Printer Problem - or Spooler Problem

[DeaconFrost]

I have a user with a Windows 7 Pro SP1 x86 laptop, and an HP Color LaserJet 1600 connected locally by USB. HP doesn't offer drivers for this printer, so we've tried the built-in ones, and the updated ones from Windows Update.

The problem is, regardless of what is printing, the job sits in the queue, with a status of "printing". If I eventually try to delete the job, it takes several restarts before it is actually cleared out. We've swapped USB cables, reinstalled the printer twice, restarted the spooler service....no luck. The printer itself says it is ready. There are no errors, and nothing in the event logs.

Any suggestions...or has anyone come across this issue with this or a similar printer?

 

[Airbot]

My GF's Dads HP LasetJet 4P with a laptop or a desktop running on Win 7 Home Premium x86 acts in the same way. Everything seems to be in order, sometimes will print, sometimes will just sit there like you describe. It's stumped me as there doesn't seem to be any problem.

 

[Mellon Head]

I had some problems with Win 7 x64 and my HP Photosmart printer. I wound up trying the Vista drivers and they worked alright. There has since been a Win 7 driver made for it, and everything now works except for the scanner. It still scans, but I can't control it from the PC, and it won't write the scanned file to an HD.

Maybe the Vista drivers will work for you DF. I hope so.

 

[Airbot]

Are these the drivers you're using?

Microsoft Update Catalog

 

[richnrockville]

I had a client with a HP and printer problems very similar to yours. I went to the HP site and they had a spooler fixer program that I ran and it worked fine. For some reason the print spooler gets confused.

give it a shot.

Rich

 

[Britton30]

I have an old HP Photosmart 7960 which act the same way at times, usually after a period of non-use. When a print job gets hung, I pull the power plug for a bit and then plug it back and it prints. I have no fix for it, just use pull-plug-reinsert plug method.
Sometimes pulling the USB cable works too.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Are these the drivers you're using?

Yes, those are it. I'll look for the spooler fix program that richnrockville suggested, too.

 

[Airbot]

If you find it, can you post it up? I'd like to have a go at it. Can't seem to find such a program.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Sure, the link is:

HP Print Diagnostic Utility - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

 

[Airbot]

Thanks. Doesn't seem to even work with the Laserjet 4P in particular. Works and has it on the list, but say it can't even connect to it on the first step. Oh well.

 

[Britton30]

Thanks Deacon. I ran it and found no problems.:sarc:

 

[DeaconFrost]

It found problems for me on this system, and we rebooted, but the job still sat in the queue. I used the tool to kill the job, and then removed the drivers once again. After a reboot, I loaded the Universal driver, and now all seems to be fine. I never had much like with that driver when I worked for HP, but it did the trick this time.

 

[Britton30]

Nice one. do you have a link for the universal driver? I'll give it a try.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I can get a link, but they may be different for the typ of printer...color, all-in-one, etc. If you go to HP's drivers page and search for the LaserJet 1600, and pick Windows 7 x86, it will be the only driver option for download.

*Actually, upon rechecking, the driver isn't the universal...just the generic color laserjet plug and play driver.

 

[Britton30]

OK, thanks! I'll see what I can find.