print jobs disappear from queue and nothing is ever printed

[ninasan]

Yes, I did the test with several document types (including NotePad) and the size of the PRN file is always 0 kB.

Concerning the driver, the one installed is the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477 PCL 6. If you have any suggestions about using a different driver, please let me know and I'll give it a try.

[ninasan]

Indeed, using the XPS Viewer I was able to open the SPL files and the document was displayed normally. Hope this indicates something?

[dansdaduk]

>> ... the driver, the one installed is the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477 PCL 6. If you have any suggestions about using a different driver ...

For Windows 10 64-bit systems, it appears that there are three available drivers for the Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M477:

I don't know what differnces there between the Classic, Modern and v4 drivers, sorry (other than that v4 is probably Windows 10 only).

[dansdaduk]

>> ... using the XPS Viewer I was able to open the SPL files and the document was displayed normally

>> ... Hope this indicates something? ...

The .spl files are in an intermediate format (not the source document document, nor the target printer-language format), which is the initial stage of spooling.

The last stage of spooling is to convert the intermediate spool format into the target printer Page Description Language format. 

The fact that a zero-length file is produced (when the process is 'captured') implies that something has gone wrong with this latter process.

But what? I'm not that familiar with the Windows XPS-based spooling process, sorry.

Perhaps select the "Print directly to the printer" option, rather than "Spool print documents ...", in the Advanced tab of the Printer properties dialogue?

If I find anything else useful, I'll let you know.

[dansdaduk]

The evidence so far (as I see it) points to a problem with the XPS-to-PCL6 conversion.

I'm not sure whether this functionality is provided by Microsoft (who 'invented' XPS), or HP (who 'invented' PCL6 (a.k.a. PCL XL); perhaps a recent Windows update has upset things?

There may be some additional evidence available in the Windows Print Service | Admin logs:

• Open the Windows Event Viewer application, via Control Panel | System and Security | Administrative Tools; note that you will probably need to supply administrative credentials.

• Select Applications and Service Logs | Microsoft | Windows | PrintService | Admin.

• Look through the logs, especially those that correspond with the times of your failing prints; is anything which seems (potentially) to be relevant logged?

[dansdaduk]

... and if you (or your "HP support technician") haven't already done so, it's probably worth downloading and running the HP Print And Scan Doctor utilty (see https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03286146) to see if that yields any more evidence.

[ninasan]

In my case, I cannot click on the option 'print directly to the printer' because it's gray...

I'll try your other suggestions and inform you about the results.

[ninasan]

I managed to find and open the log and it displayed a whole list of errors. The error is always the same, saying the document cannot be printed. Try to print again of restart the print spooler. The Win32 error code returned by the print spooler is 2147500037. Unspecified error. (This is not the exact error message but my own translation, as my Windows version is in Dutch instead of English).

I will try to restart the spooler, although I'm pretty sure it won't help because I've already tried this before in an attempt to solve the problem...

[ninasan]

You may be right about a recent Windows update having upset things. I was able to print until the update KB3150513 was installed. I uninstalled this update when I realised I could no longer print (without being sure that this update caused the problem), but unfortunately the printer didn't came back alive...

[dansdaduk]

Can you post full details of a sample error - Event Viewer allow you to copy 'as text', I think.
Preferably post an English translation of the Dutch text.