Sometimes printer jobs get stucj in queue and won't print

[Velvis]

Client is using a Windows PC and an HP Officejet 6958 connected via USB cable which has worked fine, but recently Word documents have started to get stuck in the queue and he has to cancel them and sometimes restart the computer.
I have uninstalled the printer and re-added it but the problem persists.

Any ideas what might cause this behavior?

 

[thecomputerguy]

I stopped doing anything with ink printers years ago. I tell clients either buy a $500 laserjet at a minimum or go off program at their own risk.



Replace it.

 

[phaZed]

HP Smart. The bane of my existence.

 

[thecomputerguy]

HP Smart. The bane of my existence.

HP Smart is an absolute piece of trash. Why do you need an HP account just to scan from it.... so dumb.

 

[timeshifter]

Client is using a Windows PC and an HP Officejet 6958 connected via USB cable which has worked fine, but recently Word documents have started to get stuck in the queue and he has to cancel them and sometimes restart the computer.
I have uninstalled the printer and re-added it but the problem persists.

Any ideas what might cause this behavior?

You could try a complete reset of the printing system. That includes removing all printer drivers, stopping the print spooler service, then deleting files in the print spooler directories. Then reinstall his printer.

 

[Blues]

Sadly I have seen that behavior even with Laser printers my usual fix has been to use a command line to shutdown the print spooler and clear the print queue then restart the print spooler. It might be something particular about a specific print job that is causing the printer to hang sadly that hasn't been the case for me but since this is a direct attached USB printer that hasn't had prior faults it is worth looking into.

 

[Rosco]

HP Smart. The bane of my existence.

why do you need an account to scan on something you have already purchased? It drives me crazy.

 

[Markverhyden]

why do you need an account to scan on something you have already purchased? It drives me crazy.

In my experience you don't. As long as you don't want to utilize any HP "services". But I'm pretty sure you have to download the standalone installer to be able to ignore those prompts. Under no circumstances does one use the HP "advertised" method of installation.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Sometimes printer jobs get stucj in queue and won't print

Spelling error aside, translation "Water is wet"

It's a printer... this is what they do. All the HP hate is a distraction, IoT devices have to IoT. And sadly if the printing bits are IoT that expands your troubleshooting surface beyond the local network, and to the HP provided cloud services... which yeah... that's a ton more likely to "randomly not work".

And we're right back to... "water is wet"

Nothing you can do, product working as designed. Replacement is the only pathway forward.

Further note, USB based printing isn't really supported by Microsoft anymore. It "works" but it too is another pile of issues. Network based printers are the only really "supported" option. And these hunks of junk are too cheap to think about, customer shouldn't have engaged a technical asset, customer should have just bought a new printer.

 

[phaZed]

I don't have any problems with my printers, here. I've got 4, two on USB. None of them are HP.