Can’t Print – says “Error Printing” in queue

Hi,
I have 2 laptops and a desktop in the office, all 3 of them running Windows 7. Printer has been running fine on all computers for years.

Last week the printer stopped working on 1 laptop. When I print a document from MS Word, the queue says “Printing” but nothing happens. After approx. 1 minute the queue says “Error Printing”

The printer is connected to a WiFi router. The desktop is connected by cable to the router, and the 2 Laptops connected via WiFi. Printer still works fine on 1 of the laptops.

I went to Services, and stopped the Print Spooler, and then restarted. Still would not print.

I cancelled all documents in the queue, and tired again. Still would not print.

I can ping the printer from the laptop which won’t print.

I have stopped the printer and restarted it, and stopped and restarted the router, and also shutdown and restarted the laptop... still won't print from that 1 laptop.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

Hi ICIT2LOL,
I ran the System Info and updated my specs... so you can see that I am running petrol instead of diesel.

I read about the SCF / SCANNOW you recommend and it said

"Be aware that if you have modified your system files as in theming explorer/system files, running sfc /scannow will revert the system files such as explorer.exe back to it's default state. Make the appropriate backups of your system files that you have modified for theming if you wish to save them before running sfc /scannow. "

It's a good few years since I have changed the Explorer settings (and probably many more settings) to get Windows 7 the way I like it, and I can't remember all the work and all the settings I have changed a few years ago.

I am running up to date Bitdefender Total Security on all 3 of my machines.

I also checked the device manager as you suggested, and all looks normal... with no triangles.

From Devices and Printers, when I click on the printer, and then Printer Properties, and click Print Test Page, it goes to the queue and status is "Printing". Nothing happens at the printer. Approx 1 minute later, the status changes to "Error - Printing".

Is there a log file that I can check, to see why the status went from Printing to Error-Printing ?

Any ideas what could have changed so that 1 of my laptops does not print, but the other two machines are fine?

Thanks,
Dave

I enabled Print Logging;

'Start->Administration Tools->EventViewer->Applicationsand ServiceLogs-> Microsoft->Windows->Print Service->Operational - Right click and select Enable log''

And saw this error in the Event Log

Event Properties – Event 372, PrintService

The document Test Page, owned by Dave, failed to print on printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN. Try to print the document again, or restart the print spooler.
Data type: NT EMF 1.008. Size of the spool file in bytes: 196608. Number of bytes printed: 0. Total number of pages in the document: 1. Number of pages printed: 0. Client computer: \\DAVE-LAPTOP. Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 2250. This network connection does not exist.

Does this give any information, on what may be causing the error?

As its reporting --- network does not exist,
recreate the link,
note check the printer log as well, might give you a clue as to when the connection was dropped, what was happening on the lappy at that time.

Roy

Hi Roy,
I am not sure what you meant by 'create the link again', so I went to Printers and Devices, and deleted the printer 'Kyocera FS-C5400DN'.

I then clicked 'add printer', selected 'Router printer', and entered the IP address and type of printer, and that seemed to add the printer ok.

I then printed a test page, but nothing happened.

In the Event View, under Printer Operation log there are no errors.

Last few Informational Messages were as follows;

Printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN will be deleted. No user action is required.
Printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN shared as Kyocera FS-C5400DN was unshared by the print spooler.
Settings for printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop were changed. No user action is required.
Printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop was created. No user action is required.
Printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop was shared by the print spooler as Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop.
Settings for printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop were changed. No user action is required.
Spooling job 3.
Printing job 3.

In Event Viewer under Printer Admin, messages as follows;

The default printer was changed to Send To OneNote 2013,winspool,nul:. See the event user data for context information.
The default printer was changed to Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop. See the event user data for context information.

Any ideas?

Dave

From command prompt, when I type in
wmic baseboard get product, manufacturer, model it displays
Manufacturer Model Product
Notebook W350STQ/W370ST

This laptop I have had since 2013 and runs excellently.

Just 1 week ago, suddenly it would not print.

I had installed Windows Updates 1 day previously as far as i can recall.

Please see my previous entry reply to Roy, when I deleted the printer, and then added printer again to see if this gives any clues to the problem.

When I try to print, and look in the Event Viewer this is the message;

The document Test Page, owned by Dave, failed to print on printer Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop. Try to print the document again, or restart the print spooler.
Data type: NT EMF 1.008. Size of the spool file in bytes: 101556. Number of bytes printed: 0. Total number of pages in the document: 1. Number of pages printed: 0. Client computer: \\DAVE-LAPTOP. Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 2250. This network connection does not exist.

Thanks again Roy...
I already had 'Set as Default printer' in the Printers and Devices section.

I can't see any option " Click the "Manage default printers" button in the menu bar. "

I also tried to Print from Wordpad, and same behaviour.... status first says "printing" and then approx 1 minute later status changes to "Error - printing".

In Devices and Printers I also have
Adobe PDF
Fax
Kyocera FS-C5400DN Laptop (set as default)
Microsoft XPS Document writer
Send to OneNote 2013


I just noticed another strange behaviour...

When I print a document (from Word), the status is 'printing' although nothing prints, and then changes to 'error - printing'.

So I then 'cancel all documents'... and the strange thing is that in Printers and Devices, a slightly greyed out image of the old printer "Kyocera FS-C5400DN" then just appears as one of the printers.

When I added a new printer yesterday I named it "Kyocera FS-C5400DN laptop" so I could tell the difference.

I wonder what could be causing this 'old printer' name to be appearing?