Printers Gone?

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hello,
Suddenly all my printers are gone
Efax & HP Photosmart 7660

I can not install and get the following error.
"RPC Server unavailable"

Perhaps I did something in effort to clean things up, can someone show me
the light?

Thanks
Mike from Brownstown MI
 
The listing of printers requires the spooler service to be running. In
turn, the spooler service requires the Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
service. And the RPC service is not running. The most frequent cause is
corrupt or missing printer driver files.

Navigate to Add/Remove printers and delete the printer driver. Clean up
as necessary. See this article:
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

Reboot the system and install a good copy of the drivers. DL that from
the HP web site.

That should fix it unless you removed some OS files inadvertently during
your clean-up efforts. If that seems likely, your options include:

1. taking the system back to a previous date using System Restore;
2. recovering the system from a backup given that you have such a thing;
3. a repair install from the OS CD (if a retail copy) or a recovery
method provided by the system builder (with all the backup of user
files, and other pains that implies).

[Incidentally, it is possible to "manually" start the RPC and spooler
services if you want to do that as a diagnostic check or any other
reason.
Net Start rpcss
Net Start spooler

Issue these commands from the command interpreter.]

Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User
 
Thank you Tom,
When attempting to clean up drivers I get this error message:

Server properties can not be viewed. The print spooler service is not
running.

I then ran the commands: From a dos prompt
Net Start rpcss
Net Start spooler

Still nothing. The only clean up I did what the start up programs, viewed
from the msconfig command. I re reviewed the list and nothing unchecked would
have anything to do with the computers core operations. I could restore but
would like to do so as a last resort. I have been out of town for weeks on
end and not sure what I made the changes that would effect (or if I even made
changed that would effect)
Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks again for your help
--
Mike Jackson



Tom Ferguson said:
The listing of printers requires the spooler service to be running. In
turn, the spooler service requires the Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
service. And the RPC service is not running. The most frequent cause is
corrupt or missing printer driver files.

Navigate to Add/Remove printers and delete the printer driver. Clean up
as necessary. See this article:
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

Reboot the system and install a good copy of the drivers. DL that from
the HP web site.

That should fix it unless you removed some OS files inadvertently during
your clean-up efforts. If that seems likely, your options include:

1. taking the system back to a previous date using System Restore;
2. recovering the system from a backup given that you have such a thing;
3. a repair install from the OS CD (if a retail copy) or a recovery
method provided by the system builder (with all the backup of user
files, and other pains that implies).

[Incidentally, it is possible to "manually" start the RPC and spooler
services if you want to do that as a diagnostic check or any other
reason.
Net Start rpcss
Net Start spooler

Issue these commands from the command interpreter.]

Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, if everything was working
before and is not now, something has changed. It might have been changed
by some deliberate act whether or not intended for some related purpose,
or some non-voluntary action such as an automatic system update; or file
corruption caused by events such as bad memory modules or HD problems.or
mis-matched DLL files-DLL or other file replaced by an older or
otherwise incompatible version. (Much rarer with XP and Vista than
heretofore since both protect essential files).

In any case, there are two possible corrective actions;

-Go forward by doing a system reinstallation from the CD "on top of" the
present system. {Make sure you prepare ahead of doing this to back-up
user files. Also, assure that you have read and understand the procedure
so you won't have to reinstall all your applications and user files
after you are finished.}

-Do some type of recovery from a backup or system recovery point, if
available.

Progressive or repeated failure after recovery suggests a hardware
problem but such things are far rarer than software issues.

If you would like further details, there is information available from
MSKB articles and other on-line sources. Of course, if you post back,
someone here can assist.

Tom
MSMVP
Windows shell/User

MSJ said:
Thank you Tom,
When attempting to clean up drivers I get this error message:

Server properties can not be viewed. The print spooler service is not
running.

I then ran the commands: From a dos prompt
Net Start rpcss
Net Start spooler

Still nothing. The only clean up I did what the start up programs,
viewed
from the msconfig command. I re reviewed the list and nothing
unchecked would
have anything to do with the computers core operations. I could
restore but
would like to do so as a last resort. I have been out of town for
weeks on
end and not sure what I made the changes that would effect (or if I
even made
changed that would effect)
Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks again for your help
--
Mike Jackson



Tom Ferguson said:
The listing of printers requires the spooler service to be running.
In
turn, the spooler service requires the Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
service. And the RPC service is not running. The most frequent cause
is
corrupt or missing printer driver files.

Navigate to Add/Remove printers and delete the printer driver. Clean
up
as necessary. See this article:
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

Reboot the system and install a good copy of the drivers. DL that
from
the HP web site.

That should fix it unless you removed some OS files inadvertently
during
your clean-up efforts. If that seems likely, your options include:

1. taking the system back to a previous date using System Restore;
2. recovering the system from a backup given that you have such a
thing;
3. a repair install from the OS CD (if a retail copy) or a recovery
method provided by the system builder (with all the backup of user
files, and other pains that implies).

[Incidentally, it is possible to "manually" start the RPC and spooler
services if you want to do that as a diagnostic check or any other
reason.
Net Start rpcss
Net Start spooler

Issue these commands from the command interpreter.]

Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User

MSJ said:
Hello,
Suddenly all my printers are gone
Efax & HP Photosmart 7660

I can not install and get the following error.
"RPC Server unavailable"

Perhaps I did something in effort to clean things up, can someone
show
me
the light?

Thanks
Mike from Brownstown MI
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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