Network printer not responding to spool on powerup.

I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
connection that works fine.

I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.

The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
(downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left powered up
at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell me it's okay to
leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know ahead of time that
I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer on first. Sometimes
the necessity to print occurs when the printer is powered off, and the
report files get spooled.

I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off. Then I
powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting spool files
and start printing them. It did not.

Comments?

I know the printer can't "recognize" the spool files. I should have said,
"... expecting the XP to know that the printer has come back on line and
start sending the spooled files to it."

"BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
>connection that works fine.
>
> I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.
>
> The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
> (downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left powered
> up at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell me it's
> okay to leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know ahead of
> time that I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer on first.
> Sometimes the necessity to print occurs when the printer is powered off,
> and the report files get spooled.
>
> I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off. Then I
> powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting spool files
> and start printing them. It did not.
>
> Comments?
>

BudV wrote:

> I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
> connection that works fine.
>
> I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.
>
> The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
> (downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left powered up
> at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell me it's okay to
> leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know ahead of time that
> I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer on first. Sometimes
> the necessity to print occurs when the printer is powered off, and the
> report files get spooled.
>
> I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off. Then I
> powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting spool files
> and start printing them. It did not.
>
> Comments?

I just (5 minutes ago) went through helping someone in a very similar
situation. I know that if you re-boot the computer with un-printed jobs in the
queue, XP will try to print them, and if the printer is unavailable, will give
you an error box. Clicking OK makes the error message go away, and the jobs
print as soon as the printer becomes available.

On the other hand, if you try to print with the printer is unavailable but you
DON'T re-boot, the print spooler may put the jobs in a pause status. Then in
order to print after you make the printer available, you have to open the print
queue, click on Document and then on "Resume" (or maybe "restart").

At the very least, print the jobs with the printer off, click OK on whatever
error message pops up, and then open the queue. What does it say for "Status"?

After all of that, I'd just leave the printer on (unless it's a real power
hog). That's what I do.

"Diamontina Cocktail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eT0NK%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
>>connection that works fine.
>>
>> I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.
>>
>> The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
>> (downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left powered
>> up at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell me it's
>> okay to leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know ahead of
>> time that I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer on first.
>> Sometimes the necessity to print occurs when the printer is powered off,
>> and the report files get spooled.
>>
>> I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off. Then
>> I powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting spool
>> files and start printing them. It did not.
>>
>> Comments?
>
> What printer? Most modern day printers since at least 2003 allow you to
> power up on demand (eg, send a print to it when it is off is "demand") and
> power down after a time limit set either internally or by you. To do this
> you have to go into the advanced settings for the printer.
>
>>
>
>

Sorry, that last reply was caused by an accidental click.

The printer is an HP Photosmart 3210 all-in-one.

On a hunch today, I tried turning off the PC (It refused to hibernate
because of the spooler activity), turning on the printer, then turning on
the PC. After almost two minutes, printing of the spooled files started. I
was happy to have a workable solution.

LEM:
His first method precludes the sequence of steps I followed, making it
possible to work the PC, then go to the printer (upstairs) and turn it on
and wait there for the printing. I'll try that.

His second method precludes re-booting, which appeals to me. I'll try that,
too.

Re his third method: The only pop-up that appears is that it can't connect
to the printer [for various reasons] and it will spool the reports. The
queue says that it can't connect to the printer. This appears to be the same
as his second method.

LRB:
Clearly, this is the best solution for me, if I can get it to work. I don't
know whether the "advanced settings for the printer" are in the printer or
in the PC, but I will search diligently for them.

Thank you both for your help.

Bud


"BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Diamontina Cocktail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:eT0NK%(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
>>>connection that works fine.
>>>
>>> I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.
>>>
>>> The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
>>> (downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left
>>> powered up at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell
>>> me it's okay to leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know
>>> ahead of time that I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer
>>> on first. Sometimes the necessity to print occurs when the printer is
>>> powered off, and the report files get spooled.
>>>
>>> I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off. Then
>>> I powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting spool
>>> files and start printing them. It did not.
>>>
>>> Comments?
>>
>> What printer? Most modern day printers since at least 2003 allow you to
>> power up on demand (eg, send a print to it when it is off is "demand")
>> and power down after a time limit set either internally or by you. To do
>> this you have to go into the advanced settings for the printer.
>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

This post is just to wrap up the conclusions I came to about my little
network.

No matter how much I hoped for it, the powerup on demand is not available
for any HP all-in-one. They said it's because of the scanner, and let it go
at that.

When the print files first got spooled because the printer was off, the
spooler gave me a popup explaining that it could not connect to the printer,
the print jobs would be spooled, and "printing would start [automatically]
when the printer was turned on", which appears to be a blatant lie. No
matter what I did, whether it was issuing a restart in the printer queue or
re-booting the PC, if the printer was still off I got the same popup.
Nothing offered the convenience of having printing start as soon as the
printer was turned on. The only solution available was to issue a restart
in the printer queue AFTER the printer was turned on. This is not a
terrible inconvenience, because spooled files cause a printer icon to appear
in the system tray, and opening that takes you directly to the printer
queue.

As a final insult, when the stalled job is restarted, a yellow popup warns
that the file failed to print. This is a false alarm, because the stalled
job and the others in the queue print just fine.

My thanks to both of you for your suppport and information.

"BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sorry, that last reply was caused by an accidental click.
>
> The printer is an HP Photosmart 3210 all-in-one.
>
> On a hunch today, I tried turning off the PC (It refused to hibernate
> because of the spooler activity), turning on the printer, then turning on
> the PC. After almost two minutes, printing of the spooled files started.
> I was happy to have a workable solution.
>
> LEM:
> His first method precludes the sequence of steps I followed, making it
> possible to work the PC, then go to the printer (upstairs) and turn it on
> and wait there for the printing. I'll try that.
>
> His second method precludes re-booting, which appeals to me. I'll try
> that, too.
>
> Re his third method: The only pop-up that appears is that it can't
> connect to the printer [for various reasons] and it will spool the
> reports. The queue says that it can't connect to the printer. This
> appears to be the same as his second method.
>
> LRB:
> Clearly, this is the best solution for me, if I can get it to work. I
> don't know whether the "advanced settings for the printer" are in the
> printer or in the PC, but I will search diligently for them.
>
> Thank you both for your help.
>
> Bud
>
>
> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> "Diamontina Cocktail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:eT0NK%(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>
>>> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>I have a WinXP Home SP2 (wireless) and a Win98 (ethernet) sharing a DSL
>>>>connection that works fine.
>>>>
>>>> I recently added a printer (ethernet) to the router and it works fine.
>>>>
>>>> The occasional activity for the printer (upstairs) is by the XP
>>>> (downstairs). There would be no problem if the printer were left
>>>> powered up at all times, but that bothers me. (There's the rub. Tell
>>>> me it's okay to leave it on all the time and I'll go away.) If I know
>>>> ahead of time that I'm going to produce a report, I'll turn the printer
>>>> on first. Sometimes the necessity to print occurs when the printer is
>>>> powered off, and the report files get spooled.
>>>>
>>>> I tested this -- generating a few test pages with the printer off.
>>>> Then I powered on the printer, expecting it to recognize the waiting
>>>> spool files and start printing them. It did not.
>>>>
>>>> Comments?
>>>
>>> What printer? Most modern day printers since at least 2003 allow you to
>>> power up on demand (eg, send a print to it when it is off is "demand")
>>> and power down after a time limit set either internally or by you. To do
>>> this you have to go into the advanced settings for the printer.
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

Well, I thought I wrapped this thread up, but something else came up.

This thread was regarding my daughter's system. I also have WinXP Home SP2,
but it's connected directly to an HP 2610 all-in-one with a USB cable.

I tried the same experiment, and the PC didn't say anything about spooling.
It just quietly put the print file into the print queue without comment.
When the printer was turned on, it immediately started printing the files in
the print queue. It didn't make any difference if I restarted the PC in the
meantime -- hibernate or power off. Just the way I like it.

Any ideas as to what's happening? Is there anything inherent in the nature
of networks that affects the feedback from the printer to the PC? The 2610
and the 3210 do have slightly different software. Could it be that? Or do
you suppose I've been inconsistent with the settings between the two
systems? I used default settings throughout the installation of both
systems. HP suggested that I re-install the software on her machine, but I
don't know why it should install any different the second time.

In your paragraph 4: "nic" = ???

"Diamontina Cocktail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Well, I thought I wrapped this thread up, but something else came up.
>>
>> This thread was regarding my daughter's system. I also have WinXP Home
>> SP2, but it's connected directly to an HP 2610 all-in-one with a USB
>> cable.
>>
>> I tried the same experiment, and the PC didn't say anything about
>> spooling. It just quietly put the print file into the print queue without
>> comment. When the printer was turned on, it immediately started printing
>> the files in the print queue. It didn't make any difference if I
>> restarted the PC in the meantime -- hibernate or power off. Just the way
>> I like it.
>>
>
> The machine it doesn't work on, try this in this order:
>
> 1. Go to Start, Run and type services.msc and hit enter. Check the Print
> Spooler. Is it running? If not, start it then try all this again without
> proceeding to the rest. If it works, you probably have it set to manual.
> Double click on Print Spooler and change the start to Auto.
>
> 2. If 1 didn't help, go to start, run and type sfc /scannow and hit enter.
> Put your XP disk in your CD drive and wait until it all finishes. Reboot
> the machine and try again. If no good, proceed to 3.
>
> 3. Uninstall the printer entirely. Reboot the machine. Install the
> printer. Try now. Perhaps, for whatever reason, previous attempts to
> install stuffed up. Make sure to install from the latest drivers etc that
> you will have already downloaded from the printer manufacturer's web site.
>
> 4. If 3 and 2 haven't worked and you don't have any firewalls on, it is
> likely that either something in your router and/or nic is blocking this
> and if you have checked that and it isn't the case, the next thing I would
> do would be a repair install of XP on the computer with the printer
> physically attached.
>
>
> Now, while saying all that, I am assuming you have the printer shared and
> know it and have installed it on the remote machine as a networked
> printer. If you aren't sure of those 2 points, it may be that you need to
> get your local industry worker to get in there and look at what is going
> on.
>
>

First of all, I want to thank you for sticking with me on this. You've gone
above and beyond the call of duty.

In my previous post. I'm simply asking what "nic" means. I don't know.

We have a small communication problem that I'd like to fix. Both systems
"work". They just work differently. Let's refer to them as the "network"
system and the "direct" system. I'm not sure which you mean when you say
"the machine it doesn't work on."

I think you're talking about how spooling doesn't work on the direct system.
Spooling does work on the direct system -- it just doesn't give me any
spooling type messages. (Services.msc shows that it's started and
automatic.) I LIKE the way it works: effectively, no popups, and when the
printer is turned on, it immediately starts printing. I wish the network
system worked that way. So until I hear otherwise from you, I'm going to
hold up on the procedure you're suggesting.

It's the network system that started this thread. Its spooler is obviously
working, as evidenced by the popups. I don't know who's running the
spooler -- XP or the printer driver. I suspect it's XP. It probably gets
an interrupt when the printer is turned on. You would think that it would
then invoke the spooler to do its thing.


"Diamontina Cocktail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "BudV" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Well, I thought I wrapped this thread up, but something else came up.
>>
>> This thread was regarding my daughter's system. I also have WinXP Home
>> SP2, but it's connected directly to an HP 2610 all-in-one with a USB
>> cable.
>>
>> I tried the same experiment, and the PC didn't say anything about
>> spooling. It just quietly put the print file into the print queue without
>> comment. When the printer was turned on, it immediately started printing
>> the files in the print queue. It didn't make any difference if I
>> restarted the PC in the meantime -- hibernate or power off. Just the way
>> I like it.
>>
>
> The machine it doesn't work on, try this in this order:
>
> 1. Go to Start, Run and type services.msc and hit enter. Check the Print
> Spooler. Is it running? If not, start it then try all this again without
> proceeding to the rest. If it works, you probably have it set to manual.
> Double click on Print Spooler and change the start to Auto.
>
> 2. If 1 didn't help, go to start, run and type sfc /scannow and hit enter.
> Put your XP disk in your CD drive and wait until it all finishes. Reboot
> the machine and try again. If no good, proceed to 3.
>
> 3. Uninstall the printer entirely. Reboot the machine. Install the
> printer. Try now. Perhaps, for whatever reason, previous attempts to
> install stuffed up. Make sure to install from the latest drivers etc that
> you will have already downloaded from the printer manufacturer's web site.
>
> 4. If 3 and 2 haven't worked and you don't have any firewalls on, it is
> likely that either something in your router and/or nic is blocking this
> and if you have checked that and it isn't the case, the next thing I would
> do would be a repair install of XP on the computer with the printer
> physically attached.
>
>
> Now, while saying all that, I am assuming you have the printer shared and
> know it and have installed it on the remote machine as a networked
> printer. If you aren't sure of those 2 points, it may be that you need to
> get your local industry worker to get in there and look at what is going
> on.
>
>

Diamontina Cocktail wrote:

> Excuse the full quote which I believe is needed in this case but NIC is
> Network Identification Card. (Darn, I just forgot if "I" equals
> Identification) but nevertheless it is your ethernet connection port/card
> and also your wireless card.

"interface"

<snip>