printer not printing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jo-Anne
  • Start date Start date
J

Jo-Anne

I'm using WinXP and an HPLaserJet4100 on my desktop computer. Suddenly, my
printer won't print. It's on, it's connected, and until yesterday it was
printing just fine.

I don't know if it's coincidence, but yesterday we had major thunderstorms
(with one lightning strike that went through the roof of a house across the
alley), and I lost my landline. It was just restored this afternoon, along
with my internet service (I have DSL). The repairman said the line between
the alley and my house had to be replaced.

The error message is "This document failed to print." It goes on to name the
job, the printer, etc.

I turned the printer and the computer off and then back on. I also tried
printing from my laptop, which is networked to my desktop computer. It
appears to send the order to the desktop computer, but it just lands in a
queue and doesn't print.

My husband checked all the physical connections, and they seem fine.

Any idea of what I should do next?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
 
: I'm using WinXP and an HPLaserJet4100 on my desktop computer. Suddenly, my
: printer won't print. It's on, it's connected, and until yesterday it was
: printing just fine.
:
: I don't know if it's coincidence, but yesterday we had major thunderstorms
: (with one lightning strike that went through the roof of a house across
the
: alley), and I lost my landline. It was just restored this afternoon, along
: with my internet service (I have DSL). The repairman said the line between
: the alley and my house had to be replaced.
:
: The error message is "This document failed to print." It goes on to name
the
: job, the printer, etc.
:
: I turned the printer and the computer off and then back on. I also tried
: printing from my laptop, which is networked to my desktop computer. It
: appears to send the order to the desktop computer, but it just lands in a
: queue and doesn't print.
:
: My husband checked all the physical connections, and they seem fine.
:
: Any idea of what I should do next?
:
: Thank you!
:
: Jo-Anne
:
Contact HP support.
:
 
Jo-Anne said:
I'm using WinXP and an HPLaserJet4100 on my desktop computer. Suddenly, my
printer won't print. It's on, it's connected, and until yesterday it was
printing just fine.

I don't know if it's coincidence, but yesterday we had major thunderstorms
(with one lightning strike that went through the roof of a house across
the alley), and I lost my landline. It was just restored this afternoon,
along with my internet service (I have DSL). The repairman said the line
between the alley and my house had to be replaced.

The error message is "This document failed to print." It goes on to name
the job, the printer, etc.

I turned the printer and the computer off and then back on. I also tried
printing from my laptop, which is networked to my desktop computer. It
appears to send the order to the desktop computer, but it just lands in a
queue and doesn't print.

My husband checked all the physical connections, and they seem fine.

Any idea of what I should do next?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...
Look in the printer manual and see if it will run a self test. Hook the
computer directly to the laptop and install the drivers in that computer and
see if it will print. If not then the printer is fried. As this printer was
put into original service some time near the beginning of the decade it
probably has no value for an insurance claim. If it proves to be dead it
probably isn't worth have repairs made either.

I had a strike near my house one time, no power or telephone lines were
struck and power to house wasn't lost. Everything that was damaged was
turned off at the time of the strike. I lost the internal modems in two
computers, one TV and an Epson wide carriage ink jet printer. What was
unusual is that the printer self-tested fine but the Parallel interface
circuitry was cooked. Other than that everything else worked fine.
Lightening can do weird things to electrical components even when they are
turned off and don't get struck directly.
 
LVTravel said:
Look in the printer manual and see if it will run a self test. Hook the
computer directly to the laptop and install the drivers in that computer
and see if it will print. If not then the printer is fried. As this
printer was put into original service some time near the beginning of the
decade it probably has no value for an insurance claim. If it proves to
be dead it probably isn't worth have repairs made either.

I had a strike near my house one time, no power or telephone lines were
struck and power to house wasn't lost. Everything that was damaged was
turned off at the time of the strike. I lost the internal modems in two
computers, one TV and an Epson wide carriage ink jet printer. What was
unusual is that the printer self-tested fine but the Parallel interface
circuitry was cooked. Other than that everything else worked fine.
Lightening can do weird things to electrical components even when they are
turned off and don't get struck directly.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, LVTravel! I did a self-test, and it was fine, so the
printer is functional. I'm not sure, however, how to connect it to my
laptop. It's a parallel printer, and the laptop has only serial and USB
ports. Is there a cable I can buy to do this? If not, I'll need to take the
printer to a shop or maybe to a friend who has an old desktop computer like
mine.

I forgot to mention earlier that my husband's electronic weather station was
fried the same night that we lost the landline and, quite possibly, my
printer. No direct strike...

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
 
Do Dah Zippity said:
: I'm using WinXP and an HPLaserJet4100 on my desktop computer. Suddenly,
my
: printer won't print. It's on, it's connected, and until yesterday it was
: printing just fine.
:
: I don't know if it's coincidence, but yesterday we had major
thunderstorms
: (with one lightning strike that went through the roof of a house across
the
: alley), and I lost my landline. It was just restored this afternoon,
along
: with my internet service (I have DSL). The repairman said the line
between
: the alley and my house had to be replaced.
:
: The error message is "This document failed to print." It goes on to name
the
: job, the printer, etc.
:
: I turned the printer and the computer off and then back on. I also tried
: printing from my laptop, which is networked to my desktop computer. It
: appears to send the order to the desktop computer, but it just lands in
a
: queue and doesn't print.
:
: My husband checked all the physical connections, and they seem fine.
:
: Any idea of what I should do next?
:
: Thank you!
:
: Jo-Anne
:
Contact HP support.
:
Click to expand...

For a 9-year-old printer?
 
Thank you, Meebers! The printer does print--from itself. It's a parallel
printer, and we've unplugged it and replugged it. I haven't tried
reinstalling the drivers. I was going to install the printer on another
computer to see if it would work, but so far I haven't been able to connect
it to my laptop, which doesn't have a parallel port. I did clear the queue
from the previous print jobs...

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you very much, LVTravel! I did a self-test, and it was fine, so the
printer is functional. I'm not sure, however, how to connect it to my
laptop. It's a parallel printer, and the laptop has only serial and USB
ports. Is there a cable I can buy to do this? If not, I'll need to take the
printer to a shop or maybe to a friend who has an old desktop computer like
mine.

I forgot to mention earlier that my husband's electronic weather station was
fried the same night that we lost the landline and, quite possibly, my
printer. No direct strike...

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Jo-Anne:

USb to Parallel converters DO exist:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=1537

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...y_slc.asp?CatId=471&name=USB Parallel Adapter

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-SBT-UPPC-Parallel-6-Foot-Printer/dp/B0007UVRVO

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000FPM5HQ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

whether they are worth the price just to test is up to you. A friend
or neighbor with a Parallel port machine is more cost effective IMHO.

John

--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - 40.4913ºN,79.904ºW - http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6
 
John Dulak said:
Jo-Anne:

USb to Parallel converters DO exist:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=1537

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...y_slc.asp?CatId=471&name=USB Parallel Adapter

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-SBT-UPPC-Parallel-6-Foot-Printer/dp/B0007UVRVO

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000FPM5HQ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

whether they are worth the price just to test is up to you. A friend or
neighbor with a Parallel port machine is more cost effective IMHO.

John
Click to expand...


Thank you, John! They are expensive, certainly. But I have no one nearby
with a parallel port machine--and if I have to take it to a local shop,
it'll be even more expensive.

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, John! They are expensive, certainly. But I have no one nearby
with a parallel port machine--and if I have to take it to a local shop,
it'll be even more expensive.

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

I know I'm butting in late here but if it's so old a printer it uses the old
parallel port then it likely would print directly from the command line,
e.g. open a command prompt, type 'copy con lpt1', type some text and hit
enter, then (from memory) it's Ctrl-Z to exit out of the copy command. The
printer should react in some manner or my guess is it's some hardware
connection problem (as it self tests) and if that isn't a cable (possibly
some mode in printer's own onboard setup?) issue I'd be looking for a new
USB whatever I could afford.
 
pjp said:
I know I'm butting in late here but if it's so old a printer it uses the
old parallel port then it likely would print directly from the command
line, e.g. open a command prompt, type 'copy con lpt1', type some text and
hit enter, then (from memory) it's Ctrl-Z to exit out of the copy command.
The printer should react in some manner or my guess is it's some hardware
connection problem (as it self tests) and if that isn't a cable (possibly
some mode in printer's own onboard setup?) issue I'd be looking for a new
USB whatever I could afford.
Click to expand...
Thank you, pjp! I tried that and got "The syntax of the command is
incorrect." What did I do wrong?

Jo-Anne
 
I assume you can open a command prompt window. Mine by default is a black
windows with a blinking cursor after the following text

C:\Documents and Settings\'my username'>

Note 'my username' is edited and is really what my login name is so yours
would be different.

At the blinking cursor type the following line

copy con lpt1

and hit enter. If there's an error it's likely the system doesn't even see
an lpt1 port so you could try lpt2 and lpt3 just to be sure buts it's
unlikely. An error indicates a hardware problem and again cheaper just buy a
cheap usb inkjet. Assuming no error the cursor goes down to beginning of
next line, type almost an gibberish you feel like and hit enter, do a second
line or more if inclined then use Ctrl-Z (hold down ctrl key and press z) to
exit the "copy" command. You should get a message "1 file(s) copied." even
if there's no printer hooked up which is my test scenario here. If the
printer does act up in any manner would indicate some type of communications
exists, hopefully it would actually print what you typed in which case
hardware is basically working so it's something in software in Windows
acting up.

For educational purposes. The OS has some reserved names it uses to indicate
hardware devices, con (for console), lpt'x' (old style printer port 'x') and
com 'x' (for serial ports). The above is simply copying what you type at the
keyboard to the lpt port, you could instead choose to copy a file,
preferably some small text file in which case you use the following command

copy 'filename' lpt1

and the system should respond '1 file(s) copied.' same as if you had copied
it to another folder or drive and hopefully the printer would spit it out.
 
Jo-Anne said:
I'm using WinXP and an HPLaserJet4100 on my desktop computer. Suddenly, my
printer won't print. It's on, it's connected, and until yesterday it was
printing just fine.

I don't know if it's coincidence, but yesterday we had major thunderstorms
(with one lightning strike that went through the roof of a house across
the alley), and I lost my landline. It was just restored this afternoon,
along with my internet service (I have DSL). The repairman said the line
between the alley and my house had to be replaced.

The error message is "This document failed to print." It goes on to name
the job, the printer, etc.

I turned the printer and the computer off and then back on. I also tried
printing from my laptop, which is networked to my desktop computer. It
appears to send the order to the desktop computer, but it just lands in a
queue and doesn't print.

My husband checked all the physical connections, and they seem fine.

Any idea of what I should do next?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Does the printer show up in Printers and Faxes? If so, right-click on it,
pick Properties, then click on Print Test Page. Do you get an error message,
or does it try to print? Is there a document showing in queue after clicking
on Test Page, and does it eventually go away (with or without printing), or
do you have to manually clear the queue?
Also, is your Print Spooler service running?
 
SC Tom said:
Does the printer show up in Printers and Faxes? If so, right-click on it,
pick Properties, then click on Print Test Page. Do you get an error
message, or does it try to print? Is there a document showing in queue
after clicking on Test Page, and does it eventually go away (with or
without printing), or do you have to manually clear the queue?
Also, is your Print Spooler service running?
Click to expand...

Hi, SC Tom,

Here are the answers:

I clicked on Print Test Page and didn't get an error message. The document
showed up in the queue but didn't go away until I manually cleared it.
(That's the way it's been happening since the problem started; I've had to
manually clear it each time--and, for what it's worth, the status is always
"offline" when I look at it.) As far as I can tell in Properties, the Print
Spooler is running--or at least is set to do so.

Per pjp, I used the right syntax today to print from the command line, but
the same thing happened--the document ended up in the queue and stayed
there.

Last night, my husband dug out a new parallel printer cable and plugged it
into the computer and the printer. No change.

I did some troubleshooting through HP Help, and at this point it suggests
using another printer port if there is one (I don't think there's another
parallel port on this computer) or uninstalling the port and letting Windows
reinstall it. Is that worth trying?

The only other thing I've been able to think to do (per LVTravel above) is
to connect my laptop (not the desktop computer currently connected) directly
to the printer. For that, however, I'd have to buy a parallel/USB cable
(almost $40 locally). Of course, if I do that, I can probably connect the
printer to a USB port on the desktop computer to see if the parallel port is
the problem.

Any further advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
 
Thank you, pjp! I had been trying to put the test message on the same line
as the copy con command. When I did it right, it was fine. However, the
document wouldn't print. It showed up in the print queue and stayed there
until I deleted it. The printer port is definitely lpt1, according to
Printer Properties.

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Hi, SC Tom,

Here are the answers:

I clicked on Print Test Page and didn't get an error message. The document
showed up in the queue but didn't go away until I manually cleared it.
(That's the way it's been happening since the problem started; I've had to
manually clear it each time--and, for what it's worth, the status is
always "offline" when I look at it.) As far as I can tell in Properties,
the Print Spooler is running--or at least is set to do so.

Per pjp, I used the right syntax today to print from the command line, but
the same thing happened--the document ended up in the queue and stayed
there.

Last night, my husband dug out a new parallel printer cable and plugged it
into the computer and the printer. No change.

I did some troubleshooting through HP Help, and at this point it suggests
using another printer port if there is one (I don't think there's another
parallel port on this computer) or uninstalling the port and letting
Windows reinstall it. Is that worth trying?

The only other thing I've been able to think to do (per LVTravel above) is
to connect my laptop (not the desktop computer currently connected)
directly to the printer. For that, however, I'd have to buy a parallel/USB
cable (almost $40 locally). Of course, if I do that, I can probably
connect the printer to a USB port on the desktop computer to see if the
parallel port is the problem.

Any further advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

If you don't mind waiting, you can get it a lot cheaper on-line:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If you buy it locally, will they allow you to return it if it doesn't work?
If Yes, then at least you can find out if it's the printer or the PC.

If it's the PC, then there may be other things wrong with it, or ready to go
wrong, and you may be ready for a new PC. I know no one wants to hear that,
or fork out the bucks for one, but lightning is hell on electronics (we lost
two fax machines at work the week I retired). If you think that maybe just
the parallel port is gone on the motherboard, you could get a PCI card with
a parallel interface to hook the printer to:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If it turns out to be the printer, well, it's a lot cheaper to buy one of
them than a PC :-)
 
SC Tom said:
If you don't mind waiting, you can get it a lot cheaper on-line:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If you buy it locally, will they allow you to return it if it doesn't
work? If Yes, then at least you can find out if it's the printer or the
PC.

If it's the PC, then there may be other things wrong with it, or ready to
go wrong, and you may be ready for a new PC. I know no one wants to hear
that, or fork out the bucks for one, but lightning is hell on electronics
(we lost two fax machines at work the week I retired). If you think that
maybe just the parallel port is gone on the motherboard, you could get a
PCI card with a parallel interface to hook the printer to:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If it turns out to be the printer, well, it's a lot cheaper to buy one of
them than a PC :-)
Click to expand...

Thank you, SC Tom! Actually, I think the computer is on its last legs (it's
a 7-year-old Dell). It's been slowing down lately, and I've had trouble with
the hard drive (had to use chkdsk with repair before I could image the drive
recently) and in fact have a new one ready to install once I get up the
nerve to do it--but I'm beginning to think I'd better look into a new
computer instead if indeed the printer port has gone. I have a laptop and a
netbook I can use, but I'm more comfortable with a desktop for my real work.

One more question: If it IS the parallel port on this old computer, couldn't
I use one of its USB ports to print from--if I get a parallel/USB cable?

Thank you very much!

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, SC Tom! Actually, I think the computer is on its last legs
(it's a 7-year-old Dell). It's been slowing down lately, and I've had
trouble with the hard drive (had to use chkdsk with repair before I could
image the drive recently) and in fact have a new one ready to install once
I get up the nerve to do it--but I'm beginning to think I'd better look
into a new computer instead if indeed the printer port has gone. I have a
laptop and a netbook I can use, but I'm more comfortable with a desktop
for my real work.

One more question: If it IS the parallel port on this old computer,
couldn't I use one of its USB ports to print from--if I get a parallel/USB
cable?

Thank you very much!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Yes, either method would work, although some of the USB-to-Whatever adaptors
can sometimes be flaky. My serial convertor works well enough for what I
need it to do, but my SCSI adaptor, not so great.
 
SC Tom said:
If you don't mind waiting, you can get it a lot cheaper on-line:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If you buy it locally, will they allow you to return it if it doesn't
work? If Yes, then at least you can find out if it's the printer or the
PC.

If it's the PC, then there may be other things wrong with it, or ready to
go wrong, and you may be ready for a new PC. I know no one wants to hear
that, or fork out the bucks for one, but lightning is hell on electronics
(we lost two fax machines at work the week I retired). If you think that
maybe just the parallel port is gone on the motherboard, you could get a
PCI card with a parallel interface to hook the printer to:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ8wIwAw#

If it turns out to be the printer, well, it's a lot cheaper to buy one of
them than a PC :-)
Click to expand...

I'll add, if you can buy that convertor cable locally, can't you just take
the printer in and ask them to do a quick check of it? Given you mentioned
you replaced cable and still a no-go, personally at that time I'd be cutting
my loss and not waste more time. Note - at $40 for a convertor cable you can
pretty much buy a new printer can't you?
 
pjp said:
I'll add, if you can buy that convertor cable locally, can't you just take
the printer in and ask them to do a quick check of it? Given you mentioned
you replaced cable and still a no-go, personally at that time I'd be
cutting my loss and not waste more time. Note - at $40 for a convertor
cable you can pretty much buy a new printer can't you?
Click to expand...
The converter cable would come from Best Buy; I wouldn't want them to look
at the computer. The only place in town where I'd take the printer to get it
checked is a real repair shop, and they're asking $49 just to look at it. If
I think I can get by for a few more days, a friend with such a cable will be
visiting and can bring it. But if it's the computer's parallel port, that's
a strong indication that I should get a new computer: The hard drive is
failing, the CD-RW drive is sticking closed--and if the port is bad, what
next?

AND I want a good quality business-level printer, which will cost big bucks,
I'm sure--and require some research first.

Jo-Anne
 
Elmo said:
Here's something you might try:

Open the Properties of the printer and see if, under the Ports tab,
there's a USB... Virtual Printer Port. If so, change to that port.
That's possibly what Windows sees, not the parallel port.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Joe, but there's no USB virtual printer port...

Jo-Anne
 
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