Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2019 June 4

= June 4 =

Word Loses Touch with Printer
This is a problem that has been happening to me apparently randomly. (We know that nothing except quantum processes is truly random.) After I have been printing documents from Word to my Brother 2360 laser printer, and have printed at least one document, and sometimes multiple documents, the printing stops, meaning that, when I issue the Print command within Word, nothing happens. If I view the print queue for the printer, it shows that the document is spooled. I can attempt to print more documents to the printer, and they go into the print queue. If I try to cancel the document from the print queue, it shows as Deleting, but does not delete. The queue just builds up. The computer is a desktop Dell running Windows 10, with Word for Office 365 (version 1905).

The printer itself is operational, because I can print to the printer from Excel, or using the Report functionality of Access. (I haven't tried printing from Acrobat, but I think that I have verified that the problem isn't physically with the printer. It is only Word that won't print to it, and the print files back up in the queue.)  What I can do at this point is to kill Word from the Task Manager and then launch it again. (The autosaved versions of any documents that were open are available.)

What are the possible explanations for Word losing touch with the printer? Robert McClenon (talk) 04:14, 4 June 2019 (UTC)


 * (OR) I have had a similar problem with Word (and Excel). It seems to have something to do with the way Windows 10 handles your printers. I solved my problem by explicitly making the desired printer the DEFAULT printer and NOT to let Windows manage the printers. (Close Word or whatever first and clear the print queue.) This "fix" does not work in all cases. The problem occurs with local (USB) and network enabled printers. 196.213.35.147 (talk) 06:08, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Make sure the printer driver is current. I also remember a similar problem some time ago where the spooler was inactive for some reason and had to be restarted. You should be able to find a discussion of that in the Windows Help or online. Word is not necessarily the problem. Jmar67 (talk) 12:35, 4 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Do you really need to force-close Word and rummage through the auto-saved files? It makes me think that Word is frozen, which is potentially an entirely different problem. If Word is responding okay (besides not printing, that is) why not save/close normally? Auto-save works pretty well these days, but it seems silly to rely on it un-necessarily. Matt Deres (talk) 14:54, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * User:Matt Deres - Word is not frozen. Word is responding okay except that it isn't printing.  Save is working.  I suppose that I could close it in the normal way, but I sometimes have a lot of documents open, some of which have been touched, and, when Word stops talking to the printer, I am annoyed at it and distrustful of it, and am force-closing it out of anger as much as anything.  I had previously thought that maybe this happened when I had too many documents open, but yesterday it happened when I had only one document open.  Word isn't frozen.  It is responding normally except to the printer.  Robert McClenon (talk) 17:29, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * User:Jmar67 - You say that Word is not necessarily the problem, but only Word has stopped talking to the printer. Excel and Access are still talking to it.  I understand that it may not be primarily with Word, but Word is the only application that isn't printing.  Robert McClenon (talk) 17:29, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I understood that you had previously printed at least one Word document successfully when this problem occurs. Then further attempts leave Word usable but the jobs in the print queue are just not processed. Word doesn't talk to the printer directly. It outputs a file via the spooler, which is then printed in the background via the printer driver and the printer itself. It looks like there is something in the current file in the queue that the driver does not like and that also leaves the software unable to abort or delete the file when you request it. This of course could be a Word problem, but it could also be a driver or printer (such as memory) problem. The condition may just not arise with other programs such as Excel or Access. One thing I suspect offhand is downloading of fonts to the printer. Jmar67 (talk) 18:07, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * That's right, User:Jmar67, at least one document has been successfully printed. Then further efforts to print just leave the jobs in the print queue sitting.  However, Excel and Access are able to print.  I assume that also means that they are not printing directly, but are also talking to the spooler and the driver, and that path is working.  One more finding is that I can't print to another printer.  If I try to print to another printer via wi-fi, the print job also sits in the wireless printer's queue.  Does that provide any more information about what the problem is?  I think that we know where the problem isn't.  It isn't in the physical printer.  It isn't in the Windows kernel.  Robert McClenon (talk) 21:19, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The printer cannot be ruled out if there is something in the Word stream that it cannot handle (such as a particular font or one that is too large for its memory). Again, just because it can print Excel and Access files does not mean the printer is not contributing to the problem with Word files. Insufficient memory in the printer is a potential source of problems. The fact that you are able to print some Word files and then no more suggests to me that these files are overloading the printer in some way that would not be evident for Excel and Access. Are the Word files unusual in some respect? I assume that once the problem occurs you cannot then print from Excel or Access, because those files would go to the end of the queue. I don't know what to suggest at the moment, but I am willing to look online for similar problem reports. Any additional info you have, such as your detailed hardware environment, might help. Jmar67 (talk) 23:33, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
 * User:Jmar67 - No. Maybe I wasn't clear about one thing.  After Word stops printing, I still can print from Excel or Access.  During one of the print stoppages, I opened a spreadsheet and printed it, and then I generated mailing labels from Access and printed them to Avery 5162 labels.  I didn't think that I would be able to print from Excel or Access, but I did print from them while the Word document was sitting in the queue.  So what queue management approach is permitting this?  It is what I saw.  You ask if there is anything peculiar about the Word documents.  No, unless it has to do with the fonts.  The Word documents are one-page letters in ordinary Times Roman, except for one possibly unusual feature, and that is the font size is 11.5, 12.5, or 13.5, usually 12.5 or 13.5.  Is there any reason why fractional-size fonts would confuse the printer driver?  Are there any other aspects of my hardware configuration that may be of interest?  Is there a way that I can check how much memory the printer has, etcetera?  By the way, thank you.
 * I have sent email (before reading this) with some thoughts and links. Will stay on it. Interesting problem. Jmar67 (talk) 01:35, 5 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Have never known that print jobs could skip others in the queue without human intervention. That might be a new function in the last few years. It looks like the first stalled Word job is declaring some condition the printer cannot satisfy and the software (somewhere) is promoting the Excel and Access jobs because they do not impose that condition. Also that Excel/Access are possibly using a different path to the printer. If printer memory problem, there would hopefully be an error message to that effect. Why the odd font sizes? Is printer connected by cable and defined as local printer? Odd paper size or margins defined in Word file?Jmar67 (talk) 01:59, 5 June 2019 (UTC)


 * First, you have my sympathy, as this behavior of a printer just keeping jobs in the queue, with no error message, and not being able to clear the queue, is something I've seen often, but thankfully not recently. One suggestion for diagnostic purposes is to not print directly from Word, but rather save/export the files, then print those files directly from the O/S. This will help identify whether the content itself is the issue, or whether Word is the issue. SinisterLefty (talk) 01:59, 5 June 2019 (UTC)


 * User:Jmar67, User:SinisterLefty - I sort of caught it in the process of doing it and so have more information. When Word is printing, it displays a message very briefly that says "Preparing to print".  Then it displays, also briefly, "Printing".  What I caught it doing was printing, but leaving the Printing message up.  The entry still displayed in the print queue.  This was the entry for a job that had in fact printed, but it was stuck in the print queue as if it was still printing.  What happens then is that Word cannot print, and documents that Word tries to print back up in the print queue.  At least, they back up as displayed in the print queue.  But the entry or entries in the print queue do not prevent any printing from Excel or Access.  Only Word is blocked from printing.  That is what I have observed.  Robert McClenon (talk) 00:47, 8 June 2019 (UTC)


 * I see, so the problem is that it fails to remove a printed Word job from the queue, causing the backup. Don't you wish you could use a toilet plunger on it ? :-)


 * Did you try the test I suggested ? SinisterLefty (talk) 01:03, 8 June 2019 (UTC)


 * No. Not yet.  But how do I export a file from Word in a form in which it can be printed in full resolution?  Robert McClenon (talk) 03:33, 8 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Try exporting or saving as PDF. Of course, a text file would also work, but then you would lose all your formatting. A Rich Text File (RTF) would preserve some of the formatting, but perhaps not all. Then, to print the file once saved, try right clicking on the file and looking for the "Print" option. You could also try reading or importing the file into an application which prints correctly, to try that. SinisterLefty (talk) 08:04, 8 June 2019 (UTC)

Can you break in to an unconnected wifi card
If the wifi on a computer is on, but not attached to anything, is it a possible weak point? Can someone "sniff" out your card in the air and hack into it? Assuming no firewall or anything. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.75.19.104 (talk) 22:32, 4 June 2019 (UTC)


 * It is possible, but not probable. In order to connect to your computer's wifi, the device must accept an incoming connection request. In nearly all cases, a computer's wifi device does not listen for connection requests and will not accept a connection request. If the hardware had that capability, the computer itself requires a service to manage it. A connection request will send an interrupt to the operating system. The operating system will fire off the service to handle the connection request. Basic computers don't have services like that. To make an analogy, this is similar to asking if it is possible for someone to open up my computer in their web browser because I left my web browser open. The web browser connects to a server and fetches information. It doesn't handle requests from other web browsers. It isn't a web server. But... there are web browsers that have the capability to act as a server. So, you can't say "absolutely no web browser will ever accept a connection request." That is why I have to say that in general, the answer is "no." However, if by "your computer" you mean that you have a laptop running with a hot-spot wifi device forwarding all traffic through a wired internet connection - then the answer is "yes." 97.82.165.112 (talk) 22:53, 4 June 2019 (UTC)