Network Printer Problems

[Raistlin]

Hi Guys,

Please help me before I throw my computers and my printer out of the ferkin window :mad:

The setup is:

Windows 2003 Server > [USB] > Lexmark X1180 Printer

Laptop > [WIRELESS] > Linksys Router > [ETHERNET] > Windows 2003 Server

Network is working fine, can access files from the shared folders, from either machine.

I have added the Lexmark printer to the Laptop as a network printer, and it is being shared by the Server.

I can send a document to print and it shows up in the printer manager on bothe the Laptop and the Server. The problem is that it never bl**dy prints!!
I can't cancel the job either, if I choose the document and then tel l the print manager to cancel it (from either machine) it changes the status to "Deleting - Printing" and then does nothing else.

I have had this setup working in the past, I've actually managed to print documents without any problems. every now and then this happens. The only way that I can clear the print manager is to completely reboot the server (obviously not ideal).

Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp! (Please :) )

[Tricky]

Can you print locally from the server? Try the good old test page method....

stopping and starting the spooler may avoid the reboot?

[Raistlin]

Will try that and let you know, thanks.
__________________

Ok, I can print locally.

I'll test the print spooler theory.
__________________

Ok, that's odd.

It appears to be printing across the network without any problems now.

Thanks for the help, no doubt I'll be back and complaining about it again soon :)

[paulyoung666]

i wonder if it is a good old windoze :dozey: gremlin :D :D :D :D

[greencreeper]

Network printer? Not the right-click variety that works when it feels like it and some day soon will just stop and have to be recreated?

Add a printer - local one. Untick the auto-detect thingy. Local port - \\servername\printershare or \\serverip\printershare if static IP. Install driver. Away you go.

Dicky spooler...

Start... Run... net stop spooler

c:\winnt\system32\spool\PRINTERS
OR
c:\windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS

Delete the contents, which usually are listed as "Shockwave" files :erm:

Start... Run... net start spooler

If it doesn't stop or start, try...

Right-click "My Computer"... Manage... Services and Applications... Services... Printer Spooler - check the status and stop/start there

[Raistlin]

Network printer? Not the right-click variety that works when it feels like it and some day soon will just stop and have to be recreated?

Won't even pretend I know what you're talking about here ;)

Add a printer - local one. Untick the auto-detect thingy. Local port - \\servername\printershare or \\serverip\printershare if static IP. Install driver. Away you go.

Ok, so I need to set it up as a Local printer but give the path to the network share, rather than setting it up as a Network printer?

Dicky spooler...

Start... Run... net stop spooler

c:\winnt\system32\spool\PRINTERS
OR
c:\windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS

Delete the contents, which usually are listed as "Shockwave" files :erm:

Start... Run... net start spooler

If it doesn't stop or start, try...

Right-click "My Computer"... Manage... Services and Applications... Services... Printer Spooler - check the status and stop/start there

Thanks, I'll try that next time I get problems (shortly before I kick the bl**dy thing out of the door :) ).

[greencreeper]

Ok, so I need to set it up as a Local printer but give the path to the network share, rather than setting it up as a Network printer?
Yes. That's what I normally do - much more reliable. Just redirects the spooler.

[Stuartbe]

Open the run command and type \\machine name , you should see the printer listed with the shared folders.

I take it that both computers are on the same domain. It may be worth checking that :-

1. the time and date are the same on both computers.
2. The user rights are correct on the shared printer.
3. There are no firewalls blocking the trafic

HTH

[Nemesis]

Open the run command and type \\machine name , you should see the printer listed with the shared folders.

I take it that both computers are on the same domain. It may be worth checking that :-

1. the time and date are the same on both computers.
2. The user rights are correct on the shared printer.
3. There are no firewalls blocking the trafic

HTH

Look, I've warned you about making sensible posts .... :D

[Stuartbe]

:angel:

My appologies.... Let me try again...

O.K.

Turn the printer upside down then open a command prompt and type the command " ibble wibble " This will move the megabillybite stack into the hypermegabyte.

HTH

:D

[Nemesis]

:angel:

My appologies.... Let me try again...

O.K.

Turn the printer upside down then open a command prompt and type the command " ibble wibble " This will move the megabillybite stack into the hypermegabyte.

HTH

:D

See, doesn't that feel much better :D

[Stuartbe]

See, doesn't that feel much better :D

A little :hyper:

[Raistlin]

1. the time and date are the same on both computers.

You might be on to something there.

For some reason the clock on the server seems to run slightly faster than on the laptop.

The Laptop clock is synched to the internet, the server doesn't have any access to the net and therefore doesn't have a time synch.

Is there any way of synching the time between the server and the laptop but using the laptop's time to update the server?

If that was the problem, wouldn't that always be a problem though? I managed to print a couple of documents last night without problem but I can almost be sure that it won't work tonight when I try.....

[Stuartbe]

Well.... 2000/2003 server has a default margin of 5 mins (in the domain controler security policy) If the time is out to much it will cause problems with NTLM and kerberos authentication. It may be that the time difference is on the boarder of that margin.

2000/2003 server has a time server built in - but it relies on connection to an external NTP server. You check this from a command prompt by typing "net time". If you use the command " net time /SETSNTP:server " You could try putting the laptops ip in the server field. You will need an NTP server running on the laptop though. Netclock is a good one....

HTH

[Raistlin]

Ok,I can't install as a local printer because XP doesn't have the drivers for it as standard.

I don't know where the driver file is located on the server.

The setup disk that comes with the printer won't let me install the software/drivers unless the printer is physically connected to the Laptop.
__________________

Been looking at Netclock, I take it that there's a fee for using it?

If so, are there any free versions available (tight, sorry but I'm skint at the moment :) ).

[Stuartbe]

Erm... being a bit dim here...

I thought you wanted the printer on the server !

If you do it will only be a question of getting a driver. Go for a windows 2000 driver if poss as these usualy work best. Once the print driver is installed the system will let you install aditional drivers for older os's

Just to check :-

Server (no internet)
Laptop (with internet)

How are the two connected to each other ? Can you give me a bit more detail on your network topology ?

[Raistlin]

Printer is installed on the server (and works ok from there).

Need to be able to print from the Laptop to the printer though.

Network is set up as per my first post.

And yes, server no internet, laptop internet.
__________________

Windows 2003 Server > [USB] > Lexmark X1180 Printer

Laptop > [WIRELESS] > Linksys Router > [ETHERNET] > Windows 2003 Server

[greencreeper]

Ok,I can't install as a local printer because XP doesn't have the drivers for it as standard.

I don't know where the driver file is located on the server.

The setup disk that comes with the printer won't let me install the software/drivers unless the printer is physically connected to the Laptop.
Yup - the setup.exe on the CD is for designed for muppets and should never be used by an IT professional ;) :D

On the CD will be a folder. Usually it's something like "drivers", then the language "PCL", then the human language "English", then the OS - not necessarily in that order. You're looking for an inf file.


Stuart may well be onto something :tu: - time problems would cause authentication issues. I would normally setup a PC to sync time with the server, rather than vice versa.

[Raistlin]

The reason I want the server to synch with the Laptop is that the Laptop is already getting a time synch from the net.

The server has no net connection and therefore the time is usually out.
__________________

No .inf files in the English bit.

The only .inf I can see is in the level above that.

I'll try it and see what it does.
__________________

That's cool. Seems to be working a treat. Thanks guys.

Let's just hope it carries on working :)

Any more thoughts on the time synch thing?

[Stuartbe]

hmmm.....

If the laptop is on the domain then it should be getting the time from the server anyway. You can allso spec a time server using the dhcp options on the server. Problem is that it will allways change to the server time.

Type " net time " into a command prompt on the server and post back what comes up.

[Raistlin]

Ok, I get a message:

Could not locate a time-server

I think that I know what might be confusing you, and I think it might be my fault.....

Although this is a server OS, and the box is acting as a server.....the only server roles that it is currently fulfilling is that it is acting as a file and print server.

The computers are set up as a workgroup, not in a domain environment. So the server is not acting as a domain controller and therefore isn't acting as DHCP controller.

Like I say, I think I may have caused some confusion here by using terminology out of place.....if I have I apologise :(

[greencreeper]

The thing that defines a server is that it serves, and in order to do that, it needs a certain level of hardware such that we can say "that's a server" of any device with at or above that level. There is no such thing as a server in hardware terms, really.

You should still be able to set the "server" to update from the laptop.

[Raistlin]

At the risk of being really cheeky :)

Can anybody recommend a good (free) time server that I can install on the Laptop?

[Hom3r]

Try one of these
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?Criteria=print%20server&doy=17m6

or try a wireless version

[Raistlin]

Try one of these
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?Criteria=print%20server&doy=17m6

or try a wireless version

's ok. The server is acting as a print server.

Stuart suggested that my printing problems could be due to time differences between the clock on the server and the clock on the laptop.

I need to find some software that can run on the laptop and that I can synch the time on the server to.

Thanks for the link though.