Windows Server 2003 Print Server Troubleshooting

[Guest DSI Admin]

Greetings! I have an interesting problem I thought I would share to see if

anyone has any suggestions. Please bear with me, I've been banging my head

on this for a while.

 

Our printing network consists of a Print Server setup on our SDC running

Windows Server 2003, SP2 (don't yell, I didn't set it up and now I'm stuck

with it until I can free up another server), different types of laser

printers including Konica-Minolta, different models of HP and a couple of

odd-ball models, and clients all running Windows XP Pro, mostly SP2, some SP3.

 

A few weeks ago I had to replace a corrupt driver on the print server for

the HP LaserJet 1022n, of which we have about a dozen spread throughout the

company. Two days later I started getting calls from the primary users of

these printers saying their printers aren't working. Their print jobs were

being sent to the proper queues and then just sitting there, waiting for me

to restart the Print Spooler service to actually print. Examining the queue

showed that a job is in Printing status, but it never prints and there is

nothing in the Event logs. This occurred with anyone trying to print to a

networked 1022n, unless they were a Domain Admin. No other printers were

affected, i.e. they can print to any other type of printer on the network.

 

First I made sure everyone had the latest drivers from HP. I went around to

each client machine, completely removed the drivers, even the files that

sometimes get left behind, then reinstalled the printers. No change. I did

it two more times just to be sure.

 

Next I tried completly removing and reinstalling the drivers from the

server, including recreating the ports (Standard TCP/IP). I even tried

reassigning the printer IP addresses because at this point I was trying

anything. Again, no change.

 

At this point (2 full weeks into it) I realize I might be dealing with a

permissions issue, not a driver issue. I came to this conclusion after

realizing that I (as a Domain Admin) can print to any of the printers in

question from my workstation, no problem. If I log in to one of the client

workstations, as myself, I can print to any of the printers. The minute any

of the regular users tries to print to one of the 1022n's, nothing more

prints from it until I restart the spooler on the server.

 

I've double checked the permissions on the 1022n's against those on printers

that haven't had any issues and they match. The permissions on the spool

directory can't be the issue because they can print to other printers. This

is where I'm stuck and I don't know where to go from here.

 

I did figure out a work-around and that was to map the 1022n IP's directly

from the client machines, bypassing the Print Server, which seems to be

working for now.

 

One possibility I have not yet tried is reinstalling the drivers from the

CD, in case the updated drivers from HP's web site ARE the problem. If

anyone made it this far in the reading and has any other suggestions I would

greatly appreciate it.

 

Thanks,

DSI (Frustrated) Admin

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: Windows Server 2003 Print Server Troubleshooting

 

>Greetings! I have an interesting problem I thought I would share to see if

>anyone has any suggestions. Please bear with me, I've been banging my head

>on this for a while.

>

>Our printing network consists of a Print Server setup on our SDC running

>Windows Server 2003, SP2 (don't yell, I didn't set it up and now I'm stuck

>with it until I can free up another server), different types of laser

>printers including Konica-Minolta, different models of HP and a couple of

>odd-ball models, and clients all running Windows XP Pro, mostly SP2, some SP3.

>

>A few weeks ago I had to replace a corrupt driver on the print server for

>the HP LaserJet 1022n, of which we have about a dozen spread throughout the

>company. Two days later I started getting calls from the primary users of

>these printers saying their printers aren't working. Their print jobs were

>being sent to the proper queues and then just sitting there, waiting for me

>to restart the Print Spooler service to actually print. Examining the queue

>showed that a job is in Printing status, but it never prints and there is

>nothing in the Event logs. This occurred with anyone trying to print to a

>networked 1022n, unless they were a Domain Admin. No other printers were

>affected, i.e. they can print to any other type of printer on the network.

>

>First I made sure everyone had the latest drivers from HP. I went around to

>each client machine, completely removed the drivers, even the files that

>sometimes get left behind, then reinstalled the printers. No change. I did

>it two more times just to be sure.

>

>Next I tried completly removing and reinstalling the drivers from the

>server, including recreating the ports (Standard TCP/IP). I even tried

>reassigning the printer IP addresses because at this point I was trying

>anything. Again, no change.

>

>At this point (2 full weeks into it) I realize I might be dealing with a

>permissions issue, not a driver issue. I came to this conclusion after

>realizing that I (as a Domain Admin) can print to any of the printers in

>question from my workstation, no problem. If I log in to one of the client

>workstations, as myself, I can print to any of the printers. The minute any

>of the regular users tries to print to one of the 1022n's, nothing more

>prints from it until I restart the spooler on the server.

>

>I've double checked the permissions on the 1022n's against those on printers

>that haven't had any issues and they match. The permissions on the spool

>directory can't be the issue because they can print to other printers. This

>is where I'm stuck and I don't know where to go from here.

>

>I did figure out a work-around and that was to map the 1022n IP's directly

>from the client machines, bypassing the Print Server, which seems to be

>working for now.

>

>One possibility I have not yet tried is reinstalling the drivers from the

>CD, in case the updated drivers from HP's web site ARE the problem. If

>anyone made it this far in the reading and has any other suggestions I would

>greatly appreciate it.

>

>Thanks,

>DSI (Frustrated) Admin

 

Try this, right click all your printers, do Properties, Advanced tab,

click Print Processor. HPs notoriously hijack the default Winprint

print processor and put in their own junk processor. Go through and

set them all to Winprint, data type is usually RAW. Write down

settings before you apply changes as a precaution.

 

SP2 is more robust with the print spooler so I would not downgrade to

SP1. However, there's a gamut of patches and hotfixes I would

recommend you install. KB934855 is most likely your issue but do note

that the localspl.dll from KB934855 has seen some updates since so be

aware of the issues from the other KBs. Also, note the registry tweaks

in some of the KBs as well.

 

I have installed them all and 99.9% of my issues have gone away for

well over a year. Here's the list:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957187

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953155

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953546

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952909

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952206

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946198

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932699

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf

[Guest DSI Admin]

Re: Windows Server 2003 Print Server Troubleshooting

 

"Thee Chicago Wolf" wrote:

> Try this, right click all your printers, do Properties, Advanced tab,

> click Print Processor. HPs notoriously hijack the default Winprint

> print processor and put in their own junk processor. Go through and

> set them all to Winprint, data type is usually RAW. Write down

> settings before you apply changes as a precaution.

>

> SP2 is more robust with the print spooler so I would not downgrade to

> SP1. However, there's a gamut of patches and hotfixes I would

> recommend you install. KB934855 is most likely your issue but do note

> that the localspl.dll from KB934855 has seen some updates since so be

> aware of the issues from the other KBs. Also, note the registry tweaks

> in some of the KBs as well.

>

> I have installed them all and 99.9% of my issues have gone away for

> well over a year. Here's the list:

>

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957187

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953155

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953546

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952909

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952206

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946198

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932699

>

> - Thee Chicago Wolf

>

 

Thanks Wolf, I'll definitely give these a look and let you know how it works

out!

 

Thanks again,

DSI Admin

[Guest DSI Admin]

Re: Windows Server 2003 Print Server Troubleshooting

 

Wolf,

 

I looked through all of the KB articles you listed. I forgot to list it in

my original post but I actually tried 934885 early on with no change in the

behavior of the Print Server. None of the other articles address any

problems we're having. Also, when I talked about rolling back I was talking

about an earlier version of the 1022n drivers on an HP CD, not the Service

Pack. This is going to be my eventual next step.

 

Thanks for the suggestions,

DSI Admin

 

 

 

"Thee Chicago Wolf" wrote:

> Try this, right click all your printers, do Properties, Advanced tab,

> click Print Processor. HPs notoriously hijack the default Winprint

> print processor and put in their own junk processor. Go through and

> set them all to Winprint, data type is usually RAW. Write down

> settings before you apply changes as a precaution.

>

> SP2 is more robust with the print spooler so I would not downgrade to

> SP1. However, there's a gamut of patches and hotfixes I would

> recommend you install. KB934855 is most likely your issue but do note

> that the localspl.dll from KB934855 has seen some updates since so be

> aware of the issues from the other KBs. Also, note the registry tweaks

> in some of the KBs as well.

>

> I have installed them all and 99.9% of my issues have gone away for

> well over a year. Here's the list:

>

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957187

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953155

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953546

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952909

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952206

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946198

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932699

>

> - Thee Chicago Wolf

>

[Guest Thee Chicago Wolf]

Re: Windows Server 2003 Print Server Troubleshooting

 

>I looked through all of the KB articles you listed. I forgot to list it in

>my original post but I actually tried 934885 early on with no change in the

>behavior of the Print Server. None of the other articles address any

>problems we're having. Also, when I talked about rolling back I was talking

>about an earlier version of the 1022n drivers on an HP CD, not the Service

>Pack. This is going to be my eventual next step.

>

>Thanks for the suggestions,

>DSI Admin

 

One other thing, go to your Control Panel > Administrative Tools >

Services. Look around for something called PML Driver HPZ12 or some

such thing. There may be more than 1. Set it to disabled and stop it.

This is another HP related "helper" service that often screws things

up.

 

- Thee Chicago Wolf