Post edited 11:13 am – August 17, 2011 by Ben Carpenter

hobobird said:

About 2 months ago I had an old HP Laserjet printer that died.  No big deal, I thought get a new printer.  I get the different printer and when attempting to install I get an error message that my printer cannot be installed.  I have gone through everything, the driver loads, but when I try to print it tells me printer is not installed.  According to all I have read and tried it's because the print spooler is not turned on.  So I went through a bunch of HP and Microsoft postings and learned how to manually turn on the print spooler.  Still the same thing.  Then I was referred to a posting saying that the remote services were turned off.  So I then learned how to manually turn those on.  I am back to square one.  Nothing has worked.  The spooler nor the remote services will stay turned on.  And worst of all I cannot print.  I know it's not the obvious like a cable because the printer works wonderfully when hooked up to the Ubuntu laptop that belongs to my bf.

 

Any suggestions short of completely re-installing everything on this poor old computer.

Compaq Presario

Windows XP Home with all current updates

1Gb RAM

1Tb HDD

Hobobird

It sounds to me like you may have a messed up install.  It could be that the old printer and the new printer have some of the driver files with the same name but not the same files and the install did not replace them.

I would suggest that you go to control panel and printers and remove both the old and the new printer.  Then power down and power up, and then power down one more time.  After powering up now you could attempt to reinstall the new printer.  You do not say what the new printer is, but some printers require you to install the software before you plug the printer into the computer.

As for the print spooler my experience has been that when I print something the spooler turns on and then closes when the print job is done.

You did not mention if this printer has other functions such as scan, copy or fax and if they work when the printer will not print.

hobobird said:

Thanks for your reply Ben.  A messed up/corrupted install was my first guess as well.  I have gone through the control panel and removed both printers multiple times.  A complete power down and power up multiple times as well.  I thought the driver was the issue as they are both HP printers.  Both devices are 4-in-ones, print, scan, copy, fax.

Yes, the software does require installation before plugging in the printer, which I did.

I do understand that the spooler is called for when I attempt to print.  But each time I attempt to print, the spooler will not turn on.  That is why I resorted to the manual turn on.

 

I can scan or copy because the printer has internal memory enough to handle that without the spooler or other communication with the computer.  The only thing it refuses to do is print a document from my computer.  Makes no difference what it is.

I cannot install the printer and cannot print.

Hobobird

The only other thing I can think of right now is to go to the HP web site and download the install software for your new printer.  It is possible that the CD you have might be corrupted.  Just make sure you get the install software for your operating system.

You mentioned you could scan.  Does this mean you can get your scanned document on to the computer?  If so it indicates that the unit is talking to your computer for the scanning process which means the cable and connection is working.

If all else fails to work I would have a talk with the people you purchased the printer from.

hobobird said:

It will scan and hold it in the actual printer/scanner memory but not display on the computer.  I will try the software DL from HP and see if that works.

 

Thanks a bunch.

Hobobird

Two other things I have thought of.

First would be to try a different cable to connect the printer to the computer.

Second would be to try some other USB item in the same USB port on the computer.

I've been monitoring this thread, and………

I know you want a solution short of "completely re-installing……", but here's some food for thought:

Your original post was on the 15th.  As of the 20th, you don't seem to have the problem solved.  You've had a less-than-whole system for 5 full days now. It would've taken an afternoon to back up your data (something that you should be doing on an ongoing basis anyway) and re-install Windows.  Boom.  You're done. 

I realize that a "nuke and pave" isn't appealing to many people.  It's intimidating, I get it.  But these same people pull every last hair out of their heads for a week or more (and sometimes INDEFINITELY) over a virus they can't remove, or a driver that won't install properly, or a previously-working sound card issue, or……..

Back it up.  Wipe it out.  Get back to being productive with your PC and printer.