Unable to print to Print Server on LAN

[nnylg]

Hi there;

I've got a small (5 computers, 2 print servers) LAN in my home office.
Lately it has become impossible to print from my primary PC (HyperSonic
laptop) to the print server which controls the HP 1220C printer I need to
access to print half-sized drawings from CAD. I used to be able to print to
this same Print server without problems.

I actually went so far as to have a guy from CompUSA spend a couple of hours
sorting out the LAN last week. He was unable to do anything, because DEP has
apparently taken control of my PC and won't let it print to the network. I
have had to connect my old HP 930C to LPT-1 in order to print anything. When
I do try to print to the print server, the print dialogue disappears.

This machine is squeeky clean - I've run all sorts of scans and have turned
up no viruses, minimal other garbage.

I currently have DEP set to "Turn on DEP for all programs and services
except those I select". I have selected "Notepad", "Toolbx for HP Printing
System for Windows" and "Windows Explorer" - no luck.

Please help - this is hurting my productivity.

Thanks,

Dennis

 

[Steven L Umbach]

I would not be so sure it has anything to do with DEP but did you change it
to protect only essential Windows programs and services to see if that made
a difference. Did this all happen after you changed DEP settings?? Can any
of your computers print to that printer? Are there any pertinent
error/warnings in the system or application logs that may be relevant? Can
you print locally from that computer? Can you ping the computer with the
printer from your laptop by it's IP address and name? Can you access any
share on that computer from your laptop [if there are none temporarily
create one for a test] ?? Are there any type 3 logon failures in the
security log of the computer with the printer at times you try to print??
Does the computer with the printer have the Windows Firewall or any other
host firewall running on it?? When you run the command nbtstat -n does it
show at least three registered names including one with <20> ? Does the
command net share show IPC$ and printername/LPT1: ? It may help to try
stopping and then starting the print spooler service using services.msc and
reinstalling the drivers for the printer. It may help to try and temporarily
enable simple file sharing if the computer with the printer is XP Pro if you
are not using it now and making sure the guest account is active if you do
such by checking with the command net user guest. If this all happened
recently it may be worth a try to try and use System Restore to restore the
computer to a restore point before this all happened. --- Steve