Mac file won't print properly on Win 7 networked printer

Question

I have an HP Photosmart 7150 networked on a Win7 PC. I followed the below directions to set up the share on my Mac with SnowLeopard. My issue is that a file that is, say 700 kilobytes gets transmitted to the spooler as several megabytes. As a result when I print a file it runs through all of the paper in the tray. If there is enough paper loaded it will eventually print the file. Somewhere in the middle it will print several pages of garbage.

1. Make sure your printer is on and connected to the USB port on the router.
2. In OS X go to System Preferences.
3. Click on Print & Fax.
4. Click the lock (to unlock) to make changes. Enter your password if you need to.
5. Click on the plus (+) sign at the left to add a printer.
6. In Leopard/Snow Leopard click on the IP tab.
7. In the Protocol drop down, select HP JetDirect - Socket.
8. In the Address drop down, type the IP Address of your printer (192.168.1.10)
9. Leave Queue blank.
   1. Give a descriptive name [Network Printer].
   2. Give a descriptive location.
   3. In the Print Using drop down either select your driver or choose the "select a driver to use" option.
   4. Choose the appropriate driver for your printer.
   5. Press OK and then click Add.

Answer 1

See if you can print a different file from the same program, a webpage, and a textedit page. Don't worry about spooling sizes. Even a single page in notepad under Windows itself can "register" as 1.5+ MB when spooled out to the printer. Your problem is likely:

An incorrect choice for the Macintosh's printer driver. A particular post-processing setting on the Printer Preferences is throwing off the HP at the other end of the wire. If the files are in PDF format, mismatched PDF output levels could be wrong (like Adobe software using PDF level 3 instead of 1 or 2.)

Save yourself sanity and troubleshooting time: just connect your printer and Mac once via USB and test printing again before you start making settings changes.