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Cannot use computer while printing

17 years ago

I have the same pc and printer but for the past month I've found I can't do any other work with my pc while the printer is printing. I used to be able to send several print jobs to the printer AND continue to use the pc for other work while the print jobs ran.

All routine maintenance has been done and it makes no difference. Is there a setting that I can change? It's so frustrating to sit and wait for the printer to finish and I can't get all of the work done. This is a stand alone home system running on XP.

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Comments (4)

zep516
17 years ago
What happens when you use the pc and the printer is on is like frozen?
fruitjarfla
17 years ago
Is your system jammed up with other non-essential programs running at the same time? What have you changed or added to the computer since being able to run with several print jobs? If you have added updates from Microsoft including XP3, perhaps the OS is now conflicting with the print process. Check for a more current printer driver by going to the printer website for an updated driver and to check for known problems.
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lov2garden
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks zep & fruitjar! Yes, the printing window would pop up and the hour glass would stay on until the print job finished. I could only print one job at a time and sit and do nothing until the printing stopped. I did download SP3 [what a horror that was] a couple of months ago and had to get MS support to uninstall it all. That might have started the problem. Ofcourse, I always have non-essential programs running at the same time!

I went to the HP site and got online support. It took a while to figure it out but it was resolved by going to Control Panel, Printers, R Click the printer icon, properties, advanced tab and changing selection from "print directly to printer" to "Spool print documents so program finishes faster". Yayyyy! I can again walk & chew gum at the same time! I can send more than one print job and keep on working. I NEVER changed that setting but I'm wondering if SP3 did. It is the root of all evil.

Thanks~ I never occurred to me to go to the darn HP site.
grandms
17 years ago
I have found HP online support to be tops. You did not mention in your post that this was a HP printer, so no one knew to suggest going there to you. That's why it's so important to give as much information as possible in your original post when asking for help.

Glad you got things working again.

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