Recovering from spooling with printer turned off.

[BudV]

I deal with two systems:



System B has a WinXP Home SP2 with a USB cable connection to an HP 2610
all-in-one printer.



System H has a router with a wireless connection to a WinXP Home SP2 and
Ethernet connections to a Win98, a DSL modem, and an HP 3210 all-in-one
printer.



My question deals with the two systems acting differently when a report is
generated while the printer is powered off.



System B puts the report into the printer queue without any popup messages
about spooling. When the printer is powered on, it immediately starts
printing the queued reports without operator intervention.



System H puts the reports into the printer queue, and issues a popup message
saying 1) it can't connect to the printer, 2) the report will be spooled to
the printer queue, and 3) printing will start automatically when the printer
connection is established (or words to that effect).



My problem is with system H. Printing does NOT start automatically when the
printer is powered on. It requires that the operator "restart" the waiting
job in the print queue after powerup. Note: HP says that "sleep mode"
(automatic powerup on demand) is not available on the all-in-ones.



The system H wireless PC is usually located downstairs from the printer and,
obviously, it would be convenient if it behaved like system B. I could work
around the problem by leaving its printer turned on all the time, but
because of low printer activity, it doesn't make sense. Besides, I think it
SHOULD work that way.



I don't particularly care that system B does not issue spooling messages
since the components are physically adjacent; however, I think the systems
should be consistent.



Can anybody connect the dots for me here?

 

[BudV]

No help from anyone?

 

[Lem]

No help from anyone?

Bud --

I've also been waiting for someone to respond, but I guess the answer to
your issue requires someone with more in-depth knowledge of the
interaction between the printing functions of WinXP and the networking
functions of WinXP than the typical volunteers who populate these NGs.
I was kind of hoping for a MSFT employee to jump in, but it doesn't look
like that's going to happen. You might try asking your question in one
of the WinXP Expert Zone chat sessions. See
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/chats/default.mspx

If you want to do a little light reading, you might start with the "more
information" section of this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q160129/

This has some general info:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/c11621675.mspx

This has some interesting info under the heading "more information"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883304/en-us

This one talks about searching for network resources. Note the
statement, "During the scan, Windows XP identifies any newly-shared
resources, such as a printer that has just gone online as a shared
printer." I don't know how XP deals with network resources that have
been identified but subsequently become unavailable. If they need to be
re-detected, there may be a timing interaction between the detection
over the network and any checking done by the port monitor/print queue.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320138

It sounds from your description as if the printer in "system H" is
directly connected to the router. Are you using the "Standard TCP/IP
port monitor" or some propritary hp port monitor? Right-click on the
printer in "printers & faxes" and check its Properties. See, in
general,
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/Printing to Print Server device.htm
If the printer uses a proprietary port monitor, perhaps it isn't waking
up the queue as WinXP expects.

If you do figure things out, it would be nice if you posted the solution
back here.

 

[BudV]

I decided to blow $35 and have MS work on it. I'm getting a callback
tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll do the light reading you've suggested --
maybe I'll sound smarter when they talk to me. Thanks for all the info.

As long as you're here -- I'm wondering about system B not issuing spooler
messages. Doesn't that sound like an XP responsibility as opposed to a
printer driver responsibility? The tech I talked to today suggested
re-installing the driver, but that just doesn't make sense to my
programmer-pea-brain. If system H can issue a spooler message when the
printer is off, system B should be able to. My guess, FWIW, is that the
purpose of the driver, when the printer is not ready, is to reject requests
from XP and, when it goes ready, to interrupt XP to tell it. You would
think that spooler concerns operate at a higher level, i.e., in XP.

 

[BudV]

Well, after a long conversation with me, the MS tech finally called the HP
tech for a conference call. Here's
my understanding of the situation (paraphrased):

In system B, with a direct USB cable connection, the PC is always connected
to the printer, and when the printer comes on, the PC gets notified and is
smart enough to restart the job waiting in the printer queue.

In system H, on the other hand, the printer is not directly connected, but
goes through an ethernet cable and a router -- basically a mini-network
situation. In this case, the PC has to work a little harder to make the
connection to the printer and, if it can't, it gives up until something
tells it to try to
make the connection again -- it can't sit there "listening" to the
printer -- and that something is the operator restarting the job in the
printer queue.

So although I can't have what I asked for, I do have a solution that's even
better. It appears that the HP tech who told me that the all-in-ones didn't
have a sleep mode "because of the scanners" was playing with a corrupted
database. It's precisely because of the scanner bulb that the printer will
go into a power-saving mode (only 11
watts) after an hour of inactivity. (It's selectable. An hour is the
lowest value.) The solution: Leave the printer on all the time.

And as far as system B's not issuing any spooler messages -- I just don't
care anymore. I spent so much time on the phone with MS and HP, I didn't
have the energy to pursue it.