Vista - Printer communication system stopped working

I'm running a dell laptop with a Vista 32 OS using a wireless connection to a
dell printer. I downloaded the newest Dell Vista 32 printer drivers and
within 15 minutes of start-up the computer will display a Microsoft message
"Printer communication system stopped working and was closed." It then goes
on to advise "A problem caused the application to stop working correctly.
Windows will notify you if a solution is available." I called Microsoft
support and after taking control of my computer for an hour they came to the
conclusion that my registry was probably corrupted and advised me to reformat
and re-install everything. I did this and the problem returned immediately.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

I am seeing the same issue. Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop, vista 32. I can
print if I reboot my laptop. If the laptop goes to sleep and comes back up,
printer communication stops. Reboot fixes it every time. Sleep+wake-up
disconnects it every time. Very annoying.

"JoeyJ" wrote:

Very simular problem with HP C5180 and Vista 32. For detail see my post under
guydel. For short for no reason the HPNetwok Device Support goes down,
without even using the printer. Yhen the HP software cant find the printer,
The drivers seem to disappear or some link to it. Yhe verifying tool for HP
cant find the HP drivers. Reboot does fix the problem. The other computer on
XP works find.

As it seems to be common yo more than one brand of printer, it must be Vista
networking yhe problem. I suggest keep bugging MSFT.

"JoeyJ" wrote:

Do you have the McAfee Security Center installed. Dell seems to think this
may be causing the problem.

"JoeyJ" wrote:

Nov. 14, 2007
I'm having the same problem, with the annoying message coming up. However, I
am able to print.... but I get the annoying message about once every 20
minutes.... and yes, I do have McAfee Security on my system.

I updated the driver on my Dell Photo 966 printer, so at least I can now
print. Has anyone found a way to turn off the message?

Gordon


"Alonzo" wrote:

Just an update to this saga - The printer I was having problems with was a
Dell 924 using a Dell E1705 laptop, so after months of fruitless
experimentation I gave up and purchased a Dell 966 printer in an effort to
fool myself thinking maybe it wasn't a driver issue but just maybe a printer
or computer issue. Well, it is a driver issue, as I get the same message
with a different Dell notebook and this new 966 printer using Dell's latest
and greatest Vista 32 drivers. There is absolutely no problem with either
printer when using Windows XP - The problem only occurs while using Windows
Vista 32. Microsoft level 2 techs advise it is a Dell issue - Level 2 Dell
techs babble about this and that but have no solution. Some have hinted that
Vista SP1 might have a solution while others indicate/suggest going back to
XP for a year or so until this wireless printer issue finally gets resolved.
Is there anyone out there running Vista 32 on a wireless network with either
WPA or WEP security setting that is not getting this error message? If so,
what printer are you using?


"JoeyJ" wrote:

Hi Folks,

I seem to have solved the problem on this... It took a number of
variations and tries to get it right, but it seems to have solved the
problem, so here are the suggested steps...

1 Download and use Dell's removal tool to remove the printer driver
and All-In-One (AIO) software for your printer. An unintended
consequence for me was tha the Dell Quickstart program was also
removed. The utility is posted with available downloads for your
printer on http://support.dell.com. The utility will be labeled "Dell
- Patch/Upgrade."

3 Reboot

2 If you found that Quickstart was removed, along with your AIO driver/
software, and you want Quickstart back, the search Dell's website and
find the Quickstart program and download and install that. Note that
if you don't want to use Quickstart, you can just disable it from
automatically starting in Windows, and you won't get annoying messages
that the program cannot be found.

3 Reboot

4 Download and install the latest version of the printer driver, and
also the AIO software for your particular printer. Even though I am
working from my wireless laptop, I specified an installation with an
ethernet cable, since my printer is hooked to my wireless modem.


Hint.... Locate your printer service tag number (located on your
printer) prior to starting the search for the software mentioned
above. My particular printer had the updated driver/AIO software
easily available through the Service Tag number.

Good luck!

"gordondive@xxxxxx" wrote:

That "solution" had absolutely no effect on my dilemma - I tried it as soon
as the patch came out and the error message returned immediately. I and the
Dell techs probably tried it a dozen times with negative results. The Dell
wireless Vista 32 drivers seem to be the problem - they are hoping SP1
resolves the problem and Microsoft advised it probably won't, so I will
either switch brands or run a cable over to the printer, which will be a PITA
but having to reboot to continue printing is a bigger PITA right now.

"gordondive@xxxxxx" wrote:

I am experiencing the same issue on my Dell laptop (640m) running Windows
Vista Basic (32 bit). I have found that if I stop and then start the print
spooler, that I am sometimes able to then print without restarting the
system. Unbelievable that this OS has been out for almost a year and we still
have issues like this.

Jorge