I'm trying to troubleshoot an intermittent problem with a network printer on
a Windows 2003 network. The printer is a Lexmark Optra S1855, with all up to
date drivers. The problem is that I can get the printer working properly,
then something causes it to fail to print a job, such that I can't even ping
the printer. My question is- can an application cause that basic a network
failure, or is the failure to be able to ping a clear sign that I've got a
hardware problem such as an intermittently bad NIC in the printer? Thanks.

can't ping is a good sign there's a problem with the NIC. I assume that
when you state up to date drivers you are referring to the flash bios on the
network interface. If you have not confirmed you have the latest NIC
firmware, flash the card. If there are any errors during the flash process,
it may be time for a new card.

I usually use lpq -S hostname -P raw to query the LPD stack on the card to
confirm it's working but this will also fail if ping fails.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"dvw" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:BFBCD588-BD7C-4CC5-A5CE-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to troubleshoot an intermittent problem with a network printer
> on
> a Windows 2003 network. The printer is a Lexmark Optra S1855, with all up
> to
> date drivers. The problem is that I can get the printer working properly,
> then something causes it to fail to print a job, such that I can't even
> ping
> the printer. My question is- can an application cause that basic a network
> failure, or is the failure to be able to ping a clear sign that I've got
> a
> hardware problem such as an intermittently bad NIC in the printer? Thanks.