This is driving me mad. You know when you send a document to print
and, for some unknown reason it gets corrupted on the way and causes
the printer to spew out junk? And you know it's then almost
impossible to stop the printer wasting page after page, even by
switching the printer off, cutting the mains power, trying (and
failing) to delete the spool file being printed, or even re-booting?
So - is there an easy and reliable way to kill the printer once this
has started happening? I'm using Windows XP, but the problem's common
to all Windows versions, as I know from long experience. |
Request for Question Clarification by
maniac-ga
on
20 May 2003 05:04 PDT
Hello Michael2,
Is there an easy & reliable way to kill the printer...?
Let me describe the basic set up of your printer / computer and
suggest some methods to use. The specifics may be a little different -
try these methods first, and if they work for you I'll post a proper
answer. if not, we can work through the problems.
Depending on your set up, the data being printed is stored /
transmitted in:
- the printer queue, managed by Windows XP in your case
- the connection between printer and computer. I'll assume a direct
connection, but if you use a network printer - you may have to wait at
one of the steps below to be sure the network will not send bad data
to the printer.
- the printer may store data to be printed. On older printers, it
used to be up to a line of text, but high performance printers may
store several pages of information internally. The details will vary
by printer model.
First step - detect the problem. I'll assume you are next to the
printer so that will be easy.
Second step - stop the printer. As an example, I have a HP DeskJet 930
sitting next to me. The green light on the right is over the "on/off"
button that stops printing (but does not reset the printer). Press
that button to stop the printing.
Third step - stop the queue and remove the job from the printer queue.
By this point, you may already be getting a message that the printer
is not working. I don't know if you have a shortcut on the desktop to
the printer or must go through the start menu, but select the printer
you are using and open its control panel. Stop the printer queue and
then select the page with the list of jobs, select the job to stop,
and remove it from the list. This removes the bad job and also will
prevent the computer from sending more data until the printer is
reset. That general process will work with any operating system, if
you need the specifics for XP, please let me know.
At this point, the computer will stop sending more data, but the
printer is not completely "fixed". It may be in an inconsistent state
and it may be storing information that it will attempt to print if you
start it again.
Fourth step - reset the printer. At worst, remove power to the
printer, wait a few moments - say 10-30 seconds, and then restore the
power to the printer. Make sure it completes the start up process
before going to the next step. At best, there is a "reset" function -
usually a sequence of button presses that can delete pending jobs or
reset the internal memory. If you don't know how to do this, please
let me know what kind of printer you have so I can suggest some
methods.
Fifth step - start the printer queue on the computer. At this point,
the system should recognize that the printer was initialized, send the
setup data, and then start sending the next print job. If *this* print
job does not work, there may be a more serious problem with the system
(or the jobs you are sending to the printer). For example, if the
printer drivers are corrupt, a reboot and/or reinstall of printer
drivers may be necessary. To diagnose this kind of problem, I will
need more information - messages being displayed, specific models of
equipment, and that kind of data.
I described this as a five step process:
- detect the problem
- stop the printing
- stop the print queue / remove bad jobs
- reset the printer
- restart the print queue
which should work in general. Let me know if you need more specifics
for any of these steps.
--Maniac
|
Clarification of Question by
michael2-ga
on
25 May 2003 14:38 PDT
My problem is a bit more tricky, and is similar to that described in
the comment by by tlspiegel-ga. Of the points in maniac's list, steps
3 and 4 can't be done. That's the whole problem.
The job will not remove from the printer queue, and killing power to
the printer, for example by unplugging it, and re-starting doesn't
help either. I have just installed the latest downloaded HP printer
driver, so I don't think it's that. I'm just going to have to live
with taking the paper out fast!
|
Request for Question Clarification by
maniac-ga
on
27 May 2003 10:30 PDT
Hello Michael2,
Hmm. You can't do the third and fourth steps.... Well, fourth step
(resetting the printer) will not help until the third step (deleting
the job from the printer queue) is done first. The computer will still
spew out junk until the bad job is removed - and even worse - may
start the bad job from the start since it was interrupted! We need a
reliable method of removing the bad jobs from the queue.
Let's look at step #3 again. The steps using Windows 2000 (which
should be similar to XP) are to use the start menu...
Start -> Settings -> Printers -> (select the printer)
and a window should open with the list of current documents in the
queue.
I suggest pausing the printer queue using the menu
Printer -> Pause Printing
which will prevent another job from printing.
The top item listed should be the job to be removed. Click on that
item. Then using the menu...
Document -> Cancel
you should be able to remove the job from the queue. If this does not
work, please let me know what the specific messages are so I can help
diagnose the problem.
If you paused the printer, be sure to turn off the pause as part of
step 5. Repeat the "Pause Printing" step to remove the checkmark (and
resume printing). You may also want to print a test page to verify the
printer is working OK. The menu
Printer -> Properties
will bring up a window with a number of items. Print Test Page is a
button on the lower right (at least for my printer) which should print
a good sample output.
--Maniac
|
Clarification of Question by
michael2-ga
on
29 May 2003 11:37 PDT
What I usually do to remove the job from the queue is to select it and
hit Delete. Sometimes (but by no means always) that doesn't remove the
job. I assume the menu item 'Document -> Cancel' does the same thing,
in which case I'm afraid we're no further on. I'll try it when I get
corruption again, but that happens at pretty irregular intervals.
Thanks for your comments anyway.
regards
Michael2
|
Request for Question Clarification by
maniac-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 05:03 PDT
Hello Michael2,
It has been a week since the last clarification. Does this method work
for you or do you still need more help?
--Maniac
|
Clarification of Question by
michael2-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 14:21 PDT
Hello again Maniac
I haven't had any corruption since last week, so I haven't been able
to try it. But I think what you've suggested is effectively the same
thing I'm doing anyway, with no luck.
Michael2
|
Request for Question Clarification by
maniac-ga
on
09 Jun 2003 15:04 PDT
Hello Michael2,
I am glad to hear you don't have the problem - let's hope it stays
that way.
if it does recur, be sure to try the steps I suggested in order. Using
a different order may reset the printer, but fail to prevent further
rubbish.
Good luck.
--Maniac
|
