Network issues...

[featherynscale]

Or, Hot Trinity Chicks Need Geek Love.

So we've got the network (mostly) functional. There is filesharing, and there is printing. And this last, this printing, it is a problem. It is a problem because when kittenpants prints anything, it spawns some sort of invisible process on my machine (which is the one actually hooked to the printer) which does something possibly having to do with converting 16-bit applications to 32-bit (or not) and which sucks up anywhere from 5% to 20% of my processor power, in a sort of a heartbeat rhythm. I can't find what is making this happen, as the damned thing says that nothing new is running, but there *is* something running, and it runs for about ten minutes, during which my computer is prone to regular freezes and slows (which match the heartbeat rhythm this thing runs in). Now, this does not occur every time she prints -- we were able to print random pages from the Net without incident, but anything from OpenOffice, and any images printed from her browser (Mozilla) cause the issue. Both of us are running Windows 2000.

So. Any of you geek gods have any clue what this is, or how to make it not happen/happen less/not be as obnoxious when it does happen?

Comments

[teross50.livejournal.com]

try downloading update drivers for the printer via your PC see if that helps either get the drivers from on line or from the printer cd If not that uninstall the printer and reinstall and do the printer sharing again Btw what virus protection are you all using?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

The drivers are all good -- by which I mean that I just installed new drivers when I redid my system a few weeks ago.

As to virus protection, kittenpants uses McAfee, and I'm not running anything in the background, but employ HouseCall frequently. In answer to your unasked question, I scanned for viruses and other fun intrusions a few days ago when the issue first manifested itself. Both machines are clean.

[lexpendragon.livejournal.com]

In Windows, There's An Option For 'Priority' In The Printer Prefrences. It Might Print Slower, But It Shouldn't Hog Your Processor.

You Could Also Just Set Whatever The Print Spooler Task To A Lower Priority.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Reset printer priority, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Also changed the printer settings to "print directly to the printer" as opposed to "spool print documents so program finishes printing faster", with similar lack of result.

Thanks anyway.

printing

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

Was this ever a problem before? If not, what changed on your machine or hers?
How much memory is in your machine?

Personally I'd be tempted to move the printer to the Linux box, but printing from Windows to Linux is a whole other can of worms. There's always the option of buying a little print server box, if you're willing to spend the money.

Re: printing

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

There has never been networking before, so she has never been able to print before. The entire situation is new.

My machine is running with 512K RAM. The process monitor sayeth that no change in memory usage is occurring when this phenomenon happens.

It's a distinct possibility that once the Linux box gets running again, that it will take over printer hosting. As for right now, though, triadruid is in the throes of some serious hardware issues as well as trying to train his machine to dual-boot Mandrake 10.1 and Windows 2000. So any reliance on the Linux box for anything is probably misplaced at the moment.

[orcjohn.livejournal.com]

Check to see if your router will act as a print server. Many newer routers have this feature built in. If there is a printer port on the back of the router it will. Then you can just connect the printer to the router, and set it up as a network printer on your various systems.