Printing status stuck at 99%

Question

I have BOTH an AIO 946 and an AIO 942. With BOTH of these printers, more often then not the printing status gets stuck at 99%, and the only resolution I have to repair it is to stop the spooler, delete the files in the spool directory, and reboot the computer. I have done allot of research on this, to no avail. I have located a suggestion somewhere that I change the print processer to something from the wimprint category. The printer will not print at all. I tried turning off bi-directional printing. It demanded I turn it back on before it would print. I tried setting the spooler to print directly to printer, and the printer would not print! I disabled my firewall, still stops at 99%. So basically, as of right now, I have 2 dell printers, and countless replacement cartridges that are completely useless to me! Needless to say, I am not in the slightest bit impressed, especially finding this to be a common issue, with no solution easily found.

So, here it is, how do I fix this? And please, can we skip the check for spyware/malware/viruses? My system is clean.

One final thing of note. I also have 1 HP printer, 1 Brother printer, and 3 Canon printers all hooked up to the same computer (1 at a time), and all of them work fine. This is a Dell printer issue.

Thank you in advance.

PudgyOne · Answer

Shadow Wizard,

Make and model of the computer(s) this is happening and operating system(s). Both computers are connected with the USB Cable, correct?

Try running Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print jobs in the queue.

You want to install one, both?

Rick

Shadow Wizard · Answer

It has happened BOTH on my acer aspire 5536 laptop running windows 7 ultimate, and my acer apire one 532h netbook running windows 7 starter

As far as "Delete print jobs" I do that manually every time it gets stuck. Rebooting the computer after every 2nd print if obviously not an acceptable option.

And yes, I would like to have both printers installed, however it is important to note that this issue was presenting itself on both computers when I only had the 942 installed. They are both connected via USB cable, but not at the same time to the same computer. The printers are not set as shared resources.

I hope this information helps.

PudgyOne · Answer

Shadow Wizard,

With both Dell printers disconnected.

Download and run the Dell Photo All-In-One Printer 942 patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer

Restart your computer.

Download and run the Dell All-in-One Printer 946 patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer. Make sure the printer(s) were removed. Manual Printer Driver Removal

Download the Vista drivers for each printer that match your operating syste,. Vista 32-bit for Windows 7 32-bit and Vista 64-bit for Windows 7 64-bit. You'll need to install one printer at a time, in the Compatibility mode You'll get a message, the printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on)

Links to the drivers for each printer can be found at...

Dell 942 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)

Dell 946 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)

I also do these tweaks on all my computers.

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager)

Go to the USB Controller section and click the + sign.

Go to each USB Root Hub and right click on it, left click properties, left click power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

Restart your computer.

--------------------------------------

Go to device manager(right click my computer, left click properties, left click hardware, left click device manager). Click on Network and then right click on your wireless adapter, left click properties, power management. Uncheck the box, allow computer to turn off this device to save power.

For scanning, you'll need to do this with each printer, I think. Update list of applications to send scans to

Any questions, let me know. I may not be available on Tuesday, so please be patient.

Rick

Shadow Wizard · Answer

Followed all your directions. Ran both removal tools. There was nothing left in devices and printers for me to remove manually. Restated the computer. Changed the settings on the root hubs, and the network card. Ran the viste64 installer for the 946 in compatibility mode. It decompressed, and opened just the folder. So I set the setup.exe to run in compatibility mode, and ran the program. It installed.

Printed 3 pages of text, and 1 page of graphics. Then for the second page of graphics, I change the setting to draft mode (from the preferences menu in the print dialog box for the program, as that was what I was doing all the previous times. This of course means that the settings atn't changed on a global level, just for that one program, and usually only until it is closed.) and it printed, and the printing status got stuck at 99% again. So I stopped the spooler, deleted the print jobs, restarted the computer, and attempted to print a page of text in normal mode. (I opened the preferences dialog box, and confirmed it was set to automatic, then canceled out.) and AGAIN it got stick at 99%

Is it possible this is just a poorly designed printer driver? I hear of people running XP having this issue allot (In my searches) so I am quite confident it isn't a windows 7 compatibility issue.

Thank you for all the help, and I really do hope we get this resolved.

PudgyOne · Answer

Shadow Wizard,

Do you have .net framework and the latest Java?

Wonder if it has to do with the draft mode and Windows 7 64-bit? Maybe try the XP 64-bit drivers in the XP SP3 compatibility mode. Drivers & Downloads Model, Printer, Printer, then select your printer. Drop down menu for the drivers.

You Dell Printers were made for Dell by Lexmark. Wonder if there is a printer similar with drivers for Windows 7 64-bit that may work with this printer.

Rick

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Printing status stuck at 99%

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