Smoni Failed to create empty document

Not Myself · 23 Apr 2014

(This is about a different, new computer.)

Computer was asleep early this morning, but after SuperAntiSpyware ran, it dir not go back to sleep. Testing showed that automated sleep is not working. Rebooted, got a pop-up box with the text as shown in the title of this message.

Ran the MS diagnostic for this problem, using msconfig; no luck. Googled for the error, not much there, but did try a few things. Turned off router, so not likely to be a address conflict, as one person was able to fix the problem through that route.

Ran another SuperAntiSpyware scan, a Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scan, one with Avast!, and the on-line HouseCall scan; nothing found. I have run a few of Dell's on-line diagnostics, nothing found so far.

I would appreciate knowing how to inoculate the computer, or what spell to cast thereupon, or how to properly remove the enchantment, or even anything actually related to repairing the whatever-it-is that is causing a probably very useful empty document to not be created. (Oh, yes, CCleaner was also ran, which deleted lots o temporary files, etc.)

==

After posting this fascinating missive, I ran one of the MS Fixit programs, which did find that the Recycle Bin was corrupt and fixed it. I rebooted; sadly, I still got the pop-up error message, but yet one more test of the sleep function found the computer willing to obey its master, as first the monitor and then the computer went to sleep with a one-minute setting.

maxie · 24 Apr 2014

Hi there ... Have you any Printer Software Installed ? I found a few Posts relating to Brother Printers which can cause this problem ..

Not Myself · 24 Apr 2014

maxie said:

Hi there ... Have you any Printer Software Installed ? I found a few Posts relating to Brother Printers which can cause this problem ..

Thanks for replying.

Yes, I do, and yes, I, too, saw posts about this. One thing I did yesterday was to turn off the WiFi router, which I thought would eliminate any Brother-related problem(s), but now that I consider the issue, there is likely some Brother software on the computer in question.

I put it that way for a reason: When I first installed the Brother printer on the computer, the one with the Smoni problem, the software instructions said to install the software on each computer even when the printer is using WiFi. When I copied programs and files to the new machine, neither of the wireless printers appeared in the Control Panel printer module, but I was able to use the Add Printer function to find them.

However, by accident, a few days ago, I chose Add Device, rather than Add Printer for the Brother printer; while I told the Printer/Device module to delete that added device, now I wonder if at least some of its software might still be on the new computer.

i don't know if i had restarted the computer after my mistake, so can not be certain that the Smoni error started then, nor do I know how to find out if there is any leftover software. After deleting the device, I added the printer, which works.

Even further pondering this, even though the printer works correctly, perhaps there is something amiss in its settings. I guess I shall do some testing now, based around the possible Brother printer problem. I'd use my ten-pound sledgehammer, but I'm not at all sure where to apply it....

==
Just removed the Brother, rebooted, no help. Megasigh.

maxie · 24 Apr 2014

Some people seem to have a IP conflict .. At least you know what is causing the problem .. Fixing it of course will be another matter ..

Not Myself · 24 Apr 2014

maxie said:

Some people seem to have a IP conflict .. At least you know what is causing the problem .. Fixing it of course will be another matter ..

Ah, but you are clearly not a specialist in computer science. I am, with degrees in Medieval Studies and having never taken a single computer course.

Now, why would I make that claim? It is really easy, based on my brilliant discoveries:

1. If you suspect a problem with a Brother printer, don't delete the driver for an Epson printer.

2. If you actually look at the Printer/Device screen, and there you see two Brother printer drivers, one of which refers to a printer that is not there, delete it and restart the computer. If you do that, the Smoni error will not reappear.

3. Test the Brother printer using the driver that remains, the one that connects via WiFi to the computer where the software is installed. When that works, reinstall the Epson driver and test it. When that works, as final test, reboot, and as you fail to see a Smoni error, you may safely conclude, as a person who is clearly a computer science specialist, that the problem has been solved.

4. I believe I now know what happened, but not when, as the Smoni error only appeared recently, namely that I accidentally installed the Brother printer as a left-over from the old computer. Ah, ha! Some time ago, the Brother lost its WiFi connection; a very helpful Brother support agent walked me through the somewhat complex steps of restoring that, and I suspect that the Smoni-related Brother driver was left over from that process.

Again, thanks for responding, and through the use of remote-activated Computer Science, getting me to actually do that which needed to be done, rather than that which was quite unrelated.

Not Myself · 24 Apr 2014

Another victory: After a scheduled SuperAntiSpyware scan which wakes the compute, the machine again goes back to sleep; this only happened after I got rid of the Smoni problem. Odd that there was apparently a conflict that kept the computer awake, but then, computers are odd anyway.

Smoni Failed to create empty document

Smoni Failed to create empty document (Solved)