I have an HP Deskjet6940, only six months old--worked perfectly on my Dell
desktop (XP) until a couple weeks ago. Now even though it looks like
everything's okay, every time you hit File/Print you get, "An unknown error
occurred while printing", or "Windows can't print due to a problem with the
current printer setup", and no printing, nothing even in queue. The printer
is recognized and WORKS PERFECTLY with my Vista laptop, so I know it's not
the printer but something to do with a change in the desktop.

I've tried:

--restoring (it won't go back),

--reinstalling countless times,

--reinstalling with driver from HP site,

--reinstalling with the installation disc,

--reinstalling with Vista installation disc,

--running HP printer diagnostic; it says all is okay.

I read somewhere that Service Pack 3 could cause problems so I deleted it
and tried again. I disabled all firewalls and antivirus and tried again. i
went through two elaborate attempts with HP support and tried again. Even
though it looks like a completely normal installation every time, NOTHING
ever makes it into the print job queue.

Does ANYONE have suggestions for something else to try?

Thanks,

Braincramp
























I read somewhere that maybe XP service Pack 3 was keeping printers from
installing so I uninstalled it and tried the printer again. Nothing.



Can anyone suggest something else I can try?



Thanks,

Braincramp

Check to see that the print spooler service is running.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"Braincramp1" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:35CA9D9E-17A8-4459-BC9D-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have an HP Deskjet6940, only six months old--worked perfectly on my Dell
> desktop (XP) until a couple weeks ago. Now even though it looks like
> everything's okay, every time you hit File/Print you get, "An unknown
> error
> occurred while printing", or "Windows can't print due to a problem with
> the
> current printer setup", and no printing, nothing even in queue. The
> printer
> is recognized and WORKS PERFECTLY with my Vista laptop, so I know it's not
> the printer but something to do with a change in the desktop.
>
> I've tried:
>
> --restoring (it won't go back),
>
> --reinstalling countless times,
>
> --reinstalling with driver from HP site,
>
> --reinstalling with the installation disc,
>
> --reinstalling with Vista installation disc,
>
> --running HP printer diagnostic; it says all is okay.
>
> I read somewhere that Service Pack 3 could cause problems so I deleted it
> and tried again. I disabled all firewalls and antivirus and tried again. i
> went through two elaborate attempts with HP support and tried again. Even
> though it looks like a completely normal installation every time, NOTHING
> ever makes it into the print job queue.
>
> Does ANYONE have suggestions for something else to try?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Braincramp
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I read somewhere that maybe XP service Pack 3 was keeping printers from
> installing so I uninstalled it and tried the printer again. Nothing.
>
>
>
> Can anyone suggest something else I can try?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Braincramp

On Feb 15, 7:18*pm, Braincramp1
<Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I have an HP Deskjet6940, only six months old--worked perfectly on my Dell
> desktop (XP) until a couple weeks ago. Now even though it looks like
> everything's okay, every time you hit File/Print you get, "An unknown error
> occurred while printing", or "Windows can't print due to a problem with the
> current printer setup", and no printing, nothing even in queue.

Ignore your HP Deskjet6940 for a momment.

Now add a local printer, say, HP LaserJet 4/4M PS. Use "Print to File"
as the printer port, instead of LPT1:.

Test if you can print from applications to this virtual printer.

"Harry" wrote:

> On Feb 15, 7:18 pm, Braincramp1
> <Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > I have an HP Deskjet6940, only six months old--worked perfectly on my Dell
> > desktop (XP) until a couple weeks ago. Now even though it looks like
> > everything's okay, every time you hit File/Print you get, "An unknown error
> > occurred while printing", or "Windows can't print due to a problem with the
> > current printer setup", and no printing, nothing even in queue.
>
> Ignore your HP Deskjet6940 for a momment.
>
> Now add a local printer, say, HP LaserJet 4/4M PS. Use "Print to File"
> as the printer port, instead of LPT1:.
>
> Test if you can print from applications to this virtual printer.
>
Uh, well...I tried printing a web page thru the virtual printer to a file.
It did show up in the file but as 149 pages of gobbledy-gook. But it showed
up!

On Feb 16, 5:22*am, Braincramp1
<Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> "Harry" wrote:
> > Ignore your HP Deskjet6940 for a momment.
>
> > Now add a local printer, say, HP LaserJet 4/4M PS. Use "Print to File"
> > as the printer port, instead of LPT1:.
>
> > Test if you can print from applications to this virtual printer.
>
> Uh, well...I tried printing a web page thru the virtual printer to a file..
> It did show up in the file but as 149 pages of gobbledy-gook. But it showed
> up!- Hide quoted text -

Since it was a postscript printer, the file should contain postscript.
But 149 pages! incredible.

Anyway, back to your HP Deskjet6940.
Change its printer port from LPT1: to "Print to File:".
Could you print from applications to your HP Deskjet6940 now?

On Feb 16, 5:22*am, Braincramp1
<Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> "Harry" wrote:
> > Ignore your HP Deskjet6940 for a momment.
>
> > Now add a local printer, say, HP LaserJet 4/4M PS. Use "Print to File"
> > as the printer port, instead of LPT1:.
>
> > Test if you can print from applications to this virtual printer.
>
> Uh, well...I tried printing a web page thru the virtual printer to a file..
> It did show up in the file but as 149 pages of gobbledy-gook. But it showed
> up!- Hide quoted text -

Since it was a postscript printer, the file should contain postscript.
But 149 pages! incredible.

Anyway, back to your HP Deskjet6940.
Change its printer port from LPT1: to "Print to File:".
Could you print from applications to your HP Deskjet6940 now?

Yes, it prints, the same gobbledy-gook (is that what postscript means?)

Braincramp

"Harry" wrote:

> On Feb 16, 5:22 am, Braincramp1
> <Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > "Harry" wrote:
> > > Ignore your HP Deskjet6940 for a momment.
> >
> > > Now add a local printer, say, HP LaserJet 4/4M PS. Use "Print to File"
> > > as the printer port, instead of LPT1:.
> >
> > > Test if you can print from applications to this virtual printer.
> >
> > Uh, well...I tried printing a web page thru the virtual printer to a file..
> > It did show up in the file but as 149 pages of gobbledy-gook. But it showed
> > up!- Hide quoted text -
>
> Since it was a postscript printer, the file should contain postscript.
> But 149 pages! incredible.
>
> Anyway, back to your HP Deskjet6940.
> Change its printer port from LPT1: to "Print to File:".
> Could you print from applications to your HP Deskjet6940 now?
>

Braincramp1 wrote:
> Yes, it prints, the same gobbledy-gook (is that what postscript means?)
>
> Braincramp
>

Postscript is a high level language. It is used by printers, and
a version called Display Postscript is used by some computers (Sun Microsystems)
for rendering images on the screen.

Free language manual.
http://partners.adobe.com/public/dev...en/ps/PLRM.pdf

To view what a Postscript file looks like, there is free viewer software.

*******
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/

You can get gs853w32.exe (i386) from here. That installs the Ghostscript interpreter (low level).

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...ease_id=617197

GSView provides a nice GUI to Ghostscript. You install it second.

http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/sup...m/gsv49w32.exe
*******

There are other printer languages as well, like PCL. The
printer prints gobbledy-gook, if the wrong language
is sent to it - that is because they think the user
has decided to sent them vanilla text and the printer
is attempting to print the result as a simple text output.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_Command_Language

Paul

On Feb 16, 2:20 pm, Braincramp1
<Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Yes, it prints, the same gobbledy-gook (is that what postscript means?)

Here is a sample of what a postscript file look like.

c:\> head xx.ps <-- showing only the first 10 lines...
$B"+(B%-12345X@PJL JOB
@PJL SET RESOLUTION = 600
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = POSTSCRIPT
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Title: Ghostscript output
%%Creator: PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2
%%CreationDate: 2/16/2009 15:22:39
%%For: SYSTEM
%%BoundingBox: (atend)
%%Pages: (atend)

When you said "gobbledy-gook", did it look like the above?

BTW, did you HP Deskjet 6940 hook up with your PC
via the parallel port? or via USB?
Since you could print something to a file via your
HP Deskjet 6940, I am guessing in the dark that there might be
hardware connection issue between your printer & your PC.

Here's a sample of what it looked like:

€ÿ﷓€ú;€}פ€~X¦€~Y&€~�(€ú˜‚úû€ÿ<€ÿߘ
ÿ]€úÚ€úw€~[§‚~X¦€}פ€þY€ƒ~€ü!€€Ã€üB€€"€€¥€€b0v173w¿ÿF&�`�ÿ™ OËÚ�@¼Ê‚+"¼œ
@¼ÊÂ�oóþÂ�OËÚÂ� +â„¢ @¼ÊÂ�+"¼Â� â€*Â�„oóþÂ� â€*Â�Å“ ÿÿ¿ â„¢ @¼ÊÂ�ÿÿ¿ Â�^]a‡ÿÿ Â�^]aÅ“
I°z…QA~„`�ÿ�VM�`�ÿ¹ ‡QA~
¿ÿÿÿk‡  ÿ ÿ
ÿ
ÿB ÿ ÿ ¹¿¿ ‡kiç ¿ ç ¿ ù ¿ ä0v96wºÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ©€‰f€‰ç€…e€€ƒ€ÿ€þ9‚}O�€ú
€þX‚þz€úš€þÛ‡úÛ€úš€þY€þ8€}Ó‚}OÂ�€þZ€ÿ~€€£€„䀀A€„a€„€„倀b0v0w0v333wšÿO`Ã�ÿÂ�VMü Â�QA~â„¢ 6ž]Å¡ +Ÿ â€*Â� Â� +‡+"¼ Â�OËÚ¹ Â�^]aÂ�ÿÿÂ�+"¼… â€*Â�â„¢
OËÚÂ�oóþ‚ÿÿÂ�OËÚ™ â€*Â�ù Â� +â„¢ +"¼œ â€*Â�Â� +Â�@¼Ê‚^]aÂ�ÿÿÂ�gÃ¥mÅ¡
VM„QA~„`�ÿ�QA~�oóþ¿å ‡ ü
ÿ ÿ ùçÿ ý ¿ ç ý ÿ

I'm hooked up with a USB cable; and I tried more than one on the computer.
Worked fine with my laptop.

Braincramp

"Harry" wrote:

> On Feb 16, 2:20 pm, Braincramp1
> <Braincra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > Yes, it prints, the same gobbledy-gook (is that what postscript means?)
>
> Here is a sample of what a postscript file look like.
>
> c:\> head xx.ps <-- showing only the first 10 lines...
> �%-12345X@PJL JOB
> @PJL SET RESOLUTION = 600
> @PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = POSTSCRIPT
> %!PS-Adobe-3.0
> %%Title: Ghostscript output
> %%Creator: PScript5.dll Version 5.2.2
> %%CreationDate: 2/16/2009 15:22:39
> %%For: SYSTEM
> %%BoundingBox: (atend)
> %%Pages: (atend)
>
> When you said "gobbledy-gook", did it look like the above?
>
> BTW, did you HP Deskjet 6940 hook up with your PC
> via the parallel port? or via USB?
> Since you could print something to a file via your
> HP Deskjet 6940, I am guessing in the dark that there might be
> hardware connection issue between your printer & your PC.
>
>
>