Printers disappear

[bandolou]

Hello excuse my english...
On a NT 4 server running sp6a, users call me because they can't print on any printers of the network.
When i want to look at the printers i can't see them.i reboot the server and then the re appear and all work fine.
i try to de install and re install printers but the problem go on.
thanks fo any idea .
a french tec :-(

 

[epohl]

Sounds like the Spooler service might be crashing for some reason. Go through the event viewer and see if it contains any error messages.

 

[FilthPig]

Additionally, instead of rebooting the server, you can probably get the printers back by just stopping the Spooler service and starting it again. This doesn't fix the problem, but at least you don't have to have other stuff down while you're waiting for the server to reboot. Marc Creviere

 

[MVC]

We had the same proble a while ago.
Stopping the spooler and restarting him helps always.
When we installed new printer-drivers the problem dissapeared.

 

[shebmeister]

I've been fighting this problem with no luck over the past couple of years. The printers dissapear off the client workstation when running access (MS Office 97) or other Office apps.
For the last six months I've had luck patching the Office 97 to SP2. This seems to reduce the number of dissapearing printer incidents to a minimum.
Are you patched to the latest revision in the application software your running ??

the sheb

 

[Zelandakh]

Sheb,

Your problem is a client one. Go to the client w/s and set the printers to print directly to the printer (which is actually a spooler). You'll find that cures 90% of the crashes.

Are you running anti virus on the w/s? If so, exclude anything called *spool*.exe or .dll from the av which should cure most of the other problems.