HP LaserJet P1006 Driver problems, 2008 Terminal Server [ Edited ]

[xkaupx]

I have a few P1006 LaserJets and have not had much success with them since we have moved them onto thin clients. They were on full XP machines and now they are hooked to XP thin clients. The printers install on the thin clients and can print from the thin clients fine, but when they connect to the terminal server they can get maybe one page to print at best.

We are running Windows Server 2008 for terminal services and I am using the latest version of the printer driver from the HP website on both the thin clients and the server. The driver is the 4/18/2008 or 1.0.5 version.

The driver works fine when printing locally, but when there is a redirected job from a terminal session they get maybe one page before the spooler crashes. The driver loads when they start their remote session and the printer is available (the drivers are signed so the system seems to like them). Unfortunately the Easy Share Print Driver doesn't work at all so that doesn't help. 

It seems there is just enough difference between the XP and Vista kernel versions of the driver to cause problems. It's possible someone sharing this printer on an XP machine and trying to print to it from a Vista desktop would have similar problems.

Any suggestions?

Message Edited by xkaupx on 11-21-2008 09:24 AM

[Henri]

I have the same problem. The local computer is running Vista Business with a P1006 attached via USB. The user remotes (using RDP through an HP MediaSmart Server) into another Vista Business machine. The user can print one document, then nothing. I checked the remote computer's printer queue and there were no jobs listed. I checked the local computer's printer queue and there were over 600 jobs. The user did try to print several times, but certainly not that many times.

I cleared the queue by doing right-click - Run as Administrator - Cancel All Documents. But, I still can't print anything, not even a test page. I had to reboot the computer.

So something is definitely wrong with the drivers for this printer.

Are these forums monitored by HP, or just the community?

Message Edited by Henri on 11-27-2008 09:46 AM

[Henri]

Additional info...

After rebooting the local computer, I was finally able to print a test page. I logged in to the remote computer and was able to print a test page from there as well. But, when I minimized the remote session (staying logged on), I saw the local print queue already had several jobs in it. Furthermore, there is 1 or 2 new jobs added to the queue every second. It didn't stop until I logged off the remote computer. So after a few minutes, there were 371 jobs in the queue and nothing printing.

I cleared the queue as before, tried to print a test page locally, but again, it just sat in the queue without printing. Rebooting again...

[xkaupx]

That definitely sounds similar to my issues. I don't have additional jobs filling the queue, but I definitely can't print again until a reboot is performed. Then it's back to one page before a spooler crash. It's possible if I didn't have a spooler error it could start filling the queue with jobs. That has not happened for me yet. I have other printers, HP printers even, that work fine. They are older models and Windows supports them without issue, but these new ones I have to use HP's driver. The driver is signed so you would think it would be fine, but there seems to be a driver problem here.

[Henri]

It would appear that the P1006 is not supported with Terminal Services:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01464949/c01464949.pdf

why HP would produce printers that aren't supported in this sceanrio is beyond me.

[claytonius]

     It's not just on thin clients. I have 20 of these machines in a library environment. Tremendous problems. Frankly, I've lost all confidence in the HP brand because of these printers. The continual problems with print jobs sticking in the print queue and the print settings changing on their own to duplex printing and two pages per sheet are driving me crazy. My IT guy thought that he was getting a really good deal for me but it wasn't.

     A support guy in India tried to offer some suggestions about running NET STOP SPOOLER from the command line but this command is blocked (probably for security reasons) and anyway isn't something I want the general public to use.

[Henri]

I replaced the printer with a Brother HL-2140 and it worked right away without issue. It was on sale at Staples for < $70 (reg. $130), so a better deal all around.

I agree with you on losing confidence in the brand. HP makes good hardware, but lousy software. I have an HP 1020 on my desk and every time it needs to display a message on the screen (like when you print double-sided), it messes up my whole Desktop. I'm using dual monitors... both screens go black, I get an error message, I click the "Display Message" option, I finally see the dialog, click OK and my monitors come back to life, but windows that were on monitor #2 are now on monitor #1 and the app I was printing from is no longer the active one. Annoying!

Bottom line... I'm no longer recommending HP printers to my clients.

PS: You could setup a batch file stop and start the spooler, then use the scheduler to launch it as needed (hourly, nightly, or whatever frequency is required).

[xkaupx]

Thanks for the heads up on the Brother printer. We are shopping out replacements now because it looks like there is no real resolution for this without HP stepping up and doing something. I'll just give these printers to some of the fat clients and give the Brother laser a whirl. I agree on the HP software quirks. I have some HP servers and our thin clients are HP and they are great machines, but HP software doesn't impress.