USB Printer Problem - spooler empties but no print

I have a USB printer on my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit desk top. It has worked fine for almost three years. Last the first two print jobs after boot up printed fine. The third, fourth etc. hung up in the queue which I manually emptied. Today the queue no longer stalls - rather it appears to empty normally - but I the files do not print. The printer is activated - the print head moves but no printing occurs
I have uninstalled / reinstalled 4 times.

How do I proceed from here ?

linnemeyerhere,

Thanks for your reply.

Partial success - the spooler sends output to the printer the first time I send a file after a reboot.

Subsequent print jobs hang in the spooler. I have to stop and start the spooler manually to print a document.

I am open to additional suggestions !

Reinstalling did not work.

Prints sometimes - not others - cannot predict

I did see an error message> error 0x00000057 - unable to find printer

When I go into control Panel / Admin Tools / print management - it shows that USB002 is a virtual Lexmark printer while it also lists another port as being assigned to my Lexmark printer. Is it normal to have a virtual port assigned to the USB and another assigned to the printer ?

linnemeyerhere,

My machine is an all in one Lexmark Prevail 705.

I will try another port and cable and respond back.

linnemeyerhere said:

printer problem,

Welcome to SevenForums. I would unplug printer and let sit for 1 minute. Plug it back in and then check the ink cartridges for being seated and with ink. You can also try putting the printer though a print head maintenance cycle. If this doesn't work then un-install printer driver and re-install per the manufactures direction with the most up to date driver off the mfg'rs website.

Good luck and report back.

I agree especially with the driver part. The driver is what sends "instructions" to the printer to tell it what and how to print etc; so if something is amiss with the driver then yes best bet is to uninstall windows driver/device and let it re-detect the device and reinstall the driver for it.

something weird is going on

After uninstalling the Lexmark printer. I rebooted then plugged in the USB cable for the printer.

Windows was not able to download the driver package - it located the software on the internet but the download / install was not successful.

Conversly - I plugged in a HP 9600 all in one - and had no problem letting windows manage the download and install.

I wonder if this is a Lexmark specific issue ?

Try restarting the printer by completely unplugging
The power cord from from the unit then if there is a power button; after you unplug it; hold the power button for about 10 seconds or so to release the extra juice in the printers power supply. Then plug it back in and hopefully windows should
Re detect it. If it does not work then it sounds like
There could be some sort of hardware glitch inside the printer preventing communication between the computer and printer