bizarre problem with printer!

bananacakes

Hi, I'm desperately trying to fix my printer as I need to start printing things for my wedding which is in 10 days!! help! Really hope someone can give me some ideas here?

I have a Canon Pixma MP610 which worked perfectly fine on my laptop (Windows Vista) but for some reason was always detected but just wouldn't print on my other half's laptop (also Windows Vista) which wasn't really a problem until I dropped my laptop on the floor!

There can't really be much wrong with the printer as it worked fine on another machine so I'm assuming that the printer and cables are all in working order. When I attach the printer the laptop detects it and lets me select it when I want to print a document, I press print and then nothing happens. The item appears in the print queue and then disappears just like that. The laptop acts like it has sent the relevant information and the printer has received it...but nothing happens on the printer. I've tried using different ports, reinstalling new print drivers but still nothing! I've reached the end of my expertise as far as these things go and I can't think of anything else to try. Here's the funny thing though, if I go into the printer settings I can ask it to print a test page and do all the cleaning etc and it does that just fine! It just won't print documents/e-mails/pictures....anything! So the problem isn't specific to the software as I've tried and had the same result in many programs.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be extremely grateful! Thanks.

Banana

rrf494g

a possible reason for the odd behaviour of "non printing" is a problem with the program known as the "print spooler".

Most programs do not print direct to the printer. They add the "to be printed" information to a file, that is is known as the "spool file" (this term goes back to when files were held on tape spools on mainframe computers). A special print-spool program goes through the print spool file sequencially printing as it goes. This process enables programs to "print" to the spool file without waiting for the printer to be actually available (the printer being a very [very] slow device compared to the speed of everything else that is going on).

The "test-page printing" does not go through the spool file but prints directly - and must have the printer actually available - hence the symptom you are getting.

I don't know vista but if you investigate the "print spooling process" you may find why the spool-file (the print-queue) at first has your printing, then it dissapears. You may also be able to switch off spooling and set "print direct to printer" .

good luck.

bananacakes

Ahhh that makes a lot of sense!! Definitely something to do with that - I just changed the print settings to "print direct to printer" and now I get a bit further than before!!! The printer says its preparing and makes lots of noise and then for a brief second it says "printing from computer" and then nothing happens...I'll keep researching this spool thing, if you have any more advice let me know, I really appreciate it!

rrf494g

http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/fix-printer-manual

this article has some vista related advice for print spooler problems - might help

good luck

Mista_C

Also, in the same printer properties dialog, under Ports, assuming the option isn't greyed out, try enabling/disabling (as appropriate) bidirectional support. I've seen this cause all kinds of erratic behaviour with printers in the past.

SteveJH200

Try finding the solution here - there is a section for printing errors - worth a try and nothing to lose!

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/

bananacakes

rrf494g wrote: »

http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/fix-printer-manual

this article has some vista related advice for print spooler problems - might help

good luck

thank you so much, working my way through this at the moment, fingers crossed!

Jemma-T

bananacakes wrote: »

Here's the funny thing though, if I go into the printer settings I can ask it to print a test page and do all the cleaning etc and it does that just fine!

That tells me there's no problem with the printer or laptop. It's obviously communicating perfectly fine.

When you choose "Print preview" (not "Print" from say Word) which printer is showing? Which is the default? I think the reason the print queue disappears is because the "printing" may have been done eg it's been actually saved as an .xps document or the laptop thinks the printer has completed the job (again it has been saved to the PC somewhere).

If printing is that important it's worth having a 2nd machine around especially one where cheap ink is accessible http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9371424.htm £24.99 out of the box.

bananacakes

Fixed it!!!! Thank you thank you thank you rrf494g! I had to go as far as uninstalling the printer management software and the drivers manually from the device manager and then reinstalling - the printer wasn't under imaging devices like it should have been but under drives?? not sure if this had anything to do with it? But it's all working now and I can't thank you enough! You have literally saved the day!