2008 r2 print server question

ajf · 2 May 2012 at 14:50

We have been rolling out a single print server on Server 2008 r2 to replace an older 2003 server.

Mostly OK after a few driver issues, but one problem I keep getting is jobs sticking on queues showing errors, sometimes after they run out of paper but not always.

The printer itself if checked locally or web interface is up and in ready state.

One or two problem jobs is fine and not unknown but it seems to be that when one job errors, if I clear it all the following jobs start to error too until the whole queue has been cleared. Restarting jpbs doesn't usually work.
Once it is clear it carries on OK with new jobs.

It seems to me almost as if the server cannot see the printer in some instances.

The printers are a mix of HP Laserjet and Officejet inkjets, although the inkjets appear to be worse. I've checked, and even replaced patch cables.

Any ideas?

BoomAM · 8 May 2012 at 18:37

Print servers, the bane of an IT admins life!

Tips I've gathered over the years:

- HP Printers: Use the HP Universal for all the HPs.
- Drivers: minimise the number of drivers you have on the print server.
- Move the spooler location to somewhere like "C:\Print_Spooler"

anything I don't mind · 8 May 2012 at 19:43

There are known issues in windows 7 with the print spooler. google. windows 7 printer spooler problems and see the 60 post threads on MS forums.

I ended up creating a bat file that stops and starts the print spooler on boot and clears out the spooler directory which i think clears jobs.

You may also want to try disabling bi-directional printing, i think checkbox on the ports tab.

What i noticed with the HP universal printer drivers is that they randomlly change to different paper types. I set all the paper types of unspecified, but occasionally it goes to heavy or something. Then users end up messing with tray settings from the printer. creates more problems.

PAz · 9 May 2012 at 08:43

Is there any pattern to the jobs that are erroring? You can open up the spool file and have a look and see whats printing.

Are these printers all configured on client devices or do you have an application in the middle passing a print job to the server?

PR. · 9 May 2012 at 19:13

We used to use all the model specific drivers and had lots of problems. When we upgraded to 2008R2 I replaced all the drivers with the universal ones, makes maintaining them a lot easier. I do find that the PCL5 drivers are still best, I initially started with the PS ones but they kept dropping jobs, PCL6 were better but kept spitting out errors and gibberish, I've since gone down to PCL5 and not had any more issues.

[Darkend]Viper · 9 May 2012 at 20:44

Well i've had loads of issues over the last 3 months with printers and vista and windows 7 on a 2008r2 print server. I'm using the PCL6 universal driver, but after reading the above i'll try the PCL5 to see if that improves things.

Also i've read about changing the print processor to winprint/raw, anyone tried that with any success? My 2 biggest printers are a HP Laserjet 5100 series laser and HP OfficeJet K8600!!

knowlesy · 10 May 2012 at 16:09

x86 drivers on 2008r2 are a PAIN!!!! something I haven't truly figured out yet, just make a read only hidden share for them, HP Universal Driver is fairly good I was a hater at first but have warmed to it. Xerox and Kyocera Universal Drivers are great Id stray away from PS drivers on Xerox though.

Deploying to windows 7 machines is now painless xp is still abit of a chore

wesley · 10 May 2012 at 17:24

interesting as we got exact same problem at work.

we are using server2008r2 as single print server to host about 20 HP laserjet printers. we are getting number of reports the print queue gets stuck for no reason.

will be using HP universal driver for all PC's when do the re-iamge next time

anything I don't mind · 10 May 2012 at 19:03

This is not a driver problem, it is a windows 7 spooler problem and using windows 2008 printer sharing. If you connect directly to the printers with tcpip port and use the same drivers there are no problems.

But i go to another site that has no problems, so there does appear to be other factors ?

How did you install windows 7, did you use oem? did you use a flat image or a sysprep image or did you use something like sccm etc ?

I had this problem on some pcs that were made with a flat image and then newsid was run on them, this is what i think caused the problem for a few users.