Can print documents, but not photos? Help please.

[dcoaster]

I have Vista Home Premium and a HP 2610 all-in-one printer. Just recently, I
noticed it will not print photos from any program (Windows Explorer, Photo
Gallery, Paint Shop Pro, etc), yet it will print documents from Word or
Firefox. For example, if I'm in Explorer and double click a picture file and
click print, I select the printer and click "print" yet the printer doesn't
do anything. I do notice however that once I click print an icon comes up on
the system tray that says "0 documents pending for (user name)". Shouldn't
that mean "1 document pending"? I used to be able to print photos so this
isn't a problem with the printer or driver (or at least it shouldn't be?)

First, I made sure I used the correct 4x6 photo paper and all settings were
correct. Didn't work. I made sure I had the latest driver from HPs website.
Didn't work. Next, I uninstalled everything and started over. Didn't work.
Next, I hard resetted the printer. Didn't work. Tried a new beta version of
HP Photosmart software. Didn't work. So I'm lost. It's got to be something
with Vista, but what is it? HP has no idea.

Thanks for any help.

 

[huwyngr]

Just to eliminate -- did you set a printer as the default printer?

 

[dcoaster]

Just to eliminate -- did you set a printer as the default printer?

Yes, I did. Does this seem like a Vista driver problem or printer hardware
issue? Thanks for your help. Greatly appreciated.

 

[huwyngr]

It sounds more like a printer set up problem.

Again, eliminating -- when you installed did you install the HP
software and driver before the USB cable from the printer was plugged
into the PC? If not do a complete uninstall and clean up with the
printer USB cable unplugged from the PC, reboot and reinstall the
software -- do not plug the USB cable into the PC until the
installation procedure tells you to or you reach Finish.

Try installing using Run as Administrator -- right mouse click on the
downloaded exe file and select Run as Administrator and OK your way
out.

Can you do a test print from the Printer Properties screens?

Download and try the HP Printing Diagnostic Utility that is on the HP
VISTA Download page for the 2610 (which one is it you have)

You could also check out:

» Print Jobs are Stuck in the Print Queue and Do Not Print with USB
Printers in Windows XP

» Windows OS: The All-in-One Will Not Print

FAQs on this web page:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?rule=44564&lc=en
&cc=us&dlc=en&product=421139&os=2093&lang=en

 

[dcoaster]

Everything was installed correctly. Yes, USB was plugged in during software
install at the right time. I did not try doing it with the Run as
Administrator option. As I said, it has been working fine since June when I
upgraded to Vista. All of the sudden, it just randomly decided not to print
pictures. Could a Windows Update have caused this?

Yes I can do a test print. And I downloaded that utility. It says that
everything was working just fine. =/

Thanks for your help again.

 

[huwyngr]

I can only suggest:

What happens when you look inside the Printer Spooler -- double click
on Printer icon -- does it show documents queued there but not moving
on to print?

Check the spooling settings in the Printer Properties including setting
it not to spool but to print direct to printer and if set like this
works then check that Spooling is enabled.

Check in Services to see that Spooling is enabled. I've never had to
mess with this but there are messages about it here. You'd find
Services through Control Panel but I'm not in VISTA at the moment to
check exactly where.

 

[dcoaster]

I actually accidentally fixed it. Just to test, I changed the paper setting
in the print dialog box and it worked. I moved the setting back to 4x6 and it
worked to... Strange.... But thanks for your help.

 

[huwyngr]

I actually accidentally fixed it.

I only all accidents were so helpful -- I'll pass on your experience;
thanks for the feedback!.

 

[Nigel Wilson]

Hi,

I'm having exactly the same issue. Exactly how did you fix it? I have tried
a few things now and it is very frustrating!!

Any help gratefully received

Nigel

 

[huwyngr]

Did you read his message and try what he did?

<< I changed the paper setting in the print dialog box and it worked. I
moved the setting back to 4x6 and it worked to... Strange... >>

He changed from whatever paper size the printer was set to -- probably
US Letter? -- and back and then the number of copies printed matched
the number set.

Please let us know if this works for you.