Anthony Curreri: IT Solutions

I had a Windows XP computer with an HP 1020 printer that would suddenly not print. The Printers and Faxes window was empty. If you go into the Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services and right-click Print Spooler, you’ll see the option to start is available, because the service is stopped. When I started the service, the printers appeared again but the service would stop again before I could do anything else.

In the event viewer, you’ll see the following error message:

Event ID 7031 or 7034
The Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service.

OR

Event ID 1004
Faulting application spoolsv.exe, version 5.1.2600.5512, faulting module ZSR.DLL, version 6.20.1625.0, fault address 0×0001f979.

First, I installed the hotfix here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953546. This didn’t seem to work, but I can’t believe that what I did next was all that was required to solve the problem.

1. Unplug the USB connection to the local printer, in this case an HP Deskjet 1020.
2. Restart the computer
3. The printers now show up, because the Print Spooler has stopped terminating unexpectedly!
4. Two printers had jobs in the queue, the unplugged local printer and a network printer. Clear all the print queues.
5. Reconnect the USB connection.
6. Restart, print stuff, everything should be working normally!

Let me know via comment or the contact tab at the top if this doesn’t solve your problem.

Update: Problem did return. I did the unplug the HP 1020’s usb connection trick to make the printers show up, deleted the old driver, and installed a new driver from HP. Seems to be working now.

UPDATE 2: Problem did return, again! I have applied two changes, and now the printer has been working for some time. Probably you only need to do one of these two things, but I haven’t taken the time to test which is the actual fix. If you figure it out, please post a comment!

First thing to try: (the likely fix) Bypass the Print Spooler.

The crappy HP printer driver is causing the print spooler to crash, so don’t have that printer use the printer spooler. You will notice that the application that is printing will “hang” or display a print dialog longer than normal with this change. Not ideal, but better to have a working printer, right?

1. Click Start, Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the HP 1020 printer, click “Properties.”
3. Click the “Advanced” tab.
4. Click the “Print Processor” button.
5. Make sure “ZimfPrint” is highlighted on the left, and “RAW” is highlighted on the right.
6. Click OK.
7. Click the Radio button for “Print directly to the printer.”
8. Click OK.

You have completed the first thing to try. I did both of these things, though as I’ve said that may not be necessary…

Thing Two: Disable DEP (Data Execution Prevention)

1. Right-click “My Computer,” click “Properties.”
2. Click the “Advanced” tab.
3. Click the “Settings” button under Performance.
4. Click the “Data Execution Prevention” tab.
5. Click the radio button for: “Turn on DEP for all Programs Execept those I select:”
6. Select the HP Laserjet 1020 Series Status Application by clicking “Add…” and browsing for: “c:\windows\system32\ZSHP1020.exe.”
7. Also select the “Spooler SubSystem App.” If it is not already listed, click “Add…” and browse to “C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe”
8. Also select the “Windows Explorer.” If it is not already listed, click “Add…” and browse to “C:\Windows\explorer.exe”
9. Click “OK” twice.

Done! Reboot the computer, make sure your printer is plugged in, and send things to print to the printer. Now, you should be print-problem free!

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