Network printer suddenly stopped working on one computer, even “Test page failed to print”

Question

The network printer is working fine from the print spooler (Windows Server 2003) and other computers on the network. It's just one XP computer that is having a problem. The user was printing several things, then got 'an error message' and now the computer will not print, even after rebooting and doing delete/add in Printers and Faxes.

Attempting to print a test page immediately brings up a dialog saying the test page failed to print, and offers the print troubleshooter. The troubleshooter offers no further insight.

Answer 1

Obviously the issue is coming from the end user's computer. I would check for reinstalling the driver first of all but you have to delete it completely:

Windows XP adds a user interface feature to delete driver files so the steps for Windows 2000 and earlier are no longer necessary. To delete printer driver files in Windows XP:

• Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
• On the File menu, click Server Properties.
• On the Drivers tab, click the printer driver that you want to delete, and then click Remove.

Then, I would also check the print spooler as mentionned by BBlake.

Is this printer on a print server or simply network-shared?

Answer 2

Might check to make sure that the windows XP print spooler service is running. Failing that you might try reinstalling the spooler service for XP: