Printer on network having problems

ascoredhat · 06-11-2007, 11:44 AM

Hello everyone,

I've got a bit of a problem on our office's network and hopefully someone can give some guidance to me (I've already tried the "guidance from above" route, but got an e-mail from an angel saying "God doesn't do computers").

We have a wired network consisting of 6 computers and one server. The computers use Windows 2000 Pro. The server is on NT, I believe (hard to say since it isn't attached to a monitor). There are two separate printers connected within the network off of two separate computers.

A while back one of the computers had it's hard drive crash. We replaced it and kind of took our time getting it back up and going as it seemed we had problems doing so (not being real computer savvy). I could get it where the internet was working (it comes in through the server) and it could "see" the other computers and the server, but I couldn't figure out how to connect it to server.

ANYWAY, that really isn't the problem. What had happened was there was an empty desk (work station) behind the one that crashed, so I went ahead and just moved the working computer, which had a printer attaced to it, over to the one in front (just ran the cable over to the guy in need) and moved the sick computer to the empty desk, and things were working fine. Well, the guy with the switched computer wanted to have his old one back (maybe he didn't like the printer being next to him) so the boss's son came in the other day and got the computer with the new hard drive up and going and seeing the network. So he switched the computers back again. And, mind you, he did remember to make sure the proper cables went to the proper computers.

Well, now, for some reason, none of the computers can print on the printer that is attached to the computer that got put back to the empty desk. When you bring up the printer data on that computer it does show that the documents to be printed did, in fact, make it through the network and found the printer, BUT they just sit there in line and it shows that they are waiting to be printed. Under status it shows "printing", but nothing is printing. This even happens when something is sent to the printer from the computer it's physically attached to. The printer is hooked up fine. It's plugged in, turned on, and while fooling around with the "add printer" stuff I actually managed to get something from Word to print to it. But I have no idea exactly what I did (I think I just renamed it and it showed "copy 2" in the list of printers), but nothing from any of the other computers in the network would let me do anything similar.

No one, including the boss's son who messed around switching computers around, can figure out what happened to mess things up. All things under the printer show that it is "working properly", but documents that get in line to be printed on it won't print out. At least, under the original settings for it. And, as I said, all cables are hooked up and plugged in, the printer turned on (even tried turning it on and off several times). The computer is WS4 and the network cable going to it does, in fact, hook up to the plug marked WS4.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Dave

SirNtwrk · 06-11-2007, 03:36 PM

Hi Dave, quite the pickle you have there......

Can the system the printer is connected to directly print to the printer? Also, what kind of printer is it? Most of the time, a small network with non-network printers (meaning the printer is attached directly to someone's system either through a USB cable or the old style 24-pin printer cables), depends heavily on permissions granted to the printer share.

Do you guys log into a domain or just the workgroup? Workgroup permissions tend to be a bit complicated since there is no central repository of user accounts. Printers and file shares end up being difficult to setup in a workgroup since each computer must maintain its own user database containing all the user information for the whole network.

Anyway, not to make this too complicated for you, but please let me know if you can print directly from the system the printer is plugged into. Another possibility is that the system itself is blocking other users, so please let me know what the operating system and service pack level are of the "print server."

ascoredhat · 06-11-2007, 04:24 PM

Thanks for your reply, Sir Network. You are right that this is a bit of a puzzle. The computer in the network that the printer is hooked up to is using Windows 2000, as are all the others. And things sent to the printer off the same computer that the printer is physically hooked up to has the same result as when the data is sent from any other computer in the network. It makes it into the queue waiting to be printed, and does show up in the printer's queue as "printing", but nothing happens. And this isn't a new application. The printer has been merrily working off that computer for close to 5 years with no problems. It's a HP Laserjet 6P. And nothing on that computer was changed from what it was set at before. All that was done was the computer and printer was physically moved to another desk so the employee that had the computer with the hard drive crash could work on something and it had been working just fine. When the computer with the hard drive crash was repaired and the files updated onto it, it was switched back. And, as I said, all wires and connections have been checked to make sure it's not a case of wires being crossed as far as work station addresses on the network and things being plugged back in. As I mentioned, I would assume it was just the printer giving up the ghost if it wasn't for the fact I played around with the "add printer" thingie and somehow managed to get a test Word document to print onto it by renaming it's address, but none of the other computers in the network will browse and find that printer to allow me to do the same thing.
It's weird.

SirNtwrk · 06-13-2007, 12:27 PM

I would start with the system the printer is hooked up to directly first. If that system cannot print, it is very likely that is where the issue lies. A quick scan of the Internet shows that printer hooked up with a parallel port; that means it is probably hitting the LTP1 port. If you look in the properties for that printers in the Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes, right click the printer and choose Properties, then check the Ports tab, it should be listed as LTP1. If it is, try printing a test page from the General tab. If that does not work, try changing to other LTP ports if any are listed. It is possible for ports to be disabled in the BIOS as well, though this seems unlikely as it would require you to really want to do it.

If the test page will print from the printer, then try printing from other apps, like Notepad or Word.

Also, do not forget to cancel any documents that might be in the print queue already. You can do this by double clicking the printer, choose Printer and Cancel All Documents from the list.

Another thing to try may be stopping and restarting the Print Spooler from the Services list, although I would guess you have restarted this system and that would have the same effect. If you need some instructions on how to do this, let me know.

ascoredhat · 06-13-2007, 05:38 PM

You are right on the money, Sir Network.

I went to the printer's properties and looked under ports and, for whatever reason, the LPT1 port had become unchecked. I put a check mark next to it, rebooted the computer, and all is well and good.

That would certainly explain why the print jobs got as far as the print host computer and were listed in the queue, but could go no further. They had no idea which port to find the printer under.

Thank you very much for your help. We had called the Geek Squad and they were quoting $159+ to come in. And all it took was a check mark and a reboot. :)

06-11-2007, 11:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
ascoredhat Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 25 OS: Windows XP	Printer on network having problems Hello everyone, I've got a bit of a problem on our office's network and hopefully someone can give some guidance to me (I've already tried the "guidance from above" route, but got an e-mail from an angel saying "God doesn't do computers"). We have a wired network consisting of 6 computers and one server. The computers use Windows 2000 Pro. The server is on NT, I believe (hard to say since it isn't attached to a monitor). There are two separate printers connected within the network off of two separate computers. A while back one of the computers had it's hard drive crash. We replaced it and kind of took our time getting it back up and going as it seemed we had problems doing so (not being real computer savvy). I could get it where the internet was working (it comes in through the server) and it could "see" the other computers and the server, but I couldn't figure out how to connect it to server. ANYWAY, that really isn't the problem. What had happened was there was an empty desk (work station) behind the one that crashed, so I went ahead and just moved the working computer, which had a printer attaced to it, over to the one in front (just ran the cable over to the guy in need) and moved the sick computer to the empty desk, and things were working fine. Well, the guy with the switched computer wanted to have his old one back (maybe he didn't like the printer being next to him) so the boss's son came in the other day and got the computer with the new hard drive up and going and seeing the network. So he switched the computers back again. And, mind you, he did remember to make sure the proper cables went to the proper computers. Well, now, for some reason, none of the computers can print on the printer that is attached to the computer that got put back to the empty desk. When you bring up the printer data on that computer it does show that the documents to be printed did, in fact, make it through the network and found the printer, BUT they just sit there in line and it shows that they are waiting to be printed. Under status it shows "printing", but nothing is printing. This even happens when something is sent to the printer from the computer it's physically attached to. The printer is hooked up fine. It's plugged in, turned on, and while fooling around with the "add printer" stuff I actually managed to get something from Word to print to it. But I have no idea exactly what I did (I think I just renamed it and it showed "copy 2" in the list of printers), but nothing from any of the other computers in the network would let me do anything similar. No one, including the boss's son who messed around switching computers around, can figure out what happened to mess things up. All things under the printer show that it is "working properly", but documents that get in line to be printed on it won't print out. At least, under the original settings for it. And, as I said, all cables are hooked up and plugged in, the printer turned on (even tried turning it on and off several times). The computer is WS4 and the network cable going to it does, in fact, hook up to the plug marked WS4. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Dave

06-11-2007, 03:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
SirNtwrk Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 26 OS: Win XP SP2	Re: Printer on network having problems Hi Dave, quite the pickle you have there...... Can the system the printer is connected to directly print to the printer? Also, what kind of printer is it? Most of the time, a small network with non-network printers (meaning the printer is attached directly to someone's system either through a USB cable or the old style 24-pin printer cables), depends heavily on permissions granted to the printer share. Do you guys log into a domain or just the workgroup? Workgroup permissions tend to be a bit complicated since there is no central repository of user accounts. Printers and file shares end up being difficult to setup in a workgroup since each computer must maintain its own user database containing all the user information for the whole network. Anyway, not to make this too complicated for you, but please let me know if you can print directly from the system the printer is plugged into. Another possibility is that the system itself is blocking other users, so please let me know what the operating system and service pack level are of the "print server."

06-11-2007, 04:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
ascoredhat Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 25 OS: Windows XP	Re: Printer on network having problems Thanks for your reply, Sir Network. You are right that this is a bit of a puzzle. The computer in the network that the printer is hooked up to is using Windows 2000, as are all the others. And things sent to the printer off the same computer that the printer is physically hooked up to has the same result as when the data is sent from any other computer in the network. It makes it into the queue waiting to be printed, and does show up in the printer's queue as "printing", but nothing happens. And this isn't a new application. The printer has been merrily working off that computer for close to 5 years with no problems. It's a HP Laserjet 6P. And nothing on that computer was changed from what it was set at before. All that was done was the computer and printer was physically moved to another desk so the employee that had the computer with the hard drive crash could work on something and it had been working just fine. When the computer with the hard drive crash was repaired and the files updated onto it, it was switched back. And, as I said, all wires and connections have been checked to make sure it's not a case of wires being crossed as far as work station addresses on the network and things being plugged back in. As I mentioned, I would assume it was just the printer giving up the ghost if it wasn't for the fact I played around with the "add printer" thingie and somehow managed to get a test Word document to print onto it by renaming it's address, but none of the other computers in the network will browse and find that printer to allow me to do the same thing. It's weird.

06-13-2007, 12:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
SirNtwrk Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 26 OS: Win XP SP2	Re: Printer on network having problems I would start with the system the printer is hooked up to directly first. If that system cannot print, it is very likely that is where the issue lies. A quick scan of the Internet shows that printer hooked up with a parallel port; that means it is probably hitting the LTP1 port. If you look in the properties for that printers in the Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes, right click the printer and choose Properties, then check the Ports tab, it should be listed as LTP1. If it is, try printing a test page from the General tab. If that does not work, try changing to other LTP ports if any are listed. It is possible for ports to be disabled in the BIOS as well, though this seems unlikely as it would require you to really want to do it. If the test page will print from the printer, then try printing from other apps, like Notepad or Word. Also, do not forget to cancel any documents that might be in the print queue already. You can do this by double clicking the printer, choose Printer and Cancel All Documents from the list. Another thing to try may be stopping and restarting the Print Spooler from the Services list, although I would guess you have restarted this system and that would have the same effect. If you need some instructions on how to do this, let me know.

06-13-2007, 05:38 PM	#5 (permalink)
ascoredhat Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 25 OS: Windows XP	Re: Printer on network having problems You are right on the money, Sir Network. I went to the printer's properties and looked under ports and, for whatever reason, the LPT1 port had become unchecked. I put a check mark next to it, rebooted the computer, and all is well and good. That would certainly explain why the print jobs got as far as the print host computer and were listed in the queue, but could go no further. They had no idea which port to find the printer under. Thank you very much for your help. We had called the Geek Squad and they were quoting $159+ to come in. And all it took was a check mark and a reboot. :)