Isolating Printing Problems Affecting Only One Windows Workstation


Isolating printing problems flowchart


D1. Check status of printer in Windows Control Panel

Printing from a Windows environment introduces several complexities which might or might not be related to the network or the printer. Some problems can be found and resolved right in the Windows environment. Check the status of the printer in the Windows Control Panel to see if any problems are evident.


D2. Check to see what network object the installed printer is servicing

Determine the network object print jobs are being redirected to.

  1. Select the Printers folder from the Windows Control Panel or the Start/Settings menu.

  2. Select the installed printer and click File/Properties (or use the right-click Properties option).

  3. Click the Details tab.

  4. Look at Print to the Following Port.

    Identify the network object being printed to and determine if it is a Queue object or an NDPS Printer object.


D3. Check status of printer in NDPS Manager

If the job did not appear in the job list, view information about the specific installed printer using the NDPS Health Monitor.


D4. Determine problem from error message

With many printing problems, an error will be reported on the printer, the client trying to print, or the server. If an error condition exists, use the information provided to try to resolve the problem and then try again. If the error is on the printer, see your printer's operating manual.


D5. NetWare queue object

This printer is queue-based, meaning that the print driver prints to network printers by redirecting jobs to a queue.


D6. Are queues going to an NDPS printer?

The next thing you need to know is whether the network printer is being serviced by a queue-based print server (such as PSERVER.NLM) or if NDPS is redirecting jobs through a Printer Agent. Load iManage and look to see if any NDPS Printer objects are defined.


D7. Queue-NDPS integration

The clients are submitting jobs to a print queue which is then being serviced by NDPS Printer Agents. See Problems Integrating with Queue-Based Components for more information.


D8. All queue-based printing

If clients are submitting jobs to a queue that are being serviced by a print server, then the printing environment is all queue-based. For more information, see Troubleshooting General Printing Problems in NetWare 5.1 Queue-Based Print Services.


D9. Printer is set for working offline

Under certain circumstances, the printer might be set for working offline. This can happen if Windows loses communication with the network, for example. A user can also set it offline. If the printer is set to work offline, reset it to online and try to print. If you cannot set the printer to online, then Windows has lost communication with the network print system. Reboot the workstation and if the condition still exists, check the client's connection to the network.


D10. Other possibilities

Other negative status flags.



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