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Windows Client > Windows XP IT Pro Forums > Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) > can't print after sp3. Notepad says "The printer queue is full"

Answered can't print after sp3. Notepad says "The printer queue is full"

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      Wednesday, September 17, 2008 5:55 PM
       
       
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      I can not print any more after installing sp3. IE print jobs just dissapear into thin air. Notepad says "The printer queue is full". I am using network printers through a TCP/IP ports. They are working fine for everybody else. I am able to ping those IP ports from command prompt. Please help!

       

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    • Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:25 PM
       
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      UPDATE:

      I uninstalled all printers and deleted the drivers.

      I also noticed that the C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers folder kept getting populated with new shockwave files with names statring with "F00" (      even right after a bootup) so I deleted them and uninstalled shockwave

      I reinstalled the printers and now the user can print. 

      I wish I knew what caused that.
       

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    • Monday, September 22, 2008 5:34 PM
       
       
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      I have the identical problem.  Only one machine out of dozens of identical Dells with SP3, Office 2007 is doing this all of a sudden.  Adobe Acrobat 8 says " Unable to start print job..."  Notepad says queue is full, Word says Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup....

       

      I went to Services and turned the print spooler on and off--no change

      Reinstalled default printer (HP 9050)--no change

      Tried restaring the spooler from the command line "net stop spooler",  then "net start spooler" -- no change.

      Tried changing default printers.  same message for each.  All those printers work for other stations and used to work for this one.

       

      I am out of ideas.

       
    • Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:25 PM
       
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      UPDATE:

      I uninstalled all printers and deleted the drivers.

      I also noticed that the C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers folder kept getting populated with new shockwave files with names statring with "F00" (      even right after a bootup) so I deleted them and uninstalled shockwave

      I reinstalled the printers and now the user can print. 

      I wish I knew what caused that.
       
    • Tuesday, September 30, 2008 4:22 PM
       
       
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      removing the Adobe shockwave flash player WORKED!!! Thank you!!!

       

      But this makes no sense. Anybody from microsoft is reading this? care to comment?

       

       
    • Tuesday, November 18, 2008 5:06 PM
       
       
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      Removing shockwave *didn't* work for me.   I doubt these files are actually shockwave files, they just happened to choose the same extension (.spl) for the print spooler files.   It may be that somewhere there is an incorrect association that is causing these files to be incorrectly processed or not processed at all.  In my case, if I double click on the spooler *.spl file after removing shockwave, it pulls up Spybot Search & Destroy file scanner so it would appear there may still be a bogus file association involved here.  I wish MS would look at this issue because it's a SERIOUS showstopper-- I CAN'T PRINT-- and it started happening after SP3.

      Also, when trying to print, after getting the "print queue full" one of the FP*spl files can't be deleted because it's still in use.  Shutting down the spooler allows me to remove the file.  I would venture a guess that the error message is incorrect-- it's running into some sort of problem that it thinks is a queue full but that's not the real problem...



       
    • Wednesday, September 02, 2009 3:35 PM
       
       
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      Nothing has worked for me either.   

      Notepad gives me "A StartDocPrinter Call was not issued".      

      Office gives me: "Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup"  

      Adobe CS3 programs give me: "Printing Error. Problem Initializing the current printer. Check the print settings."  

      IE8 gives me nothing. Clicking print does nothing at all, the window just disappears.

       Firefox also does nothing after hitting the print button.

      My point is that NOTHING prints now, so it is NOT an issue with the printers or the settings...SP3 has a serious flaw and no one including Microsoft seem to want to admit it. And yes, I was getting shockwave files in my print spooler and I Removed Shockwave, but it did nothing. I also removed and reinstalled all of my printers, tried every suggestion I could find on the web including the ones listed above, but still nothing changes.  The worst part is that I cannot get rid of SP3 either.  It won't uninstall and I am locked out of rolling it back using system restore!  Ugh!  SP3 is the worst virus I have ever dealth with! I see no benefit to this upgrade, and LOTS of downside.  Like a totally useless laptop.  What good is a computer that cannot print?!?!? Only if I pay over $200 to Microsoft can I even ask a question to try to fix the computer that their stupid "upgrade" broke.
       
    • Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:07 PM
       
       
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      Thanks for the tip

      I resolved this issue on my Windows XP box by deleting the File Type associating '.SPL' files with Shockwave whatever

      Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types

      skip on down to 'SPL' file type and 'Delete'

      Hope this helps,

      Pat.
       
    • Tuesday, June 08, 2010 10:55 PM
       
       
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      Pat,

      I am having sudden major issues with a print system and wonder about your solution - you completely delete the SPL file type from the machine? This doesn't interfere with any printing? I'd like to try this, but fear it is undoable.

      Did you also delete "SWF" extension files, too?

      My issue is the shockwave files sticking in the PRINTERS folder on the print manager/server for 10 public use computers. This happened many months ago and all I had to do was delete the files - now it is suddenly happening again, across clients, printers, days, and file types. Plus, printing is suddenly very slow since this began - 20 second lag between pages of a word document printing.

      I've opened a support case with my print management company, but feel I should explore all possibilities. Any advice appreciated!

      • Proposed As Answer by Pepe Callme Saturday, July 23, 2011 4:09 AM
      • Unproposed As Answer by Pepe Callme Saturday, July 23, 2011 4:10 AM
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    • Saturday, July 23, 2011 4:56 AM
       
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      Hello Guys, I have a solution, I hope this help you, first I tried uninstall and reinstall all printers, restart and stop print spooler, deleted shockwave files, but did not work.

      I deleted a corrupted entry from the Registry Editor

      HKEY_CURRENT_USER ->  Printers -> DeviceOld

      It was a reference to a printer that I had installed, after that I restarted my computer and then I was able to print, deleted and add printers, all works flawlessly.

       

      • Proposed As Answer by Pepe Callme Saturday, July 23, 2011 4:56 AM
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