PC in slow motion while printing

[Kevin]

OS is WinXP Home on a 2.0ghz machine with 512mb ram.
I use an HP1120C Deskjet printer.

After sending a job to the printer everything within Windows slows
down dramatically. Surfing pages slows down, changing between
programs slows down, it seems as though the CPU is devoted
to the print process more than anything. It seems as though every
thing the computer does now is done in slow motion while printing.
As soon as the document is printed the degraded performance
disappears.

In the past while using Win98 or ME with the same printer, I never
ever had this problem. I could send a job to the printer and continue
with other tasks with no problems at all. No slow downs.

My settings are to "Spool printing documents so program finishes printing faster"
and "Start printing immediately".

I think there has been a major change with the way XP handles spooling.
Seems like with a new OS things would get better rather than worse?

Does anyone know how I can use an older more reliable print spooler?
Or perhaps a fix for this problem?

[Dan Corban]

Is your printer connected using a USB cable or a standard parallel printer
cable?

If you are using a parallel cable, it sounds like your printer port is set
to standard/bi-directional mode instead of ECP+EPP mode. You would need to
enter your computers BIOS setup and change the mode of the LPT port to the
ECP mode.

"Kevin" > wrote in message
...
> OS is WinXP Home on a 2.0ghz machine with 512mb ram.
> I use an HP1120C Deskjet printer.
>
> After sending a job to the printer everything within Windows slows
> down dramatically. Surfing pages slows down, changing between
> programs slows down, it seems as though the CPU is devoted
> to the print process more than anything. It seems as though every
> thing the computer does now is done in slow motion while printing.
> As soon as the document is printed the degraded performance
> disappears.
>

[Kevin]

I wish it was that simple. It was already set to ECP+EPP mode.

I went to HP's site and they don't even have a driver listed for
my printer using XP. They have one for NT4 and 2000, but
not XP. I think I'll see if an NT4 or Win2000 driver will work.

I know that WinXP comes with a driver for my printer, but there
are some serious problems with this driver when it comes to spooling.


"Dan Corban" > wrote in message ...
> Is your printer connected using a USB cable or a standard parallel printer
> cable?
>
> If you are using a parallel cable, it sounds like your printer port is set
> to standard/bi-directional mode instead of ECP+EPP mode. You would need to
> enter your computers BIOS setup and change the mode of the LPT port to the
> ECP mode.
>
> "Kevin" > wrote in message
> ...
> > OS is WinXP Home on a 2.0ghz machine with 512mb ram.
> > I use an HP1120C Deskjet printer.
> >
> > After sending a job to the printer everything within Windows slows
> > down dramatically. Surfing pages slows down, changing between
> > programs slows down, it seems as though the CPU is devoted
> > to the print process more than anything. It seems as though every
> > thing the computer does now is done in slow motion while printing.
> > As soon as the document is printed the degraded performance
> > disappears.
> >
>
>

[Kevin]

Actually I think I may have found the culprit. Seems that ole
Bill Gates and company designed WinXP to function this way.
Guess he wanted to help his buddies in the cable business sell
a few more parallel to USB cables. Check this out, this is exactly
what my PC is doing.....

100 Percent CPU Usage Occurs When You Print on an LPT Printer Port

The information in this article applies to:
a.. Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1
b.. Microsoft Windows XP Professional
c.. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1
d.. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
e.. Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
f.. Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
g.. Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
h.. Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP3

This article was previously published under Q318273

SYMPTOMS
When you print on an LPT printer port, 100 percent CPU usage occurs until the print job is completed. This slows down other programs
until the print job is completed. In some case, other programs may slow down enough that they seem completely unresponsive. This
behavior affects all power users who have many programs running at one time.

CAUSE
This behavior occurs because Windows does not have interrupt support for LPT printers.

WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, print to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) printer port. If the printer does not have this capability, use
a parallel-USB cable.

STATUS
This behavior is by design.


"Dan Corban" > wrote in message ...
> Is your printer connected using a USB cable or a standard parallel printer
> cable?
>
> If you are using a parallel cable, it sounds like your printer port is set
> to standard/bi-directional mode instead of ECP+EPP mode. You would need to
> enter your computers BIOS setup and change the mode of the LPT port to the
> ECP mode.
>
> "Kevin" > wrote in message
> ...
> > OS is WinXP Home on a 2.0ghz machine with 512mb ram.
> > I use an HP1120C Deskjet printer.
> >
> > After sending a job to the printer everything within Windows slows
> > down dramatically. Surfing pages slows down, changing between
> > programs slows down, it seems as though the CPU is devoted
> > to the print process more than anything. It seems as though every
> > thing the computer does now is done in slow motion while printing.
> > As soon as the document is printed the degraded performance
> > disappears.
> >
>
>

[Kevin]

Here's an update....

I bought a Belkin parallel to USB cable today.
While my machine was running I connected it
to my parallel printer and then to the PC. As
soon as I connected the cable, WinXP recognized
my printer and setup USB support. I didn't even
need the disk which came with the cable.

Now when I send a print job to the printer it
begins printing and I have absolutely no slow
down. I can open and close programs and web
sites just as if the printer wasn't printer at all. It
has no effect on the CPU now.



"Dan Corban" > wrote in message ...
> Is your printer connected using a USB cable or a standard parallel printer
> cable?
>
> If you are using a parallel cable, it sounds like your printer port is set
> to standard/bi-directional mode instead of ECP+EPP mode. You would need to
> enter your computers BIOS setup and change the mode of the LPT port to the
> ECP mode.
>
> "Kevin" > wrote in message
> ...
> > OS is WinXP Home on a 2.0ghz machine with 512mb ram.
> > I use an HP1120C Deskjet printer.
> >
> > After sending a job to the printer everything within Windows slows
> > down dramatically. Surfing pages slows down, changing between
> > programs slows down, it seems as though the CPU is devoted
> > to the print process more than anything. It seems as though every
> > thing the computer does now is done in slow motion while printing.
> > As soon as the document is printed the degraded performance
> > disappears.
> >
>
>