Networked Print job shows , “Printing”, but won’t print.

[ChrisGreaves]

I have two computers on a home network:
LapA is an Acer running Win7 32-bit Starter
LapC is a Compaq running Win7 64-bit Home Premium
I have an HP2600N ColorJet 2600n laser printer which connects by a USB cable.
Drivers are hard to come by, but I found a couple on the web, one for 64-bit (which I installed locally on the LapC) and one for 32-bit (which I installed locally on LapA)

LapA: I plug the printer into a USB port, fire up Notepad and print to the local HP2600N; it prints OK, so I suspect my local 32-bit drivers are OK.
LapC: I plug the printer into a USB port, fire up Notepad and print to the local HP2600N; it prints OK, so I suspect my local 64-bit drivers are OK.
At this point I figure that no-matter-what happens I can print from either LapA or LapC by plugging in the printer cable. I would want to do this if I lent either machine to a colleague and was left working on the other machine.

Networking: I want LapC to be my print server. In the long run I want the LapA as a server, but I rather suspect Win7 Starter’s ability as a server. (But see "later" below) I already know it can’t create a workgroup, only join one.
LapA: Devices and Printers shows the local printer “HP Color LaserJet 2600n” and also shows a remote printer “HP Color LaserJet 2600n on LAPC”. (I have discovered that Devices and Printers uses the Model as the name).
Still on LapA I open Notepad, type and print to the new printer, “HP Color LaserJet 2600n on LAPC”.
LapC: The print job shows up in the queue, “Printing”, but won’t print.
I choose “Restart” and it now shows “Printing - restarting”, but won’t print.
I reboot LapC and the job prints.

From which I reason:
1: The network connection is functioning well, since the print job has travelled from LapA to LapC.
2: The drivers are probably not a problem, since either machine has shown that it can print locally.
3: The action-on-reboot suggests to me that it is a problem related to the Print Spooler.

I trawl the web and find a mis-match of conflicting advice and comments (“Works for me!”, “Well it didn’t work for me!”) which given my state of Win7 knowledge I elect to leave alone. Ditto the suggestions to delete registry branches.
I run Services.msc and see that “Print Spooler” is both “Started” and “Automatic”.

I am conscious that the drivers I d/l and installed may be working well for local printing, but may NOT be communicating well with the print spooler, especially as the LapA is a 32-bit system & drivers while the LapC is a 64-bit system & drivers.

(Signed) “Willing to Experiment” of Toronto. P.S. I trust Eileen’s Lounge way more than some unknown techie.

(later)
On LapA I plugged the printer cable back in and printed from Notepad. LapA still prints locally to the printer
Back on LapC I print from Notepad to “HP Color LaserJet 2600n on LAPA”, but nothing prints.
LapA: The print job shows up in the queue, “Printing”, but won’t print.
I reboot LapA and the job prints.

Same conclusions as 1-2-3 above.

[StuartR]

I would suspect the drivers you are using.

Have you tried downloading the driver from the HP web site?

[ChrisGreaves]

I would suspect the drivers you are using. Have you tried downloading the driver from the HP web site?

Yes, but HP isn't very strong on support for this printer.
wasbit suggested this page which is an exhaustive and exhausting list.

My first choices for the 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium ("Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)" and "Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic (64-bit)") seem to have no driver available, just a diagnostic utility.
I opted for the seemingly generic "Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)" for the 64-bit LapC and "Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit)" for the 32-bit LapA)

I am open to suggestions ...

[StuartR]

Those are the drivers I would have suggested. So now I am a bit stuck for suggestions!

[jonwallace]

Could this be a priority problem, I have vague memories of a shared printer being "grabbed" by one PC and not printing jobs from other PCs until the Grabber shuts down (or times out)

Could I suggest a print server like this edimax one ?

[ChrisGreaves]

.. I am a bit stuck for suggestions!

OK. That does it. If Stuart is Stuck then I'm starting a new career in vermicomposting. Bye all ... (GRIN)

Based on a post in This Thread at 02-03-2009, 11:13 AM "bakuryu" reiterated a bit of wisdom I'd seen elsewhere, so I made a small batch job MySpool.bat on the 32-bit LapA, trying to run that as a server. (Insanity is defined as repeating the same actions expecting different results, so I changed the direction of print servitude)

Code: Select all

net stop spooler
del /q /f /s "%systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*"
net start spooler

and ran it.
The printer burped and spewed forth a page.
On the 65-bit LapC I fired up Notepad, made a new text, printed it to the 32-bit LapA printer and waddyaknow - it printed.

For now I could live with an endlessly looping batch job that cleared its throat every, say, 10 minutes.

I post this in the hopes that it might give a clue to the true nature of the problem.
Right now I'm just poking the spooler beast with a sharp stick in the hopes of getting a reaction.

[ChrisGreaves]

Could this be a priority problem, I have vague memories of a shared printer being "grabbed" by one PC and not printing jobs from other PCs until the Grabber shuts down (or times out)

Jon, it could be a priority problem, and I'll certainly run through some of the checkboxes and sliders I've seen (print direct rather than spool, change priority etc.) but for the moment i have but two computers, one printer, one operator (me), and I'm keeping it as simple as I can:

Code: Select all

Print a document
Wait two minutes for it to appear
If it doesn't appear, delete the job and/or reboot everybody
Rinse and repeat

It's a slow but deliberate process.
When there's only one server (LapA 32-bit), one client computer (LapC 64-bit), one print job from notepad, it's hard to invoke the god of priority.

Many of the threads report this problem as a "bug" in Win7.
Those claiming to have it fixed ascribe their success to a variety of solutions.
It's all very murky.

[ChrisGreaves]

net stop spooler
del /q /f /s "%systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*"
net start spooler

This morning both machines were rebooted, and an hour later I printed off a page from Word on the LapC to the printer on LapA.
Worked perfectly and I'm off to try making cabbage rolls.

I have not re-run the little batch file - it is not in my boot sequence, so I am still a little puzzled.
I must have rebooted ten twenty million times yesterday, and that didn't seem to do much.
I had also run those three commands from the DOS (Administrator) prompt twice between reboots. (I would read a web thread carefully, then try to do exactly what it said, with reboots in between or afterwards, just to make sure)

So for now the problem is "solved", but I am tip-toeing as I go ...
I suspect that this awkwardness is dependent on individual machine configurations, that is, my 3-line batch file solution may not work for everyone.

Thanks to all who contributed moral and technical support.

(later) but please see also "It's certainly strange"