Printer disappearing

[tom1681]

We have a PC running XP with an HP DeskJet 5850 connected to it via USB. Now, pretty much every time the computer is rebooted the printer disappears from the printers folder and any attempt to print is met with the message 'There are no printers installed'. To solve the problem the printer has to be reinstalled and all is well until the computer is restarted.
What is going on here? Has anyone seen this sort of thing before?
Thanks in advance.

 

[bcastner]

1. Check that the plug and play service is running
2. While this may seem a different issue, make the registry edit discussed in this MS KB, and reboot:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q298/3/70.asp&NoWebContent=1

 

[Jump1ng]

It could also be a faulty USB cable had the same problem on a machine at a customers site, I updated the printer driver and the motherboard usb drivers still the printer dissapered eveery reboot, eventually we changed the cable and the problem stoped.

 

[SCFROMDC]

RPC is failing, go to your services and restart RPC and the print spooler, look again for your printer.
You need to install the latest service packs, and make sure you dont have an HP and a LEXMARK running thier respective services at the same time...
There are lots of reasons for this, but this has been the most abundant for me....
I have had to do a complete re-install, and on one pc, made a short-cut to restart the services because the user didnt want a re-install....its mostly WIN2K, but XP has had some issues as well..
A utility like WinFix V2 may help, because it rebuilds your winsock config, and that has also been an issue, especially after blaster, and like worms.

http://www.deadcenter.us

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Confucius

 

[tom1681]

Thanks for all the responses.

The plug and play service is running and I followed the instructions in MS KB Article 298370 but the problem still reoccurred.

Haven't tried a new cable yet but this shouldn't cause the printer to disappear should it? It doesn't disappear when it's turned off...

A couple of times I've tried to reinstall the printer it's said it can't because RPC isn't running. When I check, it is running but can't be restarted (nor can it ever).
The PC has SP1 and all critical updates installed - is there a non critical update related to this problem? There is no Lexmark or other printer software installed on it.
Couldn't seem to find Winfix, do you have a URL?

Any more ideas?

Thanks again.

 

[bcastner]

Printers disappear because of a spooler failure. See this cleanup as it often sorts the issue:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm