Stuck Spool

[Gary Wooding]

XP Pro+SP2+updates (not SP3).
I've just purchased and installed a new HP 2605dn Laserjet printer. Its
attached to a LAN via cable. It installed OK and ran perfectly the first
day. Neither the printer nor the computer were switched off overnight
and the next morning, when I tried to print something, nothing printed.
The document appeared in the print queue but it wouldn't print, neither
could I delete it. Powering the printer off and on had no effect, and
reprinting the document just added another document to the queue and
still nothing printed. In desperation I restarted the computer and,
without further ado, one document printed and the queue was empty. No
further problems were experienced that day, but the problem recurred the
next day. Sometimes it recurs in the same day, and once it was OK
overnight but recurred during the day.
I've had several email exchanges with HP technical support who were no
use whatsoever. They told me to update the printer firmware, but the
level they said was the latest was actually back level from that in the
printer. When this pointed out they accepted that I had the latest level
installed and, basically, gave up.
I installed the drivers on my wife's laptop that runs XP
Home+SP2+updates - she gets the same problem.

I've discovered that stopping and starting the spool allows printing
without restarting the computer, but its not very convenient. I've even
written a little .cmd to do it, but again, its not very convenient.

It's a new printer with the latest drivers and firmware - any ideas?


--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Gary Wooding" > wrote in message
...
> XP Pro+SP2+updates (not SP3).
> I've just purchased and installed a new HP 2605dn Laserjet printer. Its
> attached to a LAN via cable. It installed OK and ran perfectly the first
> day. Neither the printer nor the computer were switched off overnight and
> the next morning, when I tried to print something, nothing printed. The
> document appeared in the print queue but it wouldn't print, neither could
> I delete it. Powering the printer off and on had no effect, and reprinting
> the document just added another document to the queue and still nothing
> printed. In desperation I restarted the computer and, without further ado,
> one document printed and the queue was empty. No further problems were
> experienced that day, but the problem recurred the next day. Sometimes it
> recurs in the same day, and once it was OK overnight but recurred during
> the day.
> I've had several email exchanges with HP technical support who were no use
> whatsoever. They told me to update the printer firmware, but the level
> they said was the latest was actually back level from that in the printer.
> When this pointed out they accepted that I had the latest level installed
> and, basically, gave up.
> I installed the drivers on my wife's laptop that runs XP
> Home+SP2+updates - she gets the same problem.
>
> I've discovered that stopping and starting the spool allows printing
> without restarting the computer, but its not very convenient. I've even
> written a little .cmd to do it, but again, its not very convenient.
>
> It's a new printer with the latest drivers and firmware - any ideas?
>
>
> --
> Regards, Gary Wooding
> (To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Are you using the MS Standard TCP/IP port monitor or some other port
monitor? HP Standard port is different. Are you using a build in network
card or a print server device? I know some older Netgear print servers do
not support bidirectional communication and this functionality must be
disabled in the driver.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Gary Wooding" > wrote in message
...
> XP Pro+SP2+updates (not SP3).
> I've just purchased and installed a new HP 2605dn Laserjet printer. Its
> attached to a LAN via cable. It installed OK and ran perfectly the first
> day. Neither the printer nor the computer were switched off overnight and
> the next morning, when I tried to print something, nothing printed. The
> document appeared in the print queue but it wouldn't print, neither could
> I delete it. Powering the printer off and on had no effect, and reprinting
> the document just added another document to the queue and still nothing
> printed. In desperation I restarted the computer and, without further ado,
> one document printed and the queue was empty. No further problems were
> experienced that day, but the problem recurred the next day. Sometimes it
> recurs in the same day, and once it was OK overnight but recurred during
> the day.
> I've had several email exchanges with HP technical support who were no use
> whatsoever. They told me to update the printer firmware, but the level
> they said was the latest was actually back level from that in the printer.
> When this pointed out they accepted that I had the latest level installed
> and, basically, gave up.
> I installed the drivers on my wife's laptop that runs XP
> Home+SP2+updates - she gets the same problem.
>
> I've discovered that stopping and starting the spool allows printing
> without restarting the computer, but its not very convenient. I've even
> written a little .cmd to do it, but again, its not very convenient.
>
> It's a new printer with the latest drivers and firmware - any ideas?
>
>
> --
> Regards, Gary Wooding
> (To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

[Gary Wooding]

I'm using the standard MS stuff with an internal network card on my
desktop m/c - that's the one I initially set up to access the printer.
The LAN is based on a Netgear DG834G router that has been working fine
for several years. My wife's laptop is also bog-standard and accesses
the LAN wirelessly. My m/c and the printer are attached to the LAN via
cable.
When the queue gets stuck everything else is working fine; the network
and Internet connections still operate correctly.
The desktop m/c also has an HP inkjet printer locally attached via USB;
it has no such problems.


Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
> Are you using the MS Standard TCP/IP port monitor or some other port
> monitor? HP Standard port is different. Are you using a build in network
> card or a print server device? I know some older Netgear print servers do
> not support bidirectional communication and this functionality must be
> disabled in the driver.
>


--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

I'll assume the cable that attaches the printer to the LAN is a network
cable and not a USB cable connected to the netgear router.

Did the HP tech confirm the firmware version of the network card on the
printer as well as the printer firmware?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Gary Wooding" > wrote in message
...
> I'm using the standard MS stuff with an internal network card on my
> desktop m/c - that's the one I initially set up to access the printer. The
> LAN is based on a Netgear DG834G router that has been working fine for
> several years. My wife's laptop is also bog-standard and accesses the LAN
> wirelessly. My m/c and the printer are attached to the LAN via cable.
> When the queue gets stuck everything else is working fine; the network and
> Internet connections still operate correctly.
> The desktop m/c also has an HP inkjet printer locally attached via USB; it
> has no such problems.
>
>
> Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
>> Are you using the MS Standard TCP/IP port monitor or some other port
>> monitor? HP Standard port is different. Are you using a build in
>> network card or a print server device? I know some older Netgear print
>> servers do not support bidirectional communication and this functionality
>> must be disabled in the driver.
>>
>
>
> --
> Regards, Gary Wooding
> (To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

[Gary Wooding]

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
> I'll assume the cable that attaches the printer to the LAN is a network
> cable and not a USB cable connected to the netgear router.
>

Yes, of course. The Netgear router doesn't even have a USB port.

> Did the HP tech confirm the firmware version of the network card on the
> printer as well as the printer firmware?
>

Yes.
I've more or less given up the theory that its a problem with the
printer - restarting the printer has no effect, but recycling the
spooler fixes it.
I'm seriously considering reinstalling the OS, but its a big job and I'm
not sure I can face it.


--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)