Deskjets Disappear

[thatrenowned]

Does anyone know why HP DeskJet printers have a habit of disappearing in NT4? I know that rebooting the PC gets it back, but how can I stop it?

Thanks

 

[carty]

Going completely or just graying out?

I've found HP to be a bit of a pain before. Try downloading the latest drivers (I suspect you have).

Other than that, report it to them?

Carty

 

[thatrenowned]

Its something to do with the RPC service...the computers just 'drop' off your computer. Rebooting gets them back.

I have the latest drivers.

When I say gone, I mean when you go to your printers folder, theres nothing in there except 'Add New Printer'. Once you reboot all printers come back. This only happens with DeskJets though, LaserJets are fine, as are other models of printers.

 

[cnthomp]

I've seen this before. Permanent fix? I'll have to think about it. However, to get your printers back in NT without rebooting, stop and then start your Spooler service.

Hope this helps.

 

[thatrenowned]

I've tried that before and a lot of the time it just fails. One of the things to take into account here is that standard domain users can't play about with many things in Control Panel including the Services option. I'm not prepared to give it to them either because as anyone who maintains a domain will tell you, users play about with things, mess them up and then claim that a) they didn't do anything or b) they shouldn't have the option to do it if it can cause damage...etc.

Anyway, I appreciate the suggestions but maybe its just some incompatibility thing.

I'll now list everything I can think of which will help taking into account that they didn't work (and its pretty big!):
1. Uninstalled all related software, rebooted the machine and started again.
2. Totally wiped a computer, reinstalled everything with same results.
3. Tried leaving the printer off shared i.e. not accessible from the network.
4. Updated to the latest drivers.
5. Made the user a local admin of the computer and installed the software as them.
6. Upgraded to the latest service pack.
7. Ran numerous error checkers, defraggers, anti-virus etc

(By the way, these aren't in any particular order)

There is a lot more, I just can't think of it right now. A lot of things I've thought 'this isn't going to work' or 'theres no reason this should work' (which none of them have), but I'm open to any suggestions no matter how stupid they sound.
This isn't a major problem...its just irritating when you get the same people calling each week and asking where their printer has gone. Then theres the usual banter about 'every IT solution is to reboot your computer' which is wearing a bit thin....

I've rambled on a bit, and its late so I'm going to bed. If anyone has a solution it would be most appreciated...

 

[PatR]

What type of deskjet are you using? Check this link at hp as apparently these versions can't be networked.

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpd02937.html

 

[thatrenowned]

The main ones it happens with are 720c and 840c's. The link you posted says they can be networked through sharing a parallel port (which is what we do), but not through JetDirect.
Also, as stated in my previous thread, this doesn't just happen with networked printers...those which are left 'Not Shared' are still affected. I think it has to have something to do with the 'RPC Service' or whatever its called because thats what seems to fail.

Thanks for the suggestion...

 

[hchman]

I can tell you that this is a very common problem and no one has come up with a fix yet. Microsoft will tell you to reboot.

 

[thatrenowned]

How kind of them...LOL

Maybe Microsoft and HP should collaborate on this one...

 

[garabato]

I have the same problem, but all the printer disappear, including laserjet 4000, and 4050. this printers are on an Nt server 4.0 but they disapear in win98 clients. And we need to reboot to get them back, also we have tried to delete and add the printer on the client, not the server, and that will fix the error temporaly. any sugesstions?

 

[garabato]

We had the same problems with the deskjets installed on win98 clients and shared thru the network, we solve it by ereasing all the files on the C:\windows\spool\printers\ folder, (by the way this folder is hidden) in the win 98 where the printer is setup, we add this line "DEL C:\windows\spool\printers\*.*" on the Autoexec file so each time the win98 print server was rebooting ( each morning when the user turn on the PC) it clears the folder, IT looks like the system couldn't erease these already printed jobs from the pc where the print was setup, they got stock for long time until another client from the network tried to print, so the system react by disappearing the printer on the client who tried to print.. since then we haven't had that problem with the deskjet, but now we have it with the laserjet....

I hope this information is usefull...

any suggestion about my problem?

 

[thatrenowned]

Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that...all printers disappear, but only when a deskjet is installed.

 

[Guest_imported]

We have 26 networked printers + others. We have a w2K print server. We still have a few NT servers on the subnet that contains the print server. We are trying to solve the problem of printers disappearing on W98 PCs and can't yet pinpoint the cause. HP stated to upgrade firmware which is done on all printers and problem still occurs. All out printers but one are HP. We have 4550s, 8550, plotters, 8150, 4100s, 2100s, one 4si, one 5si, one 1120 (don't ask).

Do we ever get technical experts from HP and/or Microsoft on these forums?

Thanks for the discussion.

 

[garabato]

We have controlled this issue by, setting the printer spool to print directly to the printer.
In printer properties, select Details tab, then, press "Spool Settings..", Select Print directly to the printer. looks like with this the print job goes directly to the server, and it is not stock in win98 client.. since we configure this in some of the most problematic clients, we haven't had problems...

if anyone need grafic information to make this,send me a email.

hor this information is usefull

 

[hchman]

You had better have a lot of memory in your printers if you do this.

 

[garabato]

You have to do this settings on win98 for the laser printer for each PC, not on your NT server. thus, the print jobs goes straigth to the NT server queue not the win98 queue,an either directly to the printer..

with the laserjets that are shared by another PC, we are testing with a few of them...

today, we don´t have any report with this issue finally.. an we have around 600 PC..