Network Printers No Longer Available

[sczarnecki]

I have several network printers installed on a server.
Our network consists of a mix of Win 7 and XP machines.
All computers are able to see the network printers, print to them, or add them.

I have ONLY ONE computer (Win 7, 32 bit) that can see the printers BUT when we try to add them we get "Windows cannot connect to the printer. No printers were found".

This has only happened recently. The computer in question had all of the printers installed and could print to them as of two days ago. Now they are all gone and cannot be added.

I know the printers are compatible and the drivers are updated for each OS. The computer in question can access the servers with no issue. She needs access to all of the printers so adding them one by one with an IP address isn't practical.

What could have changed on her computer to cause this issue?
I need to get this resolved.

Thank you!

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi sczarnecki - Welcome to w7forums

Are you positive this computer still has a network connection?

Sounds as if this computer has lost a connection to the network. When a connection is broke the list of network devices are stored for future reference.

 

[sczarnecki]

Clifford,

Thank you for responding. Yes, she still indeed has a network connection. She can get on the internet and access files/folders/applications from the servers. However, I can understand how your question could make sense. I will double check her network connection but at last check the network as available.

 

[clifford_cooley]

For clarification, when was the computer shut down last?

A Restart can sometimes fix issues of this type.

If a restart has been done and there is network access and still no printers available, I believe my next step would be to re-install the network drivers.

 

[sczarnecki]

The computer was rebooted shortly after I was notified of the problem this morning. That, unfortunately, did not fix the issue (and I was quite confident at the time that it would)! I have also rechecked her network connectivity. It is working properly and she can access all servers.
Please pardon my ignorance, by reinstalling the network drivers, are you suggesting I get the original installation CD and reinstall the Broadcom drive from there?
Thank you!

 

[clifford_cooley]

Under "Device Manager" what is listed for "Network adapters"?

If you can tell us which network adapter you are using, We can help you locate the appropriate drivers for your system. The computer or motherboard model number would help if you know those.

Mine is listed as "Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller(NDIS6.20)
" and the link for the most recent drivers found from the motherboard manufacturer ASUS Drivers and Download

 

[sczarnecki]

Intel(R) 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection

 

[clifford_cooley]

The link below seems to be the download page for Intel 82577 chipset.
I only hope it works for you, because it's my last idea as a solution.

Network Adapter Driver for Windows 7

 

[sczarnecki]

I will give this a try, Clifford. I do appreciate the feedback. I'll report back (probably in the morning) as to whether or not your solution worked.

 

[sczarnecki]

I just wanted to let you know that reinstalling the network adapters did not work.

This issue has me flummoxed. Everything else is working fine and when I install the printer individually(locally) using the IP address, it has no problems.

Just can't seem to understand how this literally happened overnight and no other Win 7 machines were affected. Crazy...

Regardless, thank you for trying to help, Clifford.
If anyone has any other ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

 

[sczarnecki]

Quick Update:

I found a solution that worked. It involves making a registry adjustment.
(This worked for me but if anyone decides to try it PLEASE exercise caution and BACK-UP the registry entries before deleting!!!!)

• I went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider\Servers.
• There should be a listing of servers and/or computers (be it one or several) on which printers are installed and shared.
• From there I first backed up the entry referring to the server that has the printers which couldn't be connected, then I deleted that server entry.
• I rebooted the machine.
• All of the printers were present again and I was able to add others without incident.

FYI - this works until you have to reboot the computer then the issue starts all over again. So technically this doesn't solve the issue. I'll keep researching.

 

[eklanderman]

If you go to "Control Panel", click the arrow to the left of "Control Panel", left click on the "Network", then click the computer that is not cooperating, are you able to explore that device from its Network connection? Or do you get a message that this device is not accessible?

 

[sczarnecki]

Hello eklanderman,

Please clarify for me...do you mean
1. am I able to view and browse the server (where the printers are installed) from the user's computer or
2. am I able to view and browse the user's computer (the computer that currently is unable to install the printers) from another computer or the server?

Thank you!

 

[eklanderman]

If I understand your problem correctly, I think it would be #1. Does one work and not the other?

 

[sczarnecki]

Yes, she can view and browse the server (which is where the printers are installed) from her computer without issue.

I cannot view or browse any other computer on the network unless it specifically has a share on it. Hers does not.

Also, as of this morning, she alerted me that a message popped up saying something to the effect of " an interactive process initialization has failed" (I didn't see this part so I don't know the exact phrase). It then opens a new screen in which two of the following errors were listed:

"C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe
Function address 0x2c71899 cause a protection fault (exception code 0x0000005)
Some or all property pages may not be displayed."

These were apparently in relation to her HP LaserJet P2050 printer.
Once out of the error screen, all seemed fine.

 

[Atomic Dog]

Quick Update:

I found a solution that worked. It involves making a registry adjustment.
(This worked for me but if anyone decides to try it PLEASE exercise caution and BACK-UP the registry entries before deleting!!!!)

• I went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider\Servers.
• There should be a listing of servers and/or computers (be it one or several) on which printers are installed and shared.
• From there I first backed up the entry referring to the server that has the printers which couldn't be connected, then I deleted that server entry.
• I rebooted the machine.
• All of the printers were present again and I was able to add others without incident.

FYI - this works until you have to reboot the computer then the issue starts all over again. So technically this doesn't solve the issue. I'll keep researching.

I had to quote this because we were having an issue with network printer for all users on our 2008 terminal server. The printers disappeared and the error logs showed event ID 215, event id 365, and event id 513. The print server appeared to be functioning and every test I could run, and every "fix" I found resulted in failure on both the terminal server and print server.

This suggested fix worked. As soon as the registry key was removed, and the terminal server restarted the printer reappeared and functioned normally again. I want to thank sczarnecki for posting this solution.