2003 spooler freezing

[aabarnes1]

2003 network sp3, 2GB ram, 140GB HDD, dedicated IBM printserver running a range of xp, vista and w7 machines printing to 5 canon ir 5030i advance machines. When printing word or eexcel docs one of the xp machines seems to freeze the spooler, no error messge just a backlog of jobs in the queue.Then today another machine a w7, froze the spooler. I had to log in to the printserver delete the queue, and restart the spooler. This has happened 3 times now, any help would be really really appreciated. This is a new installation and the customer is livid!

[Stirton.M]

At first glance, I would say there is a problem with the OS on the IBM, simple corruption with the software itself regarding the spooler. Would not be the first time Windows failed on this level.

Is the IBM primarily meant only to act as a print server, or does it play a role on the network as a domain control role, and you merely have the drivers for the printers installed and shared? In other words, do you need the IBM to allow the work stations on the network to print to the Cannons?

If it is a print server, then try reinstalling the OS to "fix".

[D_L_P]

I'll second that recommendation of Stirton's, reinstall the OS is a good place to start.
Did they have zero issues before, and this just started? Try switching drivers, PCL or UFRII. If they were willing you could try isolating it more. Setup the problem workstations as local printers. You can try deleting all the print drivers, use the Canon uninstall utility or Kyrocera Mita's Undelete utility to wipe all the drivers and their associated files off, then install the drivers again, but even after all that you could still wind up reinstalling the OS.

In my experience if it is your print driver or specific files conflicting with the driver it will seem obvious and consistent. Changing from PCL to UFRII or UFRII to PCL will usually make a difference. Otherwise if it is too random to tell or can't be isolated, the workstations/server could be locking up from other issues such as viruses/Spyware/Malware/corrupt software and printing just happens to be a trigger.

[aabarnes1]

At first glance, I would say there is a problem with the OS on the IBM, simple corruption with the software itself regarding the spooler. Would not be the first time Windows failed on this level.

Is the IBM primarily meant only to act as a print server, or does it play a role on the network as a domain control role, and you merely have the drivers for the printers installed and shared? In other words, do you need the IBM to allow the work stations on the network to print to the Cannons?

If it is a print server, then try reinstalling the OS to "fix".

yes it basically is a dedicated print server, it performs no other network task apart form handle some fairly high res pdf's, exel and word documents. The printers, 23 in total, are shared between 78 users.

[aabarnes1]

I'll second that recommendation of Stirton's, reinstall the OS is a good place to start.
Did they have zero issues before, and this just started? Try switching drivers, PCL or UFRII. If they were willing you could try isolating it more. Setup the problem workstations as local printers. You can try deleting all the print drivers, use the Canon uninstall utility or Kyrocera Mita's Undelete utility to wipe all the drivers and their associated files off, then install the drivers again, but even after all that you could still wind up reinstalling the OS.

In my experience if it is your print driver or specific files conflicting with the driver it will seem obvious and consistent. Changing from PCL to UFRII or UFRII to PCL will usually make a difference. Otherwise if it is too random to tell or can't be isolated, the workstations/server could be locking up from other issues such as viruses/Spyware/Malware/corrupt software and printing just happens to be a trigger.

The whole installation is new, including the print server. I am going back in there this morning and install the drivers locally on the problem pc's. While this may well fix the issue it doesn't truly resolve it as I still do not know what caused the initial problem.

[Mr Spock]

The only time I have seen this is with large jobs and a "compatible" driver, i.e. using an hp 32 bit driver on a 64 bit system to a Toshiba copier. The only other time was with a compatibility issue between 2 print drivers (i.e. hp and xerox). One of the dll files for each had the same code and caused issues.

[knobby]

Check the web for win7 / server 2003 problems ... win 7 doesnt talk to 2003 correctly, it uses the protocol that 2008 uses ... google is full of unresolved requests for help !