Network printing problems windows 2000 server

I have a problem which I have never heard of till now.

I have a server running windows 2000 server which is acting as the domain controller (I think, I don't have direct access to the machine). There are also about 10 printers of various brands connected to the network via stand alone print servers. Each of these of these printers are setup on the 2000 server. The user pcs which are mainly windows XP, are setup to access the printers throught the 2000 server. (I think they do this so that it is easier to add and remove printers bacause they can change it on the 2000 server and then everyone's profiles get updated). This setup has been working for awhile.

However, lately at random times and intervals all of the printers dissappear from the 2000 server. Unfortunitly I have very little information about the problem at this point. I do not know if they can ping the print servers or not etc. Since the printers dissappear from the 2000 server no one can print to any of the printers because they are not on the server anymore. The only way to make the printers reappear is to reboot the windows 2000 server and everything is fixed for awhile.

I have look through microsofts newsgroups without any success.

Thanks,
Adam

 

The probability since they all vanish at the same time (if I read you correctly) is that the devices (printers and print servers) are fine and there is a glitch on the 2K print server.

The most likely cause is a problem with spooler.exe on the print server.

Do a little investigation and post the results here. Assuming you are running from an NT PC (NT4/2K/XP) you should be able to take a remote look at the server's event logs. Just do start~run~eventvwr then search around for the option to connect to another machine so you will see it's event logs rather than yours. XP has it under Action~Connect to Another .... 2K has something slightly different and maybe an option under File. Can't see a 2K machine just now to check for you.

When you find an event or two or three that look like they might be related, post it/them here. Just double-click open the event then click on the icon below the up/down arrows (sends a text copy to your clipboard) and paste it here. If it's one with a long string of 'data' numbers below the description, we don't need that.

 

Here are the events when the problem occured and right after the restart. This is the first time I was able to look at the logs and here is what they had:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7031
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 9:46:14 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N (I have removed some of the names for network security)
Description:
The Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 0 milliseconds: No action.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Server
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2510
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:21:07 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N
Description:
The server service was unable to map error code 1727.

There were alot of the next error (they might be for RPC):

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Server
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2510
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:21:07 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N
Description:
The server service was unable to map error code 1722.

There was a restart here.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7000
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:57:30 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N
Description:
The hpdj service failed to start due to the following error:
The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement the service.

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Print
Event Category: None
Event ID: 41
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:57:31 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: L*******N
Description:
The PrintQueue could not be found on domain l*****.com. It may have been deleted from the Directory. An attempt will be made to republish the PrintQueue. Error: 2116

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Print
Event Category: None
Event ID: 36
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:58:12 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: L*******N
Description:
PrintQueue CN=L*******N-B49P0103 was successfully created in container LDAP://l*******n.l*****.com/CN=L*******N,OU=Domain Controllers,DC=l*****,DC=com.

Thanks for the quick responce.
Adam

 

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7031
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 9:46:14 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N (I have removed some of the names for network security)
Description:
The Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 0 milliseconds: No action.

Spooler Service Crashes When You Submit a Print Job and an Event ID 7031 Message Is Logged in the System Log looks like this first error. Should be corrected by SP4 though. What level are you running?



Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7000
Date: 6/21/2004
Time: 10:57:30 AM
User: N/A
Computer: L*******N
Description:
The hpdj service failed to start due to the following error:
The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement the service.

Hpdj.inf is an HP specific file and this looks to be an HP specific error. Needs to go to their tech support.

As for the errors that refer to specifics on your AD, take a look at Printer Pruner May Prune All the Print Queue Objects on Its Site.

I'm guessing but it looks like printing isn't set up properly in the AD and that your system is fighting itself. Since it sounds like you are not in IS with access to all parts of the system or knowledge of the tech aspects of AD, this needs to get looked at by someone who is.

If you folks don't have in-house expertise, opening a case with Microsoft Support is probably the fastest way to get things resolved.

 

Unfortunently the server is at service pack 4, which means that something else probably caused the first error.

As for the rest of the problems you are probably right. I am actually just working with an IT company for the summer while I go to school in order to learn some more about this kind of work. They are really busy, and as small problems arise, they give them to me to see if I can solve them to save them some time (I also like the challenge). However, while I consider myself to be fairly well versed in programming and hardware design, I still need to learn alot about windows system admin.

Would possibly uninstalling the network printers and then re-installing them on the server possibly fix the problem ( although I really don't see why, this is my last diched effert to solve the problem)?

Thanks again for your quick responces.
Adam

 

It probably won't but since you are doing this as a learning exercise anyway, try moving the whole spooler feature (files and service) on the print server to a drive/partition other than the system drive where it probably is now. At worst it will give faster printing when things are working.

If you can mess with it without getting users irate at not having printers for a little while, couldn't hurt to remove them, move the spooler stuff, then reinstall them.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;123747

As a side note, if you are having RPC issues on the server it can certainly affect printing since the print spooler depends on RPC. But so many things depend on it that I'd expect some of the others to be causing more concern.

Services that depend on the RPC service:

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service
• COM+ Event System
• Distributed Link Tacking Client
• Distributed Transaction Coordinator
• Fax Service
• Indexing Service
• IPSec Policy Agent
• Messenger
• Network Connections
  [*]Print Spooler
• Protected Storage
• Removable Storage
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP) Listener
• Routing and Remote Access
• Task Scheduler
• Telephony
• Telnet
• Windows Installer
• Windows Management Instrumentation

 

based on your description, it seems to me that your spooler service is crashing. Are there any entries for spoolsv in your drwatson log?

My guess is that you installed a new print driver shortly before you started having problems, and its causing heap corruption, which will make the spooler throw an exception and exit.

I'd recommend you revisit your drivers, ensure that you are running in-box drivers for as much as you can, and rolloff any new drivers you may have installed.

260142 How to Troubleshoot Windows 2000 Printing Problems
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=260142