Word hangs changing Printer Properties(2000 SR-1a)

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Hi Ed:
I can think of two approaches to try. First, make sure that you have the latest drivers for your printer. Second, try the steps in post 197827. There may be an add-in or corrupt normal.dot that’s causing it, although if you’ve reformatted your disk & installed only Word (without any of the old templates) & the printer, it’s doubtful.

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Hi Phil,

I have tried both approaches you have mentioned. But, alas no luck. I now suspect that there is something amiss with the printer itself, because just before the problem manifested itself the printer started all on its lonesome to print a page of garbage. I then switched the printer off and restarted it again. The problem of Word hanging has been with me ever since then. Neither Microsoft nor HP can give me a solution to the problem.

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Hi Phil,

I have tried both approaches you have mentioned. But, alas no luck. I now suspect that there is something amiss with the printer itself, because just before the problem manifested itself the printer started all on its lonesome to print a page of garbage. I then switched the printer off and restarted it again. The problem of Word hanging has been with me ever since then. Neither Microsoft nor HP can give me a solution to the problem.

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(Edited by jscher2000 on 13-Sep-03 11:28. Made the subject line more descriptive of the problem.)

Word hangs every time I try to print a document by clicking on “Print ” selecting “HP OfficeJet600 -> Properties ->any function” then clicking on “OK”. The printer has All-In-One capabilities and is set to ECP, Bidirectional printing. If I connect a Xerox XJ8C and go through the same procedure in Word, the printer functions normally. May I add, Word is the only program which gives this problem. I have so far reformatted the hard disk, re-installed only Word and the printer. I have reset the printer. And, tried combinations of both activities but the problem persist. Any help would be most apprecitated

Regards

Ed Harding

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That button should be opening the same dialog as Start>Settings>Printers>HP OfficeJet 600>Properties. Word often has alternative ways of overriding those details from within its own dialogs (e.g., Page Setup sets orientation, trays, etc.), that might obviate the need to adjust the default printer settings, or, recognizing that it’s not a solution, perhaps you can create a shortcut somehow to the main dialog and avoid using the button in the Print dialog?

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There is a work-around to this problem, and that is:
Before printing [using WIndows 98] goto “my computer ->printers ->OfficeJet Series 600 Printer ->Propeties ->Setup” and make the adjustments. That to me is not satisfactory. If the printer worked okay before the glitch then there should be some method that I can use to reset the printer or at least trace the fault via Word settings. Extensive correspondence with Microsoft and HP have yet to reveal a clue on how to resolve the problem. I was just hoping that someone out there could shed a glimmer of hope toward a solution.

Regards

Ed Harding

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What kinds of things are you changing that Word itself doesn’t regulate? (I know very little about all-in-one devices, so my apologies if this is an inane question in that context.)

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After creating or editing a document I may need to change the print quality prior to printing. If I just select print then I would get a draft copy, as that is the default mode I have set in the HP software. I am so used to the procedure of just selecting properties and then the print quality I require that I tend to forget that if I do so, the computer hangs. The All-In-One is a printer/copier/scanner and fax machine.

Regards

Ed Harding

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After creating or editing a document I may need to change the print quality prior to printing. If I just select print then I would get a draft copy, as that is the default mode I have set in the HP software. I am so used to the procedure of just selecting properties and then the print quality I require that I tend to forget that if I do so, the computer hangs. The All-In-One is a printer/copier/scanner and fax machine.

Regards

Ed Harding

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What kinds of things are you changing that Word itself doesn’t regulate? (I know very little about all-in-one devices, so my apologies if this is an inane question in that context.)

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Hi Ed:
I have a very old HP 5P Laserjet so I’m not familiar with the settings of the new ones. However, you might also check under the printers properties (I have a tab called Details) for Spool settings & timeout settings. I’ve had Windows slow down, speed up, or hang depending on different settings. I know it’s got to be frustrating.

You might also run System File Checker (Start/Run/sfc) to see if there are any corrupt files, though with a reformatted drive there shouldn’t be (assuming you reinstalled from scratch). I suppose you could run Dr. Watson & see if you got any information from that when you try to print (although I’ve not used it much & wasn’t even clear on what it’s supposed to do.

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You can be assured that I have tired all of your suggestions and they too do not solve the problem. I just had a go at running the “FilePrintSetup” macro in Word and that too caused the computer to hang. I am sure I am now getting closer to the truth in that there must be a corrupt file somewhere that relates to the HP printer.

Thanks

Ed Harding

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Is it possible to set up a second printer driver to the same printer. The second driver could be set to print in high quality mode rather than draft mode. This might remove the need to view the printer options.

I agree that there is a corrupt file somewhere but I would hesitate to point the finger at Word unless…
Open Word by choosing Start > Run and type in winword /a and press OK. Now put in some dummy text and print using your preferred method. If this doesn’t crash the system then we might be able to isolate the problem to a Word addin or corrupt template.

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Thanks Andrew,

I currently have the spare Xerox printer to do the draft work (ink cartridges are expensive) and the HP(problem) printer to do the high quality printing. I would however, like to resolve this problem. Using the /a switch does not solve the problem either. If I could find out which files come into play when Word makes a call to the printer driver and/or spooler, then I maybe able to narrow down that file which is not returning the correct parameters or not return the call at all and thus causing the Computer to hang.

Ed Harding

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hi Ed,

have you checked your parallel port settings in the bios. i remember years ago (must be at least 8 already) that i had issues with an hp printer/windows 98 in combination with port/bios settings. does the bios setting on your computer correspond with /is capable of the same setting as your printer? i faintly remember that the ecp/epp print method was a (buggy) standard jointly developed by ms and hp at the time, and – next to this problem – the printing quality deteriorated markedly when i switched from windows 3.1 to windows 95 and then to 98.

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Hello Pieter,

Yes I have checked the BIOS setting and there are as per requirements. Like your experience, the printer was used successfully under Windows 3.1, 95 and for some time under Windows 98. My latest ploy was to re-install the HP OfficeJet 635 software, with disks from another source but that made no difference. I then used a HP 660C driver and that worked okay. I am now becoming obsessed in a search for a solution to the current problem.

Regards

Ed Harding

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Hello Pieter,

Yes I have checked the BIOS setting and there are as per requirements. Like your experience, the printer was used successfully under Windows 3.1, 95 and for some time under Windows 98. My latest ploy was to re-install the HP OfficeJet 635 software, with disks from another source but that made no difference. I then used a HP 660C driver and that worked okay. I am now becoming obsessed in a search for a solution to the current problem.

Regards

Ed Harding

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hi Ed,

have you checked your parallel port settings in the bios. i remember years ago (must be at least 8 already) that i had issues with an hp printer/windows 98 in combination with port/bios settings. does the bios setting on your computer correspond with /is capable of the same setting as your printer? i faintly remember that the ecp/epp print method was a (buggy) standard jointly developed by ms and hp at the time, and – next to this problem – the printing quality deteriorated markedly when i switched from windows 3.1 to windows 95 and then to 98.

Reply | Quote

Thanks Andrew,

I currently have the spare Xerox printer to do the draft work (ink cartridges are expensive) and the HP(problem) printer to do the high quality printing. I would however, like to resolve this problem. Using the /a switch does not solve the problem either. If I could find out which files come into play when Word makes a call to the printer driver and/or spooler, then I maybe able to narrow down that file which is not returning the correct parameters or not return the call at all and thus causing the Computer to hang.

Ed Harding

Reply | Quote

Is it possible to set up a second printer driver to the same printer. The second driver could be set to print in high quality mode rather than draft mode. This might remove the need to view the printer options.

I agree that there is a corrupt file somewhere but I would hesitate to point the finger at Word unless…
Open Word by choosing Start > Run and type in winword /a and press OK. Now put in some dummy text and print using your preferred method. If this doesn’t crash the system then we might be able to isolate the problem to a Word addin or corrupt template.

Reply | Quote

You can be assured that I have tired all of your suggestions and they too do not solve the problem. I just had a go at running the “FilePrintSetup” macro in Word and that too caused the computer to hang. I am sure I am now getting closer to the truth in that there must be a corrupt file somewhere that relates to the HP printer.

Thanks

Ed Harding

Reply | Quote

Hi Ed:
I have a very old HP 5P Laserjet so I’m not familiar with the settings of the new ones. However, you might also check under the printers properties (I have a tab called Details) for Spool settings & timeout settings. I’ve had Windows slow down, speed up, or hang depending on different settings. I know it’s got to be frustrating.

You might also run System File Checker (Start/Run/sfc) to see if there are any corrupt files, though with a reformatted drive there shouldn’t be (assuming you reinstalled from scratch). I suppose you could run Dr. Watson & see if you got any information from that when you try to print (although I’ve not used it much & wasn’t even clear on what it’s supposed to do.

Reply | Quote

There is a work-around to this problem, and that is:
Before printing [using WIndows 98] goto “my computer ->printers ->OfficeJet Series 600 Printer ->Propeties ->Setup” and make the adjustments. That to me is not satisfactory. If the printer worked okay before the glitch then there should be some method that I can use to reset the printer or at least trace the fault via Word settings. Extensive correspondence with Microsoft and HP have yet to reveal a clue on how to resolve the problem. I was just hoping that someone out there could shed a glimmer of hope toward a solution.

Regards

Ed Harding

Reply | Quote

That button should be opening the same dialog as Start>Settings>Printers>HP OfficeJet 600>Properties. Word often has alternative ways of overriding those details from within its own dialogs (e.g., Page Setup sets orientation, trays, etc.), that might obviate the need to adjust the default printer settings, or, recognizing that it’s not a solution, perhaps you can create a shortcut somehow to the main dialog and avoid using the button in the Print dialog?

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(Edited by jscher2000 on 13-Sep-03 11:28. Made the subject line more descriptive of the problem.)

Word hangs every time I try to print a document by clicking on “Print ” selecting “HP OfficeJet600 -> Properties ->any function” then clicking on “OK”. The printer has All-In-One capabilities and is set to ECP, Bidirectional printing. If I connect a Xerox XJ8C and go through the same procedure in Word, the printer functions normally. May I add, Word is the only program which gives this problem. I have so far reformatted the hard disk, re-installed only Word and the printer. I have reset the printer. And, tried combinations of both activities but the problem persist. Any help would be most apprecitated

Regards

Ed Harding

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