Hello all, As noted, network printing causes any application to hang. I haven't tried USB-printing because I don't have easy physical access to the printer. When I open up the printing dialog (say, immediately after ctrl+p), the application will freeze. Sometimes Windows notes this and will give me the "application's stopped responding" prompt. I won't see the printing dialog. If I remove said printers (HP CM2320fxi, HP 4700), print dialog opens up fine. If I set the default printer to be something else, say, "Send to OneNote 2010," print dialog opens up fine. I've restarted the print spooler service, looked through the event logs for anything special (nothing I could find...), and reinstalled the printer drivers (both old CD versions and newest versions). Sometimes if I restart the computer, printing will work. Sometimes, not... I'm on a Windows 7 Ultimate install, 64-bit. Does anybody have a resolution or further steps to try for this? I've looked elsewhere online, but most freezes are application-specific, not every application that can print will crash. Thanks in advance! Cheers.

What is the print server you have the print queue on? Is it a 32bit server, has the correct 64bit driver for the server been installed? Have you obtained the latest firmware for that CM2320FXI printer? Its here http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=3597338&prodNameId=3597361&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ma-75043-1If the print server is windows 2003 server, have you installed the HP managed printing administrator located here (added additional functions) http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=3597338&prodNameId=3597361&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ds-41681-9and these are the 64bit drivers you got from HP's web site? http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3597361&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=3597338&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4063The HP4700 (you weren't very specific on this model as there are several 4700's), they have both the 2003 and 2008 server print drivers available along with new firmware updates found here http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=473039&taskId=135&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=473038&lang=en&cc=us&submit=Go%20» So are you using the drivers that the server provides or are you installing drivers locally? I would first update the firmware on those printers, then troubleshoot it from there.MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

I just reread your post, and you mention application specific - which applications are you referring to? I'll assume you completely removed any previous HP print software before you tried reinstalling - correct?MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

There's no print server. The printers themselves are hooked directly to ethernet; they have internal print servers. I haven't installed the latest firmware, although I believe my computer is the only one in the entire network that has this issue. Yes, those are the 64-bit drivers. I believe I got AM-EMEA1, as that's, I believe, America-European Middle East Asia 1? I mentioned that it's not application-specific. Acrobat crashes, Acrobat plugin to Firefox crashes, Outlook, OneNote, Firefox, Opera, Excel--they all will crash. And, yes, I did remove all print software before reinstalling. I'm going to try the firmware updates now; thanks so much for pointing that out. I'll report back soon! (:

Apologies, I have no luck with firmware upgrade and then restarts. Do you have any more ideas? Thanks for helping so far!

I would view the status of your printer from the IP address via IE and review what version of the firmware is installed. It has a built in firmware updater if you have those files as I'm not sure how you're performing the updates. I have both of those printers on our print server - did not use the built in print server functions and I can't test it that way without affecting multiple users in our domain, but never had the issues you're experiencing. I have ours on a 2003 Server and we'll soon migrate to a 2008 Server. I assign printers via GPO to users. So that's not going to help you much. Have you contacted HP support yet for assistance (yes, I know they suck - I would rather hit myself in the head then call them, but we buy Dell printers as of last year - far less headaches).MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

I have the same problem. I have 2 HP printers (Officejet Pro and LJ 2055dn connected directly to the router). The problem occurs when printing to the officejet pro. (and other times that I have not tracked down). I have a HP desktop quad AMD, 6 gigs. Have just upgraded to W7 home premium from Vista home premium. When I print to the Officejet Pro the system pauses, (both on Vista and W7) for a few seconds. Media Center stops, Media Player stops, all streaming stops. As a old programmer I have worked with a multitude of different systems from big iron to netbooks. Seems the MS O/S kernel is allowing interrupts to be masked until the process completes. Why would any mulittasking/ multiprocesser operating system be designed that way??? While I feel that HP printing software is really terrible, it is not as if I have much choice. HP software stinks and they are totally unresponsive to customers, but so what? Notwithstanding bad printer drivers, why would the O/S allow itself to be hijacked by sloppy bad programs?

Hi, Please also try the following steps to troubleshoot the issue. 1. Clear Printer Spooler files and enable the spooler service ================================================ a. Click Start, type "Services.msc" (without the quotation marks) in the open box and click OK. b. Double-click "Printer Spooler" in the Services list. c. Click Stop and click OK. d. Click Start, type "%WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers" in the open window, and delete all files in this folder. e. Click Start, type "Services.msc" (without the quotation marks) in the open box and click OK. f. Double-click "Printer Spooler" in the Services list. g. Click on Start. In the Startup Type list, make sure that "Automatic" is selected and click OK. 2. Plug the printer to the local machine and open the printer application for a test. If the issue persists, please reinstall the printer driver in Compatibility Mode. Otherwise, you can upgrade the NIC driver. 3. Perform a Clean Boot to check the result. Thanks, Novak