Printer driver acting up

Discussion and support for the Windows family of operating systems.
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MorneDJ
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Posts: 29
Joined: 11 Dec 2009, 12:02
Location: Pretoria, Garsfontein East
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Printer driver acting up

Post by MorneDJ »

Printer not working. When I try to print nothing happens. When I go to Printer Properties, Print Test Page it immediately tells me:
"Test page failed to print. Would you like to ... blah blah troubleshooter ... blah blah"
Troubleshooter fails ti ID the problem. Worth nothing.

The printer (HP2645) worked less than a week ago. It is a new PC and a new printer. PC running Win 7, with Adobe reader and AVG Internet Security. Mainly used for internet.

I have uninstalled the printer and reinstalled. It did not help. I however can see the printer and I can scan stuff. I have tried different USB ports. When I plug the printer into my laptop it works perfectly. When I try using another printer (HP3600) on the PC it does not print either. So the problem lies with a setting.

I am rather frustrated. Person that solves this get a case of beer. If you are in Pretoria I will personally come and deliver.
I'm a right-wing, democratic, conservative environmentalist that thinks the spotted owl tastes like chicken...
GDI_Lord
Forum Administrator
Posts: 2663
Joined: 05 Sep 2005, 02:00

Re: Printer driver acting up

Post by GDI_Lord »

Let's just cover a few basic things first quickly:

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;-)


Right, ok, seriously now:
  1. What did you do on the desktop between last week and yesterday? Install a game? run autoupdates and install something? Jiggle the printer's USB cable? Restart the printer?
  2. Have you tried a different USB cable? Maybe the cable's broken but the way the cable flexes or the angle of the cable when you plug it into the desktop is different to when you plug it into the laptop.
  3. What OS is the laptop running? Are you using Window's built in drivers or did you install drivers?
  4. Is the "Print Spooler" service running and set to "Automatic" start on the desktop?
  5. Please try uninstalling the printer completely and then shutting down (NOT restarting) unplugging the power cable at the back of the computer, waiting for 10 or 20 seconds and, with the printer plugged out, powering on computer.

    Then wait for the computer to start completely. Shut down again, as above, and then restart with the printer plugged in.
HTH.
Important Thread: Yours in Christ's service,
MorneDJ
Registered User
Posts: 29
Joined: 11 Dec 2009, 12:02
Location: Pretoria, Garsfontein East
Contact:

Re: Printer driver acting up

Post by MorneDJ »

OK

Restarted PC a few times already, so covered points 1 - 4 already.

now

1: Installed Win 7, AVG, Adobe reader and printer driver. Tested. Printer worked. Installed the HP 3600. Tested. It worked. Signed of to wife, project successful. Got told last week HP3600 does not print. Moved USB cable to HP2645. Printed stuff. Was told last night HP2645 does not print. Crap started.
2: Tried different USB cable. Tried different port.
3: HP own drivers.
4: Wrote a bat file to stop spooler service, delete the tmp files, restart spooler. It starts automatically.
5: Uninstalled, restarted, reinstalled. Will shut down tonight, leave all for a while then start again.

Tonight I will try to drop to an earlier restore point, before installing the HP3600 drivers. If that does not work, I will move back a but more.

Frustrating.
I'm a right-wing, democratic, conservative environmentalist that thinks the spotted owl tastes like chicken...
IDontLikeTomatoes
Registered User
Posts: 4
Joined: 01 Oct 2014, 15:07

Re: Printer driver acting up

Post by IDontLikeTomatoes »

Windows have a nasty way or remembering printer drivers, To me it sounds like there is something wrong with the drivers and each time you add/remove it windows simply uses the ones it already has.

Try downloading newer drivers and update them that way it will most probably replace the older ones.

If you already have the latest ones or it didnt work, Try this, uninstall the drivers, (Warning you can break printing completely if you are not careful and dont hold me responsible :D ) stop the print spooler from services, (Right click My Computer, select manage , and somewhere on the left wind services, click it then find the print spooler , right click and stop it) not sure why you made a batch file to stop it ??

Then the dangerous part.
assuming you are using X64 bit drivers, go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\x64
there should be a folder called 3 but sometimes you also find one called 2.

Go into 3 or 2 and find the HP driver DLLs, If you have Microsoft SendNote Drivers and some other printers installed this can become tricky, cut and paste the DLL files which belongs to HP to your desktop, if the spooler is running it will probably complain so make sure you stop it before you do this. If it was me i would uninstall ALL printer drivers first then cut paste all files in the 3 or 2 folder to the desktop.

This is the last resort, like i said this can mess up printing as a whole on your PC.
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