd get a rash. And start to wheeze. Not worth it.