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Printer purges after successful printing - then needs to be reinstalled

Hello,

I have a user that is using a HP LJ 4 Plus printer. After printing a document, the printer gets "purged" by XP and then has to be reinstalled. The document prints ok.

The user gets no errors and no indication that there is a problem until the next time she tries to print and there is no printer installed. She is then able to install the printer without any problems.

This happens atleast once daily. Anybody got any suggestions?

- Chris

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

SheharyaarSaahil

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cwisofsky

I've seen similar situations where a printer vanishes and then reappears after a reboot. As far as I can recall, it was only under Windows 98, and running the critical updates typically resolved the issue. So I would make sure that you have all the latest updates and also update the printer driver manually. If the user is readding it, they are probably not replacing the driver installed on the system each time.

It might also help to know if the issue happens with a networked printer, which seems likely since you mentioned a user, or if the printer is connected with a parallel cable.

Good Luck,
cwisofsky

caw01

ASKER

This is a local printer connected with a paralllel cable.

When looking in the event viewer, Windows XP specifically states that the printer was purged. So it will not come back after reboot.

cwisofsky

Can you let me know the event ID?

prifre

Hi,

It sounds like some kind of auto-restore-system-point trick.
Are you sure there is nothing in the startup that says - restore everything after a restart?
What is specially strange is that it is doing that after a printout. That sounds like something related to a bad printer driver. Check if there is a newer one or even re-download the same from Internet (you can always trust that "professor Internet" has the greatest & latest stuff ;-)

And if you dont find any solution - fake it. Just add the installation files onto the desktop and rename them "Prepare printer for printing", "Print Job Finisher" or something...

with a smile
/prifre