Weird issue won't print (Solved!)

[daveybrat]

Have you tried stopping the 'Print Spooler' service on those 2 computers first. Then go to C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers and make sure there is nothing in that folder. It should be completely empty. If not, delete anything in there then restart the 'Print Spooler' service.

 

[lakedude]

Have you tried complaining? That is how all our best work starts out! A couple of us will be griping, "How do they expect us to fix this when we don't have access?", "How are we going to narrow the problem down when we don't have [pick one: training, schematics, the owner's manual, parts, etc.]"

After enough complaining we eventually have an idea of how to separate the hardware from the software, or the network from the host or some simple way to make headway that usually isn't too fancy.

 

[Friendlytech]

Have you tried stopping the 'Print Spooler' service on those 2 computers first. Then go to C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers and make sure there is nothing in that folder. It should be completely empty. If not, delete anything in there then restart the 'Print Spooler' service.

Yes and no, I have stopped and restarted the print spooler service, but I have not checked C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers, so I will do that, Though I wrote a batch file that is suppose to do that I think, but I have not manually checked to see if there is nothing in there. I will check on Monday. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Friendlytech]

Have you tried complaining? That is how all our best work starts out! A couple of us will be griping, "How do they expect us to fix this when we don't have access?", "How are we going to narrow the problem down when we don't have [pick one: training, schematics, the owner's manual, parts, etc.]"

After enough complaining we eventually have an idea of how to separate the hardware from the software, or the network from the host or some simple way to make headway that usually isn't too fancy.

I will do this with my coworkers and let you know if we come up with anything new. Thanks.

 

[Friendlytech]

The batch file I made is: del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\* /Q
Note I stopped the print spooler service before I ran this batch file. Then restarted it after I ran it.

 

[Ketchup]

One more thing, just to make sure we are clear. Are other computers on the same switch able to print?

 

[PliotronX]

Two things I tend to check for are whether the printer is on web services (WSD port) and SNMP status once on TCP/IP. WSD is notoriously unreliable and SNMP status enabled (default) can cause the printer to appear offline.

 

[Friendlytech]

Two things I tend to check for are whether the printer is on web services (WSD port) and SNMP status once on TCP/IP. WSD is notoriously unreliable and SNMP status enabled (default) can cause the printer to appear offline.

Thanks for the suggestions, however it is not using a WSD port and I will check if SNMP is enabled but it is not showing up as offline(It shows up as being fully online weird I know). Thanks again and I will let you know about the SNMP status on Monday when I get back to work.

 

[Friendlytech]

One more thing, just to make sure we are clear. Are other computers on the same switch able to print?

Thanks for feedback. Quick answer is yes. I will run some more tests on the switch ports on Monday but everything else connected to these 2 computers works internet, all other network printers, network shares access etc.

 

[Friendlytech]

Hi All,

Thanks everyone for all their help and suggestions, I got it working, it turns out for some reason those 2 computers needed a newer print driver installed, even though every other computer worked fine with the older print driver(How weird). Anyway long story short I downloaded the newest print driver for that printer and installed it and now both of those computers print perfectly every time. So happy this is now resolved. Thanks again.

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for reporting back! Glad it was something (somewhat) simple.

 

[corkyg]

Awesome!