Computer repair and services

When you attempt to print a document or image on your PC computer, you may occasionally receive a message about Error 1068 saying that the system’s print spooler could not be started. When this happens, you will need to manually restart the computer’s print spooler in order to fix the error. The system’s print spooler is used to transfer data from a computer to a printer’s memory.

1. Log on to your PC computer with an account that has administrative privileges.

2. Open the Start menu and click on the “Control Panel” icon.

3. Open the “Administrative Tools” folder and then double-click on the “Services” icon.

4. Scroll through the list of system services until you find “Print Spooler.”

5. Highlight “Print Spooler” in the list of services and click on the “Start” link on the left side of the window.

6. Restart your computer and then attempt printing a document or image again. The Error 1068 should no longer appear.

Source: ehow.com

Here’s how to fix Windows 7 Printer Error 0x0000007e if you also notice that your “Language for non-Unicode” setting are correct:

1. Download the latest Windows 7 printer drivers (be sure to choose x32 or x64 depending on your machine) from the manufacturers website. I am installing an HP Laserjet 5550N in my case, and I downloaded the latest PCL6 drivers for Windows 7 x64 and extracted them on my macine.

2. Go to the extraction folder and run the setup.exe or install.exe program. This part was new to me but very slick… the driver installation loaded and asked me to provide the location of the printer I wanted to install.

3. Choose to install a “network printer” and select it from the list. Hit next.

4. At this point you can either select to find updated driver from Windows Update or choose “have disc” to manually select the *.inf file that was extracted via the driver download. I actually chose the Windows Update option for fun and grins, and it searched, located, and properly installed the correct drivers for my machine automatically.

5. Print a test page once you complete the rest of the installation screens. Note: Depending on your installation package, you may have slightly different setup screens but I suspect that the steps would be very similar.

So, in reality I never used the drivers that I downloaded since Windows Update found them for me. The end result is this though… you can add a network printer that is hosted on Windows Server 2003 to a Window 7 machine if you install the drivers locally but specify that you want to use the network printer (select the printer from the list or provide it’s IP address).

I still haven’t found a way to actually host the Windows 7 drivers on the Windows 2003 print server though, but with this fix you don’t need to. You can still install and print to the network printer with the drivers installed locally. If I’m not mistaken, when you install a printer from a printer server the drivers are still installed locally… it’s just the print server is your driver source rather than downloading and extracting the same drivers locally. So as I see it, my method is the “same difference”

A print spooler is software that temporarily stores print jobs on the computer hard disk or in memory until the printer is ready to print them. If you’ve been waiting an unusually long time for a document to print, or if you see an error message about the print spooler, spooler subsystem, or spooler resources, you might need to change and then restart the Print Spooler service on your computer.

To do this, we recommend that you save your work, and then restart the computer to restart the Print Spooler service. If you don’t want to restart the computer, try these steps instead.

To change or restart the Print Spooler service

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.

1. Open Administrative Tools by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Administrative Tools.

2. Double-click Services. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Properties.

4. On the General tab, next to Startup type, make sure that Automatic is selected.

5. If the service is not already running, under Service status, click Start, and then click OK. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

I’ve seen this problem with a few printers now, not consistently between any particular makes or models. However, I have found a consistent fix to connect to any network printer from vista:

Run a command prompt and type the following:

net use LPT2: \servername\printer

This sets up a behind-the-scenes connection to the printer.

Then go through the add printer wizard, choose to add a local printer, and choose port LPT2… It will probably ask for a printer driver, and you can just choose whatever XP driver you might have been using before. The printer is then installed without any errors, and works just fine.

From poking around, it seems when the error appears that the driver is actually installed, but something between it being installed and it actually being added to vista’s list of printers breaks. Doing the above just works though.

Problem :

The error on the LCD of the printer is 6A00. Anyone know what this is about? I called Canon and they suggest I drive the machine to the nearest Canon approved repair center (which is 3 hours away) and have it looked at…so I am trying to avoid this if possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Solution :

The 6A00 is a Canon generic code for paper path jam. Some where in the paper path a sensor is activated indicating paper jam so the printer will give off a 6A00 code. As a Canon tech, I usually find the code, almost 90% of the time, is related to the purge unit being jammed with something and not being able to move. Moving the print head assembly will not clear a purge unit if its jammed with paper, paper clips, push pins, screws, cookie crisp, flower bud pods or the like. And yes I have found all those things in a purge unit. The offending item needs to be removed or the purge unit needs replacement. A Pixma MP830 would still be under Canon warranty, get it into a shop and save yourself the hassel.
Incidently, the 6A00 error pertains to all Canon printers made in the last several years, its not just used in one model. And its always a paper path error or purge unit.
I forget myself so here goes, the purge unit, called a spittoon assembly in an HP, lexmark, and other inkjet printers, is where the print head assembly parks when not in use, also its other job is to clean and make sure the print head is clean and open for printing. That is why you’ll find the print head assembly parked on top of it. It also has a an electrical pump to milk the print heads and test for ink flow.