Reports won't open 1

[perrymans]

Throughout all of my databases, suddenly reports won't open in print preview or in design view!

WTF? Any ideas?

Office 2003/ Windows XP

Thanks. Sean.

 

[Yarcadian]

Are you getting any error messages? Is it every report or shotgunned?

 

[Lightning]

Sean
Is there a printer installed on the PC? If there is no printer installed you will get that type of error message.

HTH
Lightning

 

[perrymans]

It happens whether connected to the network, or on the road (laptop). i have notice MS Word 2003 hangs something fierce when it doesn't have a printer connected.

This is happening on every report in every database.

Thanks. Sean.

 

[psemianonymous]

If you are getting an error message, let us know.

I think it's the standard 'no default printer' error message. The quick and dirty way to get rid of this is to install a dummy local printer on your machine, so there is at least something that Access can latch onto.

Sometimes my machine won't open Access reports, but a reboot fixes any problems (specifically, spoolsv.exe fails to load or somesuch). I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that this error message (again, IF this is the same error--you didn't say specifically what the error is) is common.


Pete

 

[perrymans]

No errors, no nothing. They just don't open, preview, print, or design view.

Thanks. Sean.

 

[mkov]

Have you tried what foolio12 suggested? I have had the same type of thing happen and it was a printer issue as foolio12 talked about.

 

[psemianonymous]

Oh yeah, do one other thing. Set Docmd.SetWarnings True, so you get error messages. I develop with *ALL* the error messages turned on, so that my program works (without warning messageboxes) when my users begin to use it. I learned this lesson the hard way...

...so anyway, make sure your warnings are on before you dismiss error messages. And go to your Printers folder of your computer and see if there's something fishy there. HINT: there will be.

 

[perrymans]

Hate to disappoint guys, but neither helped. Nothing funny going on in printers, and I even removed them all (networked) and reinstalled my default.

I also SetWarnings True with an AutoExec macro, but no error messages.

I am pretty sure that this has come about from one of the updates from microsoft. Because I did a large batch of them at once, I can't pinpoint which one.

I am wiping out the hard drive tomorrow and restarting again, this time being more careful about the updates. If I can figure out which one is the problem (if it is, I am only guessing), then I'll let you guys know.

Thanks. Sean.

 

[chum908]

Sean,
I have the same problem on two of my workstations. If you open the database and hover the mouse cursor over the printer icon it will show the message "No Printer". I have looked everywhere to figure out how to have Access "see" the default printer. I have also done what you and the other have suggested even before searching here for an answer. If I figure this out today I will let you know.
Mike

 

[chum908]

Sean,
Well it seems that for some unknown reason even though I was able to print a test page to the default printer on that machine Access did not see that printer even though it was set as the default. I changed it to another network printer and "bada bing" Access sees it and then is able to open, print, and preview reports.
So what I suggest is changing the default printer, deleting the one that is giving you a problem and reinstalling it once again to see what you end up with. The two workstations that I was having problems with are now fine.

 

[perrymans]

I could have used that info a week ago!

I reloaded another drive with XP and Office 2003 and the same problem! After System Restore-ing three times, it became apparent it was something else.

So i deleted the only printer I had set, and WHAM! It works (on the new machine).

So I put the old hard drive in and it worked too (after removing that one printer).

My apologies to foolio12. I am almost 100% certain that I had removed all printers before and it still didn't work.

I found a topic somewhere and someone was having this issue with a Samba server (Linux). However, the real culprit is the printer/ printer driver on a network.

Tomorrow I am going to try and load the print driver directly onto my laptop, rather than relying on the networked driver. I'll bet that solves it.

Thanks for all the help! At elast I upgraded from a 20GB to a 40GB hard drive! Sean.

 

[perrymans]

I did get a error on the new drive:

"The wizard was unable to create your report"

Wanted to through that in for people who may be searching for this message.

Sean.

 

[mwhalen]

I just tried this and THANK YOU for this tip! I've been searching this for DAYS!!!! The key thing was putting the mouse over the printer icon and seeing the "no printer" message. That was the big clue. Thanks again!

 

[JoeAtWork]

To contribute some further experience to this thread....

I once had to do the following:
1. Install a new driver on the computer that the printer was attached to
2. On any of the clients, delete the printer, then readd it from the network