Printer no longer printing from Vista

[KatesMom]

I have an HP L7680 installed on my home network. I have drivers set up
for it on my Vista Ultimate desktop and my XP notebook. All has been
working well for a couple of months. A day or two ago the printer
stopped printing from the Vista machine. I get no error messages. The
print jobs just sit in the queue. I have hard coded an IP address for
the printer, and it is still correct. I can connect to the printer's
configuration page over the network using the IP address. I can still
print to the printer from the notebook running XP--no problems. I can
also print to a USB-connected printer on the Vista machine. Any
suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[bjr]

Clean out the print queue on the Vista machine, reboot , and see if you
can print a test page.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Did you try using System Restore to go back to when it did work?

 

[Ken M.]

Check VIEW UPDATE HISTORY under Windows Update. As long as you did not run
System Restore, I would bet that Update History shows that about the same
time you started to have printer problems, your system automatically
installed Vista Service Pack 1.

System Restore will do nothing more than move your system back prior to the
download of Vista SP1. When Windows Update checks the status of your system
and sees that SP1 is not there, Windows Update will intall it again and your
problems will continue.

Uninstall SP1 through your Control Panel / Programs and Features. The
uninstall will take about 20 to 30 minutes. After unistalling - run Windows
Update. Windows Update will AGAIN try to install Vista SP1. Right click on
that install option and tell Windows Update to hide that update. (It can be
accessed and loaded at a later date.)

There's a reason why MS is offering free support on Vista SP1. Check this
site in a few weeks to see if SP1 is ready for prime time, if there is a
HOTFIX for printing / print drivers, and/or check with your printer
manufacturer to see if they have a driver out that supports Vista Service
Pack 1.

 

[KatesMom]

I was sure this was going to be the answer, but my Update History
doesn't show Vista Service Pack 1. There are only 6 updates since 5/14
(I'm sure the printer worked before that): four are for Office, one is
a definition update for Windows Defender, and one is Windows Malicious
Software Removal tool. I will try a system restore and let you know
what happens. Thanks to all who responded.