printer goes missing

[Todd]

Hi All,

I have a customer with a win 7 home laptop. She
also have an HP psc something-or-other attached to
the Ethernet. Works great while I am there. But, twice
now after I have left, there is not sign of the printer
on her system. I have to reinstall it and it comes right
back. It is as if something had surgically removed the
thing. It is just gone. I have powered off the laptop
and restarted it to try to duplicate the problem, but
the printer stays and works fine while I am there.

My first instinct was that some human had removed the
thing thinking they were "cleaning up" the system. But
the owner and her children both claim ignorance. They
are honor folks too. One of the children does take
the laptop to school with him, meaning he removes it
from the home network. The laptop never goes out of
his sight at school.

I have seen things disable or interfere with printers,
but never seen anything that removes printers. What in
the world? Has anyone else come across this problem?

Idea: being that Windows 7 is such a horrible (good
only compared to Vista) operating system, would the
constant crashing and rebooting with that handy recovery
routine be removing the printer? If so, is there any way
to lock the printer into the recovery routine?

Many thanks,
-T

 

[Char Jackson]

Hi All,

I have a customer with a win 7 home laptop. She
also have an HP psc something-or-other attached to
the Ethernet. Works great while I am there. But, twice
now after I have left, there is not sign of the printer
on her system. I have to reinstall it and it comes right
back. It is as if something had surgically removed the
thing. It is just gone. I have powered off the laptop
and restarted it to try to duplicate the problem, but
the printer stays and works fine while I am there.

My first instinct was that some human had removed the
thing thinking they were "cleaning up" the system. But
the owner and her children both claim ignorance. They
are honor folks too. One of the children does take
the laptop to school with him, meaning he removes it
from the home network. The laptop never goes out of
his sight at school.

I have seen things disable or interfere with printers,
but never seen anything that removes printers. What in
the world? Has anyone else come across this problem?

Idea: being that Windows 7 is such a horrible (good
only compared to Vista) operating system, would the
constant crashing and rebooting with that handy recovery
routine be removing the printer? If so, is there any way
to lock the printer into the recovery routine?

I can't tell if you're asking a serious question or not.

If you're doing some kind of recovery it's likely that you're
recovering to a point where the printer has not yet been installed. So
step one is to diagnose and repair the condition that's causing the
system to crash.

While most people who are used to using Windows XP or earlier versions
might agree that Windows 7 is different, not too many would agree that
it's worse or less stable than previous versions.

 

[Todd]

I can't tell if you're asking a serious question or not.

Actually, I am. Do you know any way to lock the printer
into the recovery routine? Can I set a point for recovery
that was after the printer was installed?

If you're doing some kind of recovery it's likely that you're
recovering to a point where the printer has not yet been installed. So
step one is to diagnose and repair the condition that's causing the
system to crash.

As a consultant, I see a lot of different stuff. When I come
across W7 or Vista, especially Vista, my blood runs cold.
This is bad software. Sorry, I do not mean to offend, especially
if you work for M$. This is my experience. Last Thursday I
worked on 5 XP computers and one w7 computer. It was a nice
job. The only computer that crashed on me was guess who.
This is very, very common.

The condition that is causing the system to crash is a
bad OS. Vista/7 just does that. I will see if her model
number as an upgrade (doesn't work to works is an upgrade)
to XP Pro. She will also appreciate the doubling of her
speed. Maybe Intel has an updated chipset driver for her
i3. One of the main causes of her crashing is copying data
from a USB stick, but it is not confined to that. I think
it has to do with the position of the moon overhead.

While most people who are used to using Windows XP or earlier versions
might agree that Windows 7 is different, not too many would agree that
it's worse or less stable than previous versions.

I am glad it works for you. Similarly, I worked all
day last week on a Think Pad Edge i5 with W7 on it and it did
not crash once. I was pleasantly surprised. I hate when I
can not make things work well for my customers. W7 is just
crap. M$ had a pretty good OS with XP after SP3. Why they
ditched XP instead of improving it defies comprehension.

-T

 

[Todd]

Actually, I am. Do you know any way to lock the printer
into the recovery routine? Can I set a point for recovery
that was after the printer was installed?

Mainly, I am asking if the utility in "System Protection"
to create a restore point will lock the printer into
the system when W7 goes through its automatic recovery
when it reboots after a crash.

 

[Char Jackson]

On 02/12/2011 04:40 PM, Char Jackson wrote:

The condition that is causing the system to crash is a
bad OS. Vista/7 just does that. ... This is very, very common.

No, it doesn't, and no, it's not. You'll have to do more and better
troubleshooting.

I wouldn't worry too much about the printer. Troubleshoot and repair
whatever is causing the system to crash and the printer issue should
resolve itself.

 

[Todd]

No, it doesn't, and no, it's not. You'll have to do more and better
troubleshooting.

I wouldn't worry too much about the printer. Troubleshoot and repair
whatever is causing the system to crash and the printer issue should
resolve itself.

Do you have any suggestions? W7 crashed a lot and everywhere. Do
you have suggestions as to how to stabilize it other than removing it,
which I really, really do not want to have to do?

By the way, *Brand New* out the box, this laptop crashed four times
on me in three hours. Did not think much of it as this is typical
behavior for W7.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, especially in troubleshooting
random crashes.

Many thanks,
-T

 

[Char Jackson]

Do you have any suggestions? W7 crashed a lot and everywhere. Do
you have suggestions as to how to stabilize it other than removing it,
which I really, really do not want to have to do?

What is it doing? What do you see? What's happening just before the
crash? Which apps are running? "Crash" can mean a lot of things to
different people. Do you get error messages on screen? Errors in the
Event Viewer? Does the system simply shut off? Have you done anything
to rule out hardware issues?

I had a 3-week-old Samsung laptop in the shop a few weeks ago that
would simply shut off by itself. As a quick check to determine whether
it was hardware or software, I booted from a live Linux CD and the
same thing happened. It was obviously hardware - the CPU heat sink had
come loose and was repaired under warranty.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Actually, I am. Do you know any way to lock the printer
into the recovery routine? Can I set a point for recovery
that was after the printer was installed?

You can set a recovery point any time you want, if you mean a System
Restore point.

Click on the start orb and type restore. Select System Restore from the
list that appears and proceed.

Later you can select that point to restore to if it doesn't get lost or
corrupted. The printer driver will be restored along with other system
and driver stuff.

 

[Todd]

You can set a recovery point any time you want, if you mean a System
Restore point.

Click on the start orb and type restore. Select System Restore from the
list that appears and proceed.

Later you can select that point to restore to if it doesn't get lost or
corrupted. The printer driver will be restored along with other system
and driver stuff.

Hi Gene,

I did not put enough in the quote to let you know what I was
after.

I was not asking how to do a manual restore. I was asking
how to lock the printer into the automatic recovery routine
that goes off when you reboot after a crash.

-T

 

[Todd]

Hi Gene,

I did not put enough in the quote to let you know what I was
after.

I was not asking how to do a manual restore. I was asking
how to lock the printer into the automatic recovery routine
that goes off when you reboot after a crash.

-T

The latest on this is that I went out to the customer site again
yesterday and reinstalled her printer again. Then I did two
restore points. Now we wait for it to crash and see what
the automatic recovery routine does with the printer.

-T

 

[Char Jackson]

The latest on this is that I went out to the customer site again
yesterday and reinstalled her printer again. Then I did two
restore points. Now we wait for it to crash and see what
the automatic recovery routine does with the printer.

-T

You're still taking a different approach than I would have taken. I
would focus first on resolving the issues that are causing the
crashes. That's the real problem here.

Also, I didn't see any follow-up to my last post where I asked a bunch
of questions related to the crashes in order to try to pin down the
cause. Unless you fix that, you'll be making repeated visits to that
customer until eventually they call someone else.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Hi Gene,

I did not put enough in the quote to let you know what I was
after.

I was not asking how to do a manual restore. I was asking
how to lock the printer into the automatic recovery routine
that goes off when you reboot after a crash.

-T

And how many times did you talk about the fact that you had restore
points which didn't restore the printer?

Now I've come to be sorry I tried to help you.

 

[Todd]

And how many times did you talk about the fact that you had restore
points which didn't restore the printer?

Now I've come to be sorry I tried to help you.

Hi Gene,

Somehow I have offended you. I though I made it clear that I
had not put enough information in the quote for you to have
made a proper answer. Perhaps I was also not clear on
that point as well. Sorry for the offense. I do appreciate
your help.

-T

 

[Todd]

You're still taking a different approach than I would have taken. I
would focus first on resolving the issues that are causing the
crashes. That's the real problem here.

Cause of crashed = W7. This is normal and expected. I determined
that it was not hardware related. (Love Linux Live CD's!)

I am Windows 7
I am the blue screen of death
No one hears your screams

Also, I didn't see any follow-up to my last post where I asked a bunch
of questions related to the crashes in order to try to pin down the
cause. Unless you fix that, you'll be making repeated visits to that
customer until eventually they call someone else.

Nothing I could find to fix. Either I lock the printer into
the automatic recover point or ... I have things in hand.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Hi Gene,

Somehow I have offended you. I though I made it clear that I
had not put enough information in the quote for you to have
made a proper answer. Perhaps I was also not clear on
that point as well. Sorry for the offense. I do appreciate
your help.

-T

OK, I'm sorry that I misread or misinterpreted your post. I will now
calm down. Or at least as calm as I can get

 

[Todd]

OK, I'm sorry that I misread or misinterpreted your post. I will now
calm down. Or at least as calm as I can get

No problem. I am not the world's best writer. By the what
you did write was another question I had to research net office
day. I know how to do the restore, except I always forget and
have to look it up. So, you saved me the trouble and I will
wrote down your instruction for my keepers reference file
(I write down everything I fix and keep it and a stick I carry
with me.)

So, you answer questions in advance to them being asked.
I wish I got so lucky when I answered the wrong question.
Not that I ever do. Never. Perhaps.

-T

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

No problem. I am not the world's best writer. By the what
you did write was another question I had to research net office
day. I know how to do the restore, except I always forget and
have to look it up. So, you saved me the trouble and I will
wrote down your instruction for my keepers reference file
(I write down everything I fix and keep it and a stick I carry
with me.)

So, you answer questions in advance to them being asked.
I wish I got so lucky when I answered the wrong question.
Not that I ever do. Never. Perhaps.

-T

I have used several sticky-note programs to put digital Post-It notes on
my desktop, because I also keep forgetting some useful things.

I'm currently using PNotes, http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/ (free).

 

[Char Jackson]

Cause of crashed = W7. This is normal and expected. I determined
that it was not hardware related. (Love Linux Live CD's!)

I completely disagree that Win 7 is the cause of the crashes. I'm very
confident that if you took a poll you'd see that an overwhelming
majority of users would tell you that Win 7 is more stable than
previous versions of Windows. What you have there is an anomaly, and
rather than fix it, you've decided to pretend it's normal. Well, it's
not normal.

If you can't fix it yourself, feel free to give us some relevant
information and some folks here will undoubtedly try to help you out.
I tried to get that dialog started, but you weren't interested. All
recent versions of Windows are pretty darn good at telling why they've
crashed, if you care to look.

Nothing I could find to fix. Either I lock the printer into
the automatic recover point or ... I have things in hand.

Your client needs to find a new tech.

 

[Todd]

I completely disagree that Win 7 is the cause of the crashes.

You don't see much of these things do you?

I'm very
confident that if you took a poll you'd see that an overwhelming
majority of users would tell you that Win 7 is more stable than
previous versions of Windows.

Make sure they don't tear your eyes out during the process.

What you have there is an anomaly, and
rather than fix it, you've decided to pretend it's normal. Well, it's
not normal.

If you can't fix it yourself, feel free to give us some relevant
information and some folks here will undoubtedly try to help you out.
I tried to get that dialog started, but you weren't interested. All
recent versions of Windows are pretty darn good at telling why they've
crashed, if you care to look.

Works fine with a live CD

Your client needs to find a new tech.

Char: I see this crap all the time. Day after day after day. I have
corporate accounts that won't use Vista/7 as their home computers
are Vista/7. And guess what? They do not want to introduce that
kind of instability into their businesses. Vista/7 is just crap.

And my customers like me just fine. A lot of it has to do with me
just being honest about things. I will not lie to them to defend
the honor of the convicted criminal on two contents. You should
do the same. Good grief. M$ has a huge marketing department
dedicated to lying their asses off. Remember when Vista was
the most tested and most compatible operating system ever? Don't
give them any (more) help.

-T

 

[Todd]

I have used several sticky-note programs to put digital Post-It notes on
my desktop, because I also keep forgetting some useful things.

I'm currently using PNotes, http://pnotes.sourceforge.net/ (free).

Great tip. Thank you!

-T