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HP printer prints intermittently.

Client has PC running XP SP3.

Printer is HP Laserjet M1522n. Bizarre problem. It will print one or two documents then stop.

No error on printer - 'Printer Ready'. Print Spooler service still running. Documents queued.

Nothing will start them printing.

 I uninstalled all the HP software and downloaded the PCL5 (what is this??) driver.

Again it printed a test page, then several documents. Then it was left for 10 minutes and after that refused to print anything again.

The HP downloads site has me completely confused - there are numerous driver packages for this printer and I have no idea which one to use or whether it is a driver problem at all.

Help gratefully received.
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did you try to connect it to a different computer?
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chrisfixit

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No not yet, there's only one in her office. I will take my laptop over.
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OK, the problem presented itself in April after the winter closure of the office apparently (it's in a yacht chartering business and is seasonal).

The printer is attached by USB and there is no network, only one PC, but now you mention it when I swapped USB ports I did get the messge "..would work faster in a USB 2.0 port..)

How can I tell which (if any) USB ports are 2.0 and which 1.1 ??
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If it says would work faster THEN it's not 2.0 that's a USB 1 or 1.1 port.

However, it did work properly before?  Ugh, that means trying to figure out what changed.  Of course Microsoft has come out with XP hotfixes, for the most part those security issues should not affect the printer stuff, or USB behaviour, but it might.

Try the power management.
Oh, you could try resetting the printer to factory.  You'd then have to set it up again, fax numbers, speed dials might be lost, or the software on the computer might save all those settings, HP's sometimes does.  Along similar lines, if that doesn't work, I'll bet the firware of the HP printer your client is using is not the latest, since HP appears to have updated the firmware 20100902  2 Sep 2010.  So that's another possible thing to try.

HP's English drivers for this printer are dated 6 Mar 2008 so are UNlikely to have changed (what language is your client?)  The software/scanning bundle changed 20 Oct 2010, so maybe that got updated recently.  Similar dates for west european and east european language choices.

Me, I'd be tempted to go to the support website of the computer/motherboard maker and note what is the latest motherboard BIOS that is not beta, the thinking being that the issue is USB related.   What BIOS version is your client's computer?

The site should also have drivers for the motherboard chipset (which would include the usb support)  and any integrated audio, graphics, network device drivers.

You might need to use a aflash or pflash utility to flash the BIOS firmware.  Used to be you had to make a floppy to do this.  Some of the newer ones can run right in windows.  Their tool might be safe and reliable enough that it makes a backup copy of the existing BIOS before it flashes the new BIOS, if NOT, it is always advideable that you be able to put the BIOS back to the previous version, just in case things are worse not better.  If the version you client is using now is also available for download from the manuf website, fine, download that one just in case you need it, otherwise use the BIOS flashing tool to make a backup of the current BIOS before updating, would be the most prudent course of action.
Then you install the updated device drivers.  It's a good idea to have the latest driver for chipset, network, audio and graphics all downloaded and unpacked onto your hard disk ready to go, as often after a BIOS update the plug-n-play detects the hardware change and searches for drivers.  The other way to force this is in device manager remove the device, then scan for hardware change or just reboot and it'll plug-n-play detect and then you choose the latest driver, specifying the filepath where you unpacked your downloads if you like.

The HP software driver bundle tends to be more complex, and their instructions tend to want you to NOT let Windows autodetect or se microsoft's driver, and to NOT have the printer attached at all until a certain point halfway through the installation of the bundle.
Ok, all USB ports are 1.1 .

I updated all chipset/system drivers to latest versions.

I downloaded the HP PCL6 USB Express Scan/Print Driver Package and tried to install.. when it asks for the printer to be connected it sometimes didn't detect it, other times it did but it would always seem to stop installing some minutes after detecting it (0% CPU) and sometimes fall over with 'cannot run dll as app' error.
Hmmm, so the USB is working intermittently it would seem.  What's the cable look like, high quality or no?

Desktop have an available PCI slot?  A PCI usb card isn't expensive, might take time and another trip to get one however.

Since the printer supports working via Ethernet, that might be another way of connecting to consider.  Without a router might need a crossover cable.

Maybe it's the printer end of the USB that's malfunctioning.   Does the printer work consistently if attached to your laptop or other computer?  For that you could try the simpler universal printer driver, or even try the whole software bundle, you could always uninstall it and the use System Restore to make sure your laptop's registry is back the way it was before if you wanted to be absolutely sure no leftovers ramined.

And that last one "cannot run dll as app", inconsistently, geez that's a weird one for sure.  Do a backup of all important files.  The system may be failing.  Chipset may have overheated and now is damaged.  

Some tools let you monitor, but if the damage is already done this won't help after the fact
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/03/22/check-and-monitor-computer-cpu-and-gpu-temperature-voltage-or-fan-speed/ 
Ok, tomorrow morning I'll go with laptop and ethernet cable and make sure the printer itself is Ok and possibly if connecting with ethernet via router works.

failing that I think it's time they invested in a new PC/laptop :-)
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Thanks, I'lll check tomorrow.
Ok, it appeared to be the USB connection on the printer - sent it back as it was under guarantee.