Troubleshooting Printer Issue on HP s3120 with Vista Home Premium

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around troubleshooting a printer connection issue on an HP s3120 computer running Windows Vista Home Premium. Participants explore various technical aspects related to printer drivers, the print spooler service, and potential conflicts with previously installed printer software.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant reports an inability to connect an HP Photosmart C6280 printer, encountering errors related to the print spooler service.
  • Another participant suggests that remnants of a previously connected Lexmark printer may be affecting the print spooler, recommending registry cleanup.
  • Some participants discuss the potential impact of other devices on the print spooler, noting issues with a camera and wireless peripherals.
  • There are inquiries about the presence of Lexmark applications in the task manager, with concerns raised about their necessity and potential for causing issues.
  • One participant expresses caution regarding registry edits, emphasizing the risks involved in making changes without proper knowledge.
  • A participant shares their experience of successfully connecting the printer to a different computer running Windows XP, indicating that the issue may be specific to the Vista machine.
  • Another participant mentions setting up a network folder to facilitate printing from the XP machine, highlighting that the Vista machine recognizes the network but still cannot add the printer.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the root cause of the issue, with multiple competing views regarding the impact of previous printer drivers and the functionality of the print spooler. The discussion remains unresolved as participants continue to explore potential solutions.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include uncertainty about the compatibility of certain tools with Vista, the implications of registry edits, and the specific configurations of the print spooler service. The discussion also reflects varying levels of technical expertise among participants.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for users experiencing similar printer connectivity issues on Windows Vista, particularly those dealing with legacy printer drivers and spooler service errors.

Q_Goest
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My daughter's computer is wasting way too much of my time! I can't seem to connect a printer to it. The computer is an HP s3120 with Vista "Home Premium". I'm trying to connect an HP Photosmart C6280 printer to it. The drivers are available on the net and I've downloaded and installed.

When I try to "Add Printer" I get an error message saying:
Windows can't open Add Printer. The local print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler or restart the machine.

Sure enough, the spooler isn't running. So I restart the spooler and verify it's operating from Task Manager. Then go back and try and add printer. The next error message is:
Windows can't open Add Printer. Operation could not be completed (error 0x000006be).

As soon as that happens, the spooler is shut down and trying to add printer a third time goes back to the first error message.

There was a Lexmark printer (X1150) connected to this computer originally, and there were some drivers still on from that machine. There was no uninstall program to remove them so I deleted them. That may have nothing to do with this problem as the HP printer had worked fine for a while when I first installed it.

Any thoughts? What can I check here? I've downloaded all the HP drivers and it looks like it's ok, but I still can't add a printer... :(
 
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What other devices do you have running?

I was unable to get my camera to download while my print spooler was running.
 
Since you simply deleted the files of the older printer, it sounds like you just need to clean the printer driver references out of the registry. Uninstall the HP printer for now, and then follow the instructions here. In particular, the bottom of the page has instructions specifically for the way Lexmark print drivers change the print spooler dependencies, which may cause it to fail to start when the Lexmark drivers are not present.
 
slider142 said:
Since you simply deleted the files of the older printer, it sounds like you just need to clean the printer driver references out of the registry. Uninstall the HP printer for now, and then follow the instructions here. In particular, the bottom of the page has instructions specifically for the way Lexmark print drivers change the print spooler dependencies, which may cause it to fail to start when the Lexmark drivers are not present.

Unrelated:

Does this have anything to do with why I see "LEX" apps running when I look in my task manager? I haven't had a Lexmark printer in, like, forever, but these apps seem to be essential.
 
DaveC426913 said:
Unrelated:

Does this have anything to do with why I see "LEX" apps running when I look in my task manager? I haven't had a Lexmark printer in, like, forever, but these apps seem to be essential.

That may indeed be the case. However, it is difficult to tell just from the name of the app (one reference comes up as a trojan downloader!). You can use Spybot-Search & Destroy in Advanced mode to enable/disable your startup entries with additional library information about entries that have been documented. If it is still unlisted, you can use Autoruns to list all startup entries for all processes/drivers/services/dlls on your computer, which will include publisher information for each entry, if the executable has been digitally signed.
You can use either tool to simply disable the startup entry and see if your computer operates properly after a restart. If the computer behaves fine with the entry disabled, you can go back in and delete the unnecessary entry.
 
DaveC426913 said:
What other devices do you have running?

I was unable to get my camera to download while my print spooler was running.
Only other devices might be the wireless keyboard and mouse.
 
slider142 said:
Since you simply deleted the files of the older printer, it sounds like you just need to clean the printer driver references out of the registry. Uninstall the HP printer for now, and then follow the instructions here. In particular, the bottom of the page has instructions specifically for the way Lexmark print drivers change the print spooler dependencies, which may cause it to fail to start when the Lexmark drivers are not present.
Thanks slider. I tried downloading the microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools but an error comes up saying it isn't compatible (with Vista).

I'll try and clean up the print spooler per steps 6 through 14.
 
Hey Slider,
Thanks for the help. I got to http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm#LexmarkDriver" and it says to delete all the sub-keys inside Version-2 and Version-3, but not these keys themselves.

Attached is a screen shot of the various files under the folder "Version-3" and also the sub folder "Microsoft XPS Document Writer".

So which are the keys and which are sub-keys?
 

Attachments

Last edited by a moderator:
Each "folder" in the regedit program is a key; they are directing you to delete the entire key of any printer other than the Microsoft Fax Driver or XPS writer (these are standard windows printer drivers and should not have been affected).
 
  • #10
Thanks slider. Sorry for being so stupid, but does that mean I should delete all four of these (shown in attachment "Version3.doc" above)?

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Directory REG_SZ 3
MajorVersion REG_DWORD 0x...
MinorVerions REG_DWORD 0x...
 
  • #11
Q_Goest said:
Thanks slider. Sorry for being so stupid, but does that mean I should delete all four of these (shown in attachment "Version3.doc" above)?

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Directory REG_SZ 3
MajorVersion REG_DWORD 0x...
MinorVerions REG_DWORD 0x...

I'd be very careful how you answer, slider. Editing the registry can be hazardous. In the hands of a rookie, one mistake could pooch the system. But you know this.

I'd suggest this fals in the same cautionary category as giving medical advice online.
 
  • #12
Q_Goest said:
Thanks slider. Sorry for being so stupid, but does that mean I should delete all four of these (shown in attachment "Version3.doc" above)?

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Directory REG_SZ 3
MajorVersion REG_DWORD 0x...
MinorVerions REG_DWORD 0x...

Since all you appear to have installed is the default Microsoft XPS document printer (and hopefully this is not the culprit), leave it alone. Skip to step 10, and especially follow the instructions for the print spooler dependency near the end.
 
  • #13
Hi slider. Thanks so much for all your help on this. I ran the command, "sc config spooler depend= RPCSS" and it popped open a window for about 3 milliseconds and closed it. I'm assuming it did something.

I reloaded all the drivers for the printer but I'm still getting the same error messages as before.

I think my next step is to try the printer on my own computer which has Windows XP. Hopefully that will work and prove it's not the printer or drivers, it's just the computer (or operating system). I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.
 
  • #14
Quicky update. I moved the printer to my computer which has Windows XP. I downloaded the drivers off the website and it started right up, no problem. My daughter's computer that has Windows Vista however, can't hook up to it (via wireless network). The computer simply can't add a printer. Period. Very annoying! lol

The symptoms haven't changed.

I put a folder on my daughter's desktop (Vista machine) that is networked to my machine (XP). Now she can do homework on her machine and drop the file into this network folder, and print it from the XP machine. Anyway, point being that the windows Vista machine definitely recognizes the network and should be able to recognize printers on it, but it refuses to add a printer.

If anyone else has some suggestions I'm all ears. Let's try it! :biggrin:
 

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