Intermittent Printing Issue - Please Help

[Bomberdude]

Hi,

I have a user with the folllowing setup:

1 x Desktop
XP Home
Connected to Netgear Router connected to Cable Modem
Connected via USB to Canon Pixma MP 780

1 X Laptop
XP Prof
Connects to Internet to Router above via Wireless Access Point
Connects to Printer above via Desktop above, via the wireless network.

A few weeks ago the user did a system restore on the desktop. She had been playing around the startup files in order to view and delete spyware etc. She deleted one too many files and was unable to successfully reboot. She initiated a system restore.

Since then
1) the Desktop and Notebook are unable to communicate and
2) their are intermittent printing issues.

As for the networking I noticed that the connectivity issue only was present when Norton Internet Security was enabled. So I uninstalled Norton IS. The connectivity was restored and I also thought that is why the user couldn't print. I mapped a drive and printed some test pages and there were no issues.

30 minutes after walking out the door the the problem came back. However it looks as though the networking issue is ok but the printing problem continues. That is that 50% of the time printing is ok and 50% of the time niether laptop or desktop can print to the printer connected via USB to the desktop. Most times a reboot restores the ability to print, but not always.

I believe the problem exists on the desktop because it has the same issue and is directly connected tp the printer.

Has anyone experienced this annoyance or can anyone suggest an approach in diagnosing this issue? Are there any tools I can run with a view to uncovering a file(s) that is corrupted or a service that isnt working properly?

Also if I havent included enough information please let me know.

Thanks in Advance.

BDude

[Ferrit]

You might possibly look to see if the device is being powered down.
Just a thought

[Bomberdude]

You might possibly look to see if the device is being powered down.
Just a thought

Thanks Ferrit. this whole thing had me perplexed.

I couple of things I discovered upon further investigation: -

The Desktop running XP Home hadn't received or installed any Microsoft updates for atleast 6 maybe 12 months. So it was Service Pack 1. When I got the updates going it needed about 50 updates including SP2.

Also using the uninstaller to remove the MP780 printer wasn't enough. Canon directed me to a folder to remove a particular file manually. After this I reinstalled the printer.

So with the updates and the printer reinstall it all now seems ok.....

But I reckon the updates and the reinstall probabaly had nothing to do with it...

Thanks for your suggestion....