Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: "Alan Morris [MSFT]" <alanmo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 16:01:35 -0800
The spooler does not log any SNMP data.
I've used SNMPutil.exe to query the remote printer for data.
Open the configuration page of the port to trigger a manual retry
The printjob travels over tcp/ip, SNMP is used for device state and status
These are the issues I have encountered in this area
1) If you are not running at least SP1 on the server get it.
2) If you use hostnames, verify that not only can you ping the name, but
that the device that responds is the printer. I use
ping HOSTNAME
Pinging HOSTNAME.corp.microsoft.com [10.111.111.102] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.111.111.102: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=125
then
ping -a 10.111.111.102
Pinging SupriseNOThostname [10.111.111.102] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.111.111.102: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=125
then I send mail to the group that handles DNS stuff to clear the stale DNS
entry.
3) If you have SP2, there was some change regarding supported SNMP print
devices
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939421
Best practices and known issues when you install Windows Server 2003 Service
Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer
4) This does not sound like the case but : verify some one has not disable
SNMP traffic through one of the router.
5) Before restarting the spooler next time, create a new port name to the
same hostname or IP, then assign this port to the printer. This would
indicate an issue with the current port state rather than anything to do
with the printer. If the new port does not work, then there is some
communication issue to the device.
You can monitor the printer on the servers using Print Management in VISTA.
If you have an SMTPHOST server you can send email alerts when the printer is
not Ready.
If no VISTA, there is an admin server tools download that includes Print
Management for XP.
--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Brian" <Brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0B745780-12FB-4E3D-B10A-AE750A3B4B9E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you so much, Alan. This is exactly the type of detail I need.
Yes, this is a standard MS Standard TCP/IP port. There are no other IP
ports
on the last example.
Now, is there a way to do any of the following?
1. Log the SNMP query activity.
2. Review results of an SNMP query
3. Trigger a retry manually.
4. Find out if this could perhaps be more of an SNMP communication or
configuration failure than anything else.
This does not happen often, but when it does, it seems to stay offline
indefinitely. The user will correct the problem (paper jam, open tray,
etc),
and for some reason, the printer never comes back online. I usually hear
about it 20 minutes later, when they have sent the same print job to the
server 15 times, and the only solution I ever had before was to reset the
print spooler on the server - not a duty I want to assign to
non-administrators on these SBS2003 domains.
"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:
The spooler will poll the IP or Hostname associated with the port.
The printer gets placed into Offline Status when the printer fails an
SNMP
query from the Port Monitor (I assume the MS Standard TCP/IP Port).
I'll assume you have at least SP1 installed. The port monitor places any
offline or error ports into a list and checks through the list every two
minutes for state changes.
Ports that are loaded by the spooler but not associated with devices are
still queried and placed into the short list when they are offline. Make
sure you do not have a bunch of old ports on the machine that point to
invalid addresses since these take longer to fail due to the number of
retries to the device before moving to the next port in the list.
--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
"Brian" <Brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CAA56993-E374-433A-8D0C-BB51A39E108D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No drive space problem. This is an HP LaserJet 5si - hardly a candidate
for a
new driver.
Read the first part of my initial post, though. This was just one
example
of
something that happens occasionally (rarely would be a more accurate
description) with any number of printers & servers - a printer will not
come
back online on the server after it goes offline following a paper jam
(even
after that is cleared at the printer) or after a paper tray became
empty,
but
was then is filled & reinserted.
Therefore, I am more interested in the general answer of how to force
the
server to reattempt a printer connection without restarting the print
spooler
than I am with this specific printer.
I do, in fact, have another live example, however - a Dell 1815 laser
multi-function printer. It regularly went offline and, even after being
reset, would not come back online at the server Printers & Faxes until
after
I restarted the print spooler service on the server. A driver update
failed
to solve the problem, but a firmware update worked. Then, a year later,
the
printer failed, was replaced under warranty, and now, even after the
most
current driver & firmware updates, continues to go offline for some odd
reason.
When it does, and there are print jobs in the queue, a restart of the
spooler simply releases one print job, then it goes back to offline. At
this
status, I can ping the printer from the server and log onto its HTTP
interface. In this case, though, I have to log onto the printer's HTTP
interface & do a restart of the printer (or unplug/replug the printer)
before
it will stay online.
This may well be a Dell issue and I will be calling them (they will
undoubtedly blame MS & SBS2003), but again, I am more interested at the
moment in the nature and timing of the communication under which the
server
determines that a printer is offline when communication with the IP
port
of
the printer has been fully restored.
Does the server wait for receipt of an availability status from the
printer,
or does the server poll the printer?
"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
Hello Brian,
Did you check that the latest drivers a reinstalled? Is the disk drive
running
out of space where the print spooler is located?
Best regards
Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
No errors.
The only relevant events logged during yesterday's episode was the
System log 7035/7036 pairs when the print spooler was restarted.
Those
are just the normal informational messages when restarting a
service.
There was no indication of the printer offline issue at all.
"Meinolf Weber" wrote:
Hello Brian,
Do you have any errors in the event viewer when it happens?
Best regards
Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,
and
confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
I manage several small networks, all having Windows 2003 SBS with
anywhere from five to 60 user, and all having one or more
networked
printers (i.e. integrated IP ports or attached to IP print
servers).
I always install all printers to the server, then shared and use
the
PrintUI to push the printer connections to the PC's, thus doing an
end run around the requirement of each user having to add the
printer to his list of network printers.
All that works fine. However, on occasion, a printer will go
Offline, at least as far as the server is concerned. Today was a
good example. It was on an HP LaserJet 5si on a relatively generic
Hawking print server. The server showed the printer offline at the
main printers information window, but not on the right-click of
that
printer. When I did right-click & set printer status to Offline,
the
status became "Offline - Offline" (i.e. Offline twice). When I set
it back online, the status changed back to just "Offline".
In this case, I found that the problem was that the PS was hung,
as
I could not even log onto its HTTP interface. A very simple power
down/up of the PS got it communicating with the network again. I
could even ping it from the server and access its HTTP interface
via
IE from the server.
Now comes the problem and my question. The server still showed the
printer's status as Offline, after the PS was reset & otherwise
communicating. I already knew I could resolve it by restarting the
print spooler on the server to wake up the connection. The
question
is why I have to do this, and what else can be used to trigger the
server to re-attempt a connecton once it has gone offline.
Centralized resources are a great tool from a deployment
standpoint,
and, thankfully, this does not happen often. However, every time
it
does, I get a litany of calls from users wondering why they cannot
solve the problem themselves. Usually, I can fix it before they
completely panic, and they usually forget about it by the time it
happens again.
I am not about to give users terminal server access to an SBS DC
just so they can reset the print spooler on the server. There has
got to be some way to at least script this so I can, for example,
have the user drop a text file in a folder and have a VBScript on
a
timer that wakes up every minute & checks to see if there is a
text
file, and if so, tells the server to reattempt the connection to
that previously-offline printer.
And no, I really don't want to write a script that just resets the
print spooler service every five minutes just in case. Not any
more
than I want to be run out of town on a rail by a mob of users who
discover why their print jobs fail when they submit them during a
scheduled server print spooler reset, at least.
.
- References:
- How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Brian
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Meinolf Weber
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Brian
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Brian
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Alan Morris [MSFT]
- Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- From: Brian
- How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- Prev by Date: how to apply security patch without restart.
- Next by Date: Looking for system config advice
- Previous by thread: Re: How to trigger server to reattempt printer connection
- Next by thread: error when I open dependecies dialog of service (for any service)
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
