Windows: Another Sure Thing?
After writing my last post, I discovered what may be another sure thing: unpredictable failures to work by Windows. Our printer is networked; it sits downstairs, connected to an old laptop, and we print everything to it over the network. It has been working fine. Well, okay, it’s been a little flaky for a few days, but it has been generally doing great since we set it up.
Today, I started getting this error: “Windows cannot connect to the printer. The server print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler on the server or restart the server machine.” This despite the fact that the print spooler service most definitely is/was running and the fact that the machine to which the printer is attached could print to it just fine.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to waste too much time before finding a solution. Still, it would be nice if Windows would work the way it is supposed to. I would settle for it just continuing to work, even if not everything I try to do works the first time. Sigh…
This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Tech.
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August 11th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Hmm, I’d have been interested to see what your printer setup was prior to changing to a UNC port name. Is your Inspiron running XP Home? or Pro?
August 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
The printer setup had been via the “network printer” route (I set it up from Control Panel\Printers, selecting “network printer” rather than “local printer”). Nothing has changed; both our laptops were set up and working that way before our vacation, and Sarah’s is still set up and working that way.
I’d be curious if you have any insights into the problem. Thanks, once again, my friend.