Print spooler crashes whenever I try to print to Deskjet F4280 over the network.

[Mopymopy]

Greetings,

I have a nice and cheap F4280 connected to my computer via USB. My computer is running Windows XP SP3 (downgraded from Vista, had the same problem with Vista as well). I can print fine from my printer, but whenever I try to print from a laptop over the wireless network, the print spooler on my computer crashes and the F4280 doesn't do anything.

I downloaded a Microsoft tool to restart the print spooler, but when I resend the document to the printer over the netword, the spooler drashes again.

I've downloaded all the latest drivers, and attempted to run the critical patch, but an error message said I was already up to date and didn't need to install it.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Mopymopy]

Bump!

[thebomb102]

I too am having the exact same issue. Not only can't I print over the network, but when I install the driver it seems to not install properly, I get error messages and when it's actually installing the HP software, it loops, I see something about "waiting for user input" in the progress bar, it pops up asking me about an express install or advanced install, I click express, and it goes back to the same screen and continuosly loops. Then, after a restart, my system boots up rather slow and I have trouble opening some programs. I've never had any trouble with the desktop prior to attempting to install this printer. Can't seem to correct it. Please let me know of any solutions

Thank you.

Message Edited by thebomb102 on 04-10-2009 04:29 AM

Message Edited by WendyM on 04-10-2009 11:17 AM

[thebomb102]

Bump? Anybody?

Can anyone from HP chime in on this? Tried playing with it again last night. I tried downloading updates for it from HP's driver & patch page for the f4280 and I get an error message telling me that's not the device I have on my machine and the patch isn't needed. This is by far the worst experience I've ever had with any HP product! The driver has completely slowed down my system, when I remove it via regedit edit everything goes back to normal on my machine. But when it's installed, certain programs don't load until I remove the driver. The system hangs for a bit on start-up, but when I remove the driver and restart, everything boots up just fine.

Still can't print over my network to it either. I have it set-up on my basement desktop PC. I can print (though there's a good 20 second lag before printing actually begins) from that PC, but if I try to print over the network, I'm able to send the print request over the network to the PC, the PC freezes for a few seconds then displays a "subsystem app" error message and locks up the print que. After a restart of the computer, I get the same error message but then the print cue clears and I'm able to print from that PC if I want to.

What a joke, PLEASE get a patch out already!!

[thebomb102]

Well I still couldn't find a solution for this so I bought this print server on ebay: Q6301A#B1H

It works very, very, very well. I have two printers in my house now including this one. This one now hooked up via that print server and the older one hooked up and shared on my familyroom PC. Each computer on my network that I maintain (3 desktops, 2 laptops) have full fuctionality in printing to both printers. I can also scan over the network as well.I guess spending the $30 (+$10 shipping) I got it for was well worth it as opposed to banging my head trying to fix it or waiting for HP to release a patch that doesn't seem to be coming out anytime soon.

[sipminfo]

Resolution/Fix:

You first need to clear out your print queue to prevent the print spooler from crashing again.

On the computer designated as the server do the following:

1. Stop the printer spool service by right clicking on your My Computer icon and selecting "Manage"
2. Expand "Services and Applications" and the click on services
3. Browse through the list of services and find "Printer Spooler".
4. Right click on the "Print Spooler" service and select "Stop" if Stop is grayed out or disabled and "Start" is an available option, then the service is already stopped.
5. Go to the c:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers folder
6. You should see some files in this directory with a .SHD file extension or a .SPL extension you will want to delete these. In some cases you may see other files in this directory as well, and in general it is safe to delete them. Files besides the .SHD and .SPL should be backed up before you delete them to be safe.
7. You may either reboot the computer or Start the "Print Spooler" service manually.

Once your print spool is clear you can now proceed with the following on the server computer:

1. Click on Start then control panel, and then Printer and Faxes
2. Right click on the HP Deskjet F4280 printer and select Properties
3. Click on the Advanced tab
4. Uncheck "Enable advanced printing features"
5. Click the OK button

You should now be able to print fine from any computer on the network