Printer is Paused or Offline in Windows 8.

[garytech1]

 If you are having problems with your printer not starting print jobs, your printer might be paused or offline.

The video below shows you how to determine if its paused or offline in Windows 8.

[garytech1 · Accepted solution]

Hope this helps!

[WilliamT13555]

It didn't work for me.  Neither box was checked.  However I tried cycling each check box without benefit.  Printer shows as "offline" as far as Windows 8 is concerned.   Once this problem started several months ago (with 32b Windows 8), the only solution is to uninstall and reinstall the printer.  Often when I uninstall the printer, the print job that was in the queue prints, and then the printer is gone.  The problem continues to exist on this new HP desktop with Windows 8 64b.  Annoying, and apparently has been an unresolved problem for some time.

[Sunshyn2005]

Hi WilliamT13555,

I can help you with the computer seeing the printer as "offline". The following symptoms might also accompany this issue, and this document does address these other symptoms:

• Printer won't print

• Print jobs are stuck in the print queue

• No response from the printer

'Printer is offline' Message Displays on the Computer and the Printer Will Not Print

After opening the link choose your operating system and follow the instructions in order.

Hope this helps.

[WilliamT13555]

I had previously tried all 10 steps.  The only one that works for me is uninstalling the printer and reinstalling it.  This works for a couple of days (I power down over night), and the problem comes back.

BTW, the printer driver provided by Windows 8 does not "work well", as the duplexing option doesn't stay installed between reboots.  The driver from the HP website works well in this regard, and of course you have to tell it to not use the existing driver (recommended).

I have had this printer for many years under XP and never had this problem.  This January, I updated the PC to Windows 8 32b, and still did not have this problem.  Around July, we had a power failure, and when power was restored, this problem first cropped up.  And it repeats every few days, apparently randomly.

Since then, I have replaced the PC with a new HP Windows 8 64b and the problem continues.  One thing that happens is that the uninstall does not release the Ethernet port, and so I end up with a string of ports at 192.168.1.105, 192.168.1.105_1, 192.168.1.105_2, 192.168.1.105_3 etc.  Yesterday, I cleaned these up by deleting the extra ports during the printer install, but then was surprised that they still showed in IE10 as multiple installed printers P2015 (even though these did not show in Control Panel).  I found that I could right click in the printer selection within IE and delete those printers that no longer exist.

Bottom line is that it works, but I have to uninstall and reinstall the printer every few days.  What triggered it yesterday (maybe) was another power failure.

[Sunshyn2005]

Wow, WilliamT13555 I am genuinely sorry to hear this is happening, what a nuisance this must be for you. Would you be interested in doing what is called a level 3 uninstall? A level-three uninstall is more comprehensive than the add-remove programs uninstall.

If you are interested in giving it a try follow the instructions in the following link. How to perform a level 3 uninstall. This specific document was written for a fatal error when installing and says it is for Windows XP but you can follow each step to clean up the computer of the HP software. The level 3 uninstall will however only work for the older version software. If you have Solution Center you have the older software and can proceed. If your printer is newer and you have printer assistant you will not be able to do the level 3.

Let me know, I would like to help you with this.

[WilliamT13555]

Sunshyn,

Thanks for your interest.  The next time the printer goes "off line" I will try this process.

In reading through the online info, it seems to be XP related.  When I updated to Win 8, this was a clean install (not an update) so nothing from XP carried over except for maybe firmware in the printer.

And of course, when I bought the new HP Pc a few weeks ago, that was a very clean install.

When I first upgraded to Win 8 last summer, I found that I had to reset the printer's firmware to defaults.  That was because the printer was printing in its "toner save" mode which I had set years ago, but now was just printing in "faint mode" under Windows 8, and the  Win 8 driver no longer had the controls to reset or adjust. 

So far, my other printers have not been affected (much).  These are an HP M551dn, and an Epson R2880.  Maybe this is related, but sometimes when I select the 551dn printer as the destination, it actually prints on the p2015dn instead.  When this happens, I uninstall everything and start from scratch.

[WilliamT13555]

"If you have Solution Center you have the older software and can proceed. If your printer is newer and you have printer assistant you will not be able to do the level 3."

I think the printer is maybe 7 years old now.  With Windows 8, I never installed anything from the "old days", I just used the drivers that came with Windows 8 and now from the HP website.

[Sunshyn2005]

Hi WilliamT13555

I went from not knowing what printer you have to knowing you have 3 printers.      Which one is the printer in question?

How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?

From your last post I gather you are not using full feature software and drivers and when you say you are uninstalling and reinstalling do you mean you are removing the driver and re-adding it?

I will do some research and get back to you with what I find.

[WilliamT13555]

The printer that is having this problem is a Laserjet P2015dn (with years of reliability).

I also have a M551dn from this year, and an Epson R2880 which is a USB photo printer from a couple of years ago.  These have happily coexisted until July this year.

I also have PDF995 and Adobe PDF as pseudo printers (along with OneNote).

When I first got Win 8, I had some issues (like with the toner density setting), and saw online that this printer was now unsupported by HP and that the Universal Printer Driver was a compromise with far fewer features than the old XP driver.  Then I eventually found that the driver from HP was better than the driver included with Win 8.

But that was before it started this "I've lost my connection and can't get up" behavior". 

Around the same time (last July), I started fooling with some IP security cameras, and this messed with my IP addresses which are DHCP determined.  Right now though, for several weeks, none of these network devices are present.  It is my PC, the router (Linksys WRT54G at 192.168.1.1)), the Hughes satellite modem (at 192.168.0.1) my laptop, my wife's laptop, the M551dn and the P2015dn that make up the LAN.

When the P2015dn decides to go incommunicado, nothing that I know of has changed including the IP address assigned to the P2015.  After I uninstall it and reinstall it, it typically ends up at the same IP address but it now works.