XP Spooler, slow file open, slow properties

[TomC]

I'm working with a four computer 100 Mbps TCP/IP network with three fairly
new 98SE computers and one brand new XP Pro computer (SP2, all current
updates) machine. These share a LaserJet 4050 off one of the 98SE computers.
Printing works fine.

The problem is that the XP Pro machine takes up to ten seconds to open small
WordPerfect 8 documents that open almost instantly on the other machines.
This is true if the file is accessed across the network or locally. By
selectively disabling services, I was able to track down the problem: the
printer spooler. If it is turned off, files load just as quickly as on the
98SE machines.

In what may be a related problem, when I tried to update the printer driver
on the XP Pro machine, I noticed that it took up to 30 seconds to get the
network printer properties to display, and that installing the new printer
driver also took much longer than usual.

The Windows firewall is off, I use Zone Alarm Pro.

Any ideas?

 

[Harry Whitehouse]

Tom --

I'm seeing this as a very substantial problem with XP and SP2.



It seems to occur with PC's that have Nvidea cards (I have 4 Dells with
Nvidea in my office with the problem and 2 Dells with Intel integrated
graphics which do NOT show the problem).



The problem is absolutely associated with the SP2 upgrade. SP1 exhibited no
such problem.



The problem is NOT solved by turning off the Windows firewall.



The problem is NOT solved by upgrading to the latest (or even beta) Nvidea
drivers.



There are plenty of accounts of this problem on the Web, but all of the
"solutions" offered haven't worked yet for me.



Best



Harry

 

[TomC]

Barry;

Thanks for responding.

While there are Nvidia cards on every other computer in the network,
including the computer with the HP printer, the one with the problems has an
ATI All-In-Wonder.

I believe that you are correct, the SP2 upgrade caused this. The Windows
firewall is off, ZA Pro is running, and changin ZA's settings or shutting it
off have no effect on the problem.

I didn't previously say that this is a Samba domain on a Red Hat Linux
server, the fifth computer in the network. (No server downtime in the 18
months it has been running.) Didn't want to discourage those Microsoft MVPs
from responding, but I mentioned WordPerfect so I guess I shouldn't expect
much.

I'm not using CUPS, which I probably should. CUPS is not particularly easy
to set up.

My next step is reverting to the SP1 version of spoolss.dll. I have a more
recent post requesting infomation on that in this forum, so far without
responses.

If the SP1 spoolss.dll (or something else I try) works, I'll post my
solution here.

Thanks again.


TomC

 

[TomC]

Harry, not Barry, sorry.

TomC

 

[TomC]

After many more hours of frustration, I believe that the problem is now
resolved. There are now no delays in opening files and the printer
properties dialog comes up within about a second. What seemed to fix it was
deleting everything in the C:\Windows\Prefetch folder. This is treatment
without diagnosis, but I'll take it.

TomC

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem when some of our office cpu updated to service pack 2
running wordperfect 11 took forever to open a document and to print will
this solution work for me also many headaches. I may try this

 

[Guest]

I was having problems with two computers running on a network of 7 computers
for about 1 month now. The two I was having the problem with were both
running windows XP SP2 and the printing delay was terrible. I have been all
over the web looking for a solution until I finally came across this. I
tried it and it appears to have worked. I want to thank who ever came up
with this solution as it will save me some headaches in the future.

Thanks