Spooler crash, event id 7031

[Roger Moe]

I have a Win2K server running TS. It is a stand alone
server. In the past week, the spooler service has crashed
twice, resulting in all the printers disappearing and no
one being able to print. On reboot, the printers return.

I looked in the system event log and found 2 instances of
Event ID 7031.

The only changes have been updating from MDAC 2.6 to 2.8
and installing a newer version of a financial application.

I found a Knowledge base article which seems to address
this issue, 820550.

What is the concensus if I apply the hotfix that MS is
offering as a fix but the problem actually is something
else? Will this hotfix result in system instability or
cause other problems? MS sometimes says that the hotfix
is only intended for the exact problem described and
should be applied only if the symptoms are exactly as
noted in the article and in this case, it does not..

Thx
Roger

 

[Bill Peele [MS]]

--------------------
From: "Roger Moe" <[email protected]>
Subject: Spooler crash, event id 7031
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 08:02:25 -0800
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.printing

I have a Win2K server running TS. It is a stand alone
server. In the past week, the spooler service has crashed
twice, resulting in all the printers disappearing and no
one being able to print. On reboot, the printers return.

I looked in the system event log and found 2 instances of
Event ID 7031.

The only changes have been updating from MDAC 2.6 to 2.8
and installing a newer version of a financial application.

I found a Knowledge base article which seems to address
this issue, 820550.

What is the concensus if I apply the hotfix that MS is
offering as a fix but the problem actually is something
else? Will this hotfix result in system instability or
cause other problems? MS sometimes says that the hotfix
is only intended for the exact problem described and
should be applied only if the symptoms are exactly as
noted in the article and in this case, it does not..

Thx
Roger
---

Roger,

The spooler files this hotfix updates should not cause any problems if it turns out they do not resolve your issue. Before
obtaining the hotfix you may want to check the following registry key for third-party monitors, removing any non-default
monitors after exporting the key as a backup:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors

The default port monitors are:

AppleTalk Printing Devices (When Services for Macintosh is installed)
BJ Language Monitor
Local Port
PJL Language Monitor
Standard TCP/IP Port
USB Monitor
Windows NT Fax Monitor
LPR Port

Check the following registry key for third-party print providers, removing any non-default print providers after exporting the
key as a backup:

KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers

The default print providers are:

Internet Print Provider
LanMan Print Services

We would then need to stop and restart the Print Spooler service for these changes to take affect.

The reason I suggest this is the most common causes of the Print Spooler service stopping are printer drivers, third-party
custom port monitors and third-party print providers.

Bill Peele
Microsoft Enterprise Support

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