Excel freeze when changing cell color and HP LaserJet CM1415fn is default printer

[Holografika]

We are using a HP LaserJet CM1415fn connected via Ethernet. The computer is running Windows 7 x64, with the latest printer drivers available from the HP website as of today.

When this printer is the default printer, there is a freeze occurring in Excel when we try to change the colour of a cell, exactly as described here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-excel/changing-font-color-causes-excel-t...

and here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-excel/excel-not-responding-when-changing...

Both posts suggest that setting the default printer to something else solves the issue, and that the problem lies in the printer driver, and indeed, setting the default printer to something other than our HP printer makes this problem immediately disappear.

Could you please provide an updated driver or some workaround other than setting the default printer to something else?

[AlwaysNeon]

Sounds like you are having an issue with your Excel software. In my experience, if that is the issue then there would be something in the Excel programming which is corrupt. The HP softwar should only interact with your computer when you are printing or scanning or using the printer's other functions. I am not sure how changing the default printer would effect non-print related tasks in a third party program.

Let me know if this information is useful to you and I will get right back with you! 

-Spencer 

[Holografika]

Dear Spencer,

many thanks for your answer. First I was also suspecting that it might be an MS Office issue (or some network related issue, as the tables are on a network), but a quick googling revealed that others also have this problem, and it's related to the printer.

In one of the posts I have linked, they say:

"If everything works fine after changing the default printer, then you may have to update your printer drivers.

Note: You may have to contact your printer manufacturer in order to get the updates for your printer driver."

And indeed, this helps.

I also have to tell this does not occur on all computers, so the problem might be more convoluted. Later today I will attach a debugger on the problematic PC to the frozen process to see where it hangs and report to you.

[AlwaysNeon · Accepted solution]

From what I have read this may be related to the printer drivers, but I still doubt that the problem is caused by the printer driver. What they are referencing is a document writer in their default printers folder, which I do have to not is -not- a printer driver. The XPS Document Writer "prints" documents to a file, it is not actually a printer driver at all and it is more a misnomer to consider it as such. 

From the description of the problem, it still seems to be related to the Office Suite software. If  this is a problem that effects multiple printer drivers (as the user suggests) it would not be logical to assume that the issue lies in the drivers for the printers belonging to the users that have this issue, but the common factor uniting the experiences here which would be the office software. 

What you can do is check the following link to be sure that A) all of the updates are properly applied B) that the driver software is up to date through uninstalling/reinstalling and C) making sure the printer's firmware is up to date :

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=4089468

It's possible it is a hangup in the software, but if it is happening internally within the program it wouldn't make sense with the way the HP printer programming operates. 

Let me know how this goes! 

-Spencer 

PS Hope you are having a wonderful day and that your weather is as beautiful there as it is here!  

[Holografika]

Hi Spencer,

your reasoning makes perfect sense, it might be in Office as well. As of updating drivers, I did run the Updater, which did not find a newer driver. Then I uninstalled it and downloaded the latest one, to find out it's the same. So I also updated the printer's firmware, but that did not help either.

This was the point when I set a different default printer, so the user is using the PC that way snce then, with no problems.

Now that I wanted to reproduce the bug to see a call stack with the debugger, the problem did not occur.

If it happens again, I'll come back to you with more information.

[AlwaysNeon]

This appears to be a flaw in the MS Office software. I don't personally know what would cause it. I am glad that this issue is now resolved and you can continue on with your projects. Have a wonderful day and a great weekend. 

Best of luck to you! 

-Spencer