Documents won't print

[nedsram]

I open a document (*.doc) in writer and select File->Print. The print dialog box opens with my default printer (HP Photosmart 5510) selected. I then click on Print. The dialog box closes but nothing else happens. The document is not printed. I can open the same document with Microsoft Word Viewer and it prints without issue. I've just checked and there is the same issue with Calc. Version 4.1.0. I have no printing issues with any other application I use. I'm sure that I have printed without problem with earlier versions of OpenOffice. Any idea what the problem might be please? Windows 7 x64.

[RoryOF]

This has been reported several times. I suspect it may be to do with the 32 bit OpenOffice running on a 64 bit Windows and some mismatch between the OO printing routines and the Windows printer drivers. Some reports suggest that reinstalling or updating printer drivers in Windows may fix the problem.

[nedsram]

Thanks for the reply. I've installed the latest driver from HP but it still doesn't work. As a former software developer, I often came across issues where software worked with x86 but not x64, so this would not surprise me. How do you reinstall the Windows driver? Neither Windows update nor Advanced Driver Updater has offered me any new printer drivers.

[RoryOF]

Delete the printer and then reinstall it. I would normally reboot the computer before reinstalling, although Windows users often think this is unnecessary.

[RusselB]

I also suggest checking with HP for updated drivers, as Windows Update doesn't always have the most up-to-date drivers for non-Microsoft items.

[John_Ha]

How do you reinstall the Windows driver?

You can check which driver is installed, and update it (using Windows Updater or manually) by r-click My Computer > Manage > Device Manager > select the printer > r-click printer > Properties > Driver.

Double Driver is a useful utility which will list, backup and restore drivers.

[nedsram]

Windows tells me that the most recent version of the driver is installed. I did a complete reinstall of the printer software from HP yesterday, to no avail. As there is no problem using the printer from other software, I'm inclined to believe the original incompatibility explanation, especially as you say that several people have reported this.

Incidentally double driver appears to have been pulled.

[RoryOF]

A workaround for printing documents is to Export as PDF and print the PDF file.

[John_Ha]

In order, I would try

1 Safe boot to see if something is interfering. Start > type msconfig and click on msconfig.exe > Boot > tick Safe boot > tick Minimal (and don't tick Make permanent) > Apply > OK. Now restart your PC and try it. When you want to boot normally, restart msconfig, untick Safe boot and reboot.

2 Google HP 5510 openoffice. I got lots of hits including some at the HP Support Forum and some showing fixes for similar problems. It might be well worth posting there. Have you tried printing in colour - many post are about black not printing?

3 Reinstall AOO - it takes a few minutes and you will not lose your settings.

4 Check to see if another HP printer driver will operate your HP 5510 printer. I have an HP 6010 printer for which there is no W7 driver and I am successfully running it as an HP LJ 3055 PCL5 printer. You could also also try the Vista or XP 64 bit printer drivers for the 3055 (if available). As an absolute worst case, HP does a generic driver for almost every printer which has very basic functions (and probably wouldn't do the scanner?).

[RoryOF]

I have raised this problem on the developer list, but don't expect a quick fix.

[RoryOF]

A reply to the developer list from a French forum moderator says that they have had reports of similar printing problems, solved by "installation run as Administrator".

It will be informative to know if this solves your problem.

[nedsram]

No that made no difference.

[John_Ha]

No that made no difference.

Have you checked the four things I suggested above? What were the results?

[nedsram]

You are obviously a systems expert John. The fact is that I have no issues printing except with OO, and I don't feel that users should be required to perform such tasks in order to get software to work. I will however follow up your suggestion to look at the HP support forum.

[John_Ha]

I don't feel that users should be required to perform such tasks in order to get software to work

I would agree with you if OpenOffice was the only application on your PC. But it isn't - it co-exists with many other applications and drivers, any of which could be affecting it - see [Solved] Writer 4.1 crashes using Edit file on read only odt for example. Clipboard monitors are notorious examples.

You should at least try 1 and 3. Starting in Safe Mode disables all bar essential items and rules these other applications out. Similarly, your OpenOffice installation could itself be damaged (a single bit could be turned somewhere) and re-installing it should fix it. Have you done a full power off re-boot? If the operating system has picked up a glitch, hibernating or sleeping will not clear it - it needs a full power OFF / power ON reboot to reinstall the OS from scratch.

I very much doubt that you are the only OpenOffice user owning an HP 5510 printer (there are about 100 million OO users) - why isn't the forum awash with other uses complaining their printer won't work?

Another thought - print a test document with a black and white graphic, a colour graphic, some text set to Automatic colour, some text set to black colour and some text set to red, green and blue. What is the result?

[nedsram]

Hi John

Thanks for the suggestions.

I tried 3. Reinstalling didn't fix the problem.

I also tried 1. In safe mode, no printer drivers are installed, so I have no print option anyway! Incidentally HP say that I have the most recent version of the driver installed.

Your Google search revealed no issues specific to OO. I recently installed a complete set of new cartridges, which had resolved some issues reported, and as I said before, every other application I have tried prints successfully, whether in black and white or colour.

Incidentally I was formerly a Windows developer, and I have seen cases where applications worked correctly with x86 but not x64. I still think that this is a compatibility issue and requires a bug fix. Unfortunately I can't be certain which new version of OO resulted in this issue.

[nedsram]

A workaround for printing documents is to Export as PDF and print the PDF file.

Thanks Rory. That's an excellent workaround that I can confirm works fine.

[John_Ha]

That's an excellent workaround that I can confirm works fine.

... which means that it is not a problem with the printer driver because if it was caused by the printer driver, the PDF would not print.

Edit: Clarification But it still could be a problem with the Writer-to-printer_driver link

It must therefore be a problem with your document. If you upload a document which will not print on your HP 5510 here, someone will look at it.

Try printing this. Do all three lines print? And the cat?

[nedsram]

Sorry John. Nothing happens at all when I click on Print.

[John_Ha]

So, if we summarise:

1 All other applications print OK, both in black and in colour
2 If you have a Writer document and you Export to a PDF, the PDF prints OK
3 Writer itself won't print black text, nor Automatic text, nor red text, nor a greyscale image (as in test.odt) to your HP 5510

So, we know that Writer sends its document content to the PDF. What we don't know is whether Writer sends its document content to the printer (it almost certainly does); or that it does, but the printer doesn't accept it, possibly because of a bad printer driver (unlikely) or Writer-driver mismatch (also unlikely).

So two more things to try

1 Print a Writer document to the Microsoft XPS Document Writer and look at the xps file produced with Internet Explorer. If you see the document, we know Writer is sending stuff to the XPS printer OK

2 Print test.odt to the HP 5510, but tick Print to file, and upload the file. I will send it to someone who has an HP 5510 and see if it prints OK for him.

[nedsram]

I have further input on this issue.

In Writer, when I did File->Printer Settings with the Photosmart set as the default printer in Windows, I got a dialog box with a red cross and the text "No default printer found. Please choose a printer and try again." When I clicked on OK, the printer settings dialog for the default printer (the Photosmart 5510) was then displayed.

When I changed the default printer to my Sony DPP-FP55, I didn't get the error dialog, and the printer properties dialog opened immediately. Clicking on Print did cause Writer to attempt to print to the Sony, but that's not a suitable printer for documents of course. However when I reverted the default to the Photosmart, the problem returned. Even though the print dialog opens for the Photosmart, nothing happens if I click on Print.

Very odd behaviour, which I suspect is caused by something buried deep in the settings, but I have no idea where. The only difference I can see that might be relevant is that the Photosmart is a network printer, whereas the Sony is a USB printer.

[RoryOF]

I have no problems with printing from OO on XP (32 bit) to either directly attached parallel/USB or network or WiFi printers. But more and more all my work is now done on Xubuntu - XP has only been turned on to check one or two screens in OO on Windows for people with problems on the Forum.

[nedsram]

Thanks Rory. Since my last post I have come across this thread. So it happens from time to time, it always seems to be X64 PCs, and there is no single reason that anybody can find. A few years ago I might have had a poke around in the registry, ini files and the like, but I think I'll settle for the print to PDF workaround (and save $49.95 ).

I remember buying some security software just before Christmas once. It said that my PC was insecure and offered to make it more secure. When it had finished, my PC was completely isolated from the rest of my intranet, there was no undo option, and I spent most of Christmas day Googling and hacking the registry before finally doing a system restore!

[RoryOF]

I agree - it seems to be a 64 bit windows/32 bit OpenOffice interface problem. I've tried to get interest on the Dev list, but it always takes time.

[RoryOF]

A thought: can either of your printers be configured to driven by LPT? If so, worth trying as a temporary measure to see if the problem still occurs.

[mrbill2600]

A simple work around for me was to copy the document that I wished to print, then close OpenOffice ... Open OpenOffice a second time and I then paste the copy of my letter. I was then able to print the new version and I then delete the original copy. I keep everything straight by simply adding a 1 after the new copy's title. This solved this problem for both of the computers that I have that are running OpenOffice.

[John_Ha]

A simple work around for me was to copy the document that I wished to print, then close OpenOffice ... Open OpenOffice a second time and I then paste the copy of my letter. I was then able to print the new version

Could you possibly upload a copy of the odt file which will not print, and a copy of the odt file which will print. It will be interesting to see if there are any differences in the two files. The max size is 128kB here or use a fileshare site like mediafire for larger files.

[mrbill2600]

Sir as I could not locate a document that I have not converted by my copy, paste and delete method I will simply say that there were no changes or problems with any of the documents that I have converted.
However since I only use the OpenOffice "Text Document" feature I cannot speak as to other offerings such as Spreadsheet, Presentation, Drawing etc..

[mrbill2600]

Well sir I did locate a letter that I have not you converted or deleted so if you would send me detailed instructions as to how you would like me to send both the old and new file I would be happy to do so.
Also as I'm not a computer geek in any sense of the word what's an "odt file" ???

[RusselB]

.odt is the default extension for Writer documents.