Lexmark 3150 - grrrrrrr!!!

[Gordon]

Installed XP ProSP1 from the ground up on new hardware (Intel 865 chipset),
all post sp critical hotfixes installed. Then installed a Lexmark 3150 per
the Lexmark instructions (i.e. cancelled all the 'found new...' messages).
Everything went smoothly, no problems, printer prints, scans, faxes, does
OCR and all that wonderful stuff.

However, when I print the job won't delete from the spool after printing is
complete, it just sits there with the status message 'deleting'. To get the
job to delete I have to cycle the printer (this works most of the time,
sometimes I have to stop the spooler, delete the spl files then boot).
Needless to say I think this is a stupid solution.

Lexmark says 'reinstall' but as I've done that about 5 times (even followed
the instructions from the guy at shaw.ca) and run into the same problem -
I'm starting to get really p*&%$d with it. In fact one of the reasons for
installing on new hardware was the thought that my old hardware was the
source of the problem - silly me (at least I ended up with a faster box).

I see similar kinds of problems (but not quite like this) reported in this
group but there appears to be a lack of solid solutions. Could this be USB
related (I've a satellite modem and mouse on usb as well as the printer) or
has Lexmark sold me junky hardware and/or software?

grrrrrrrrrr!!!!

 

[Cari \(MS MVP\)]

The correct method to install is software first and NOT to connect the
printer until the software tells you to do so. Now you should follow Bruce
Sanderson's instructions to uninstall and start again

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

You may also want to read:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3626373.stm
about the real costs of owning a Lexmark

 

[Guest]

thanks for the response

the problem is that if I wait until the installation software tells me to
connect the printer I'm in an infinite loop because it never asks

in fact it gets to the point when it's installing the fax software and blows
up because (guess what) it can't find a printer - at this point you've got a
terribly unholy mess on your hands - if you plug the printer in at this
point the installation pgm still doesn't see the printer and windows thinks
it has new hardware

the Lexmark folk are now telling me to change the print processor to
winprint and and data type to nt emf 1.008; I'll try that tonight and let
you know how it works

it appears the Lexmark gnomes have devised a 'nonstandard' (ahem) method of
dealing with USB

 

[Guest]

this thread is also in xp_hardware but per suggestions by Cari and William
I'll pursue it here:

I agree William that corruption has occurred; the problem with restarting
the spool srvc is that unless I go and delete the files the job is still
there after the service restarts and in any event when I stop the spool the
printer goes off-line and won't go back on-line once the spool is started
again, if I say go on-line I end up getting 'communication problem' messages
and the only way out is to boot

btw - early on in this debacle I found that if I've two jobs in the spool
and boot then once the machine has restarted the first job has been deleted
but the second one is still there and will indeed print but then won't
delete thus requiring yet another boot (in this scenarion I've done no
messing with the spool service or the actual spool files)

I didn't get to the Lexmark ideas last night as, being Canadian, I ended up
watching two very exciting hockey games (Stanley Cup playoff time 'eh).
Given that Ottawa crushes the Leafs this evening I should be able to test
Lexmark's advice tonight - if the Leafs win I'll be out looking for a sea of
rye (or maple syrup) to drive my Ski-Doo into but ...I'll be back.

ta!

 

[Guest]

Success!!!

Lexmark suggested that I change the print processor to WinPrint and set the
default data type to NT EMF 1.008

the world is a much better place. not only are jobs deleted from the spool
but they also go to the printer faster (because not as large)

Perhaps I may have gotten to this on my own but I've simply never had to
deal with print spool issues so I've never investigated processor and data
types - I can't remember the last time I even looked at these settings. Ah
well, more wisdom for me I guess.

Thanks for the help.