Printing problems Server 2003

[prs]

I have a AD server running Windows Server 2003. All of a sudden yesterday, the printer spool server stopped doing what it is supposed to: to print.
I looked up the event log and found that every print job served this error msg:


Event type: Error
Event source: Print
Event category: None
Event ID: 61
Date: 2004-08-27
Time: 01:30:19
User: DOMAIN\user
Computer: SBS01
Description:
The document Untitled.txt owned by user failed to print on HP4050.
Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 3003.
A StartDocPrinter call was not issued.


The jobs get queued but then nothing happens until it signals the error. It is the same for both networks printers connected, however it works if I print directly to the TCP/IP-port assigned to the printers. Something is apparently wrong with the Spool server.
I've tried restarting the service and even to reboot the server, but no.

The only change to the system made yesterday was that I enabled RRAS and VPN, but I made sure that the IP-addresses the printers have, are not issued by the DHCP. And I don't think there could be a conflict between the spool server and VPN/RRAS.

I read about a similar error on Windows 2000 Server, but that was in connection with users trying to print to file, which is not the case here.

Has anybody had similar experiences or could point me in the right direction, it would please me a lot.

Thx...

[PartieHonteuse]

Here's some info I've found...

Heather L. (http://eventid.net/contributorsdetails.asp?id=1797&eventid=61&eventno=47) (Last update 10/18/2003):
I was encountering this error: "Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 3003. A StartDocPrinter call was not issued”. This happened for me on an HP LJ8000 and an 8100 after moving them from my win2000 server to the win2003 server. Finally discovered that the printer itself was configured to accept only print requests from the original Win2k server. I used telnet to connect to the IP address of the problematic printer, then used the "allow:" command to add the IP address of the new Win2k3 server, essentially telling the printer that it's OK to accept print jobs from that server. This did it.
Kai Uwe Bevc (http://eventid.net/contributorsdetails.asp?id=1712&eventid=61&eventno=47) (Last update 10/1/2003):
Error: 3003 - It was just the SNMP-Status in the TCP/IP-Printer-Port, that was not activated. After activating it, everything works fine.
Error code 3003 indicates the printer cannot be reached over the network. The usual reason is an erroneous port configuration (incorrect IP address, FQDN or printer name).
Matt Baker (http://eventid.net/contributorsdetails.asp?id=948&eventid=61&eventno=47)
I received the error when trying to print - the network cable was simply unplugged from the printer.
Mathias Tölken (http://eventid.net/contributorsdetails.asp?id=814&eventid=61&eventno=47)
From a newsgroup post, when events 45 and 61 are logged on W2K print server:

What does this mean:
Document rendering was not successful. Rendering is that part of the spooler process where jobs are passed to language and port monitors for processing. All monitors are layered as defined within the "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monito r" registry key.

Impact:
Once you see these events (45/61) pop-up, the job is deleted from the queue and no print-out received by the printer. Sometimes this happens for every 3-4 prints made by anyone.

Solutions:
The Event 61 reveals more than the Event 45, because Event 61 logs also the user, job and queue details of the job sent. Additionally a Win32 error code is logged and reveals the actual reason why the OS has stopped processing/rendering the job:

3003 A StartDocPrinter call was not issued (printer not reached on network)
63 Your file waiting to be printed was deleted (user deleted job)
129 The %1 application cannot be run in Win32 mode (???)
29 The system cannot write to the specified device (port error)

3003 and 63 should not trouble you, as these occur in quite normal situations.

29 is related to a Port name that has become inactive/corrupt, normally corrupted by the print driver => wrong driver code. Restarting the spool service will solve the problem, as well as creating a new port (with a new name!), but this is temporarily. Enabling LPR Byte Count after stop-start spooler proved to be a better solution.

129 were seen "storming" on multiple servers. In the end it appeared that these servers were typically stressed (100% CPU; spoolsv.exe consuming 800+ Mb; 500+ jobs left in spool folder) due to a running page heap debug process (to detect corrupt driver code). After stopping page heap, the problems disappeared and stayed away.

To return the description of any error message in W2K go to a Command prompt and type: NET HELPMSG message# (e.g. "net helpmsg 63" returns "Your file waiting to be printed was deleted.").

I typed in the errors that we received in our system and got following results:
0 (0x0) The operation completed successfully.
5 (0x5) Access is denied.
63 (0x3f) Your file waiting to be printed was deleted.
259 (0x103) No more data is available.
3003 (0xbbb) A StartDocPrinter call was not issued.

[prs]

I think I found the problem. The names supposed to be allocated for the printers:
hp4050tn.domain.local
okic9200.domain.local
are not found even though they are defined in the DNS settings.

Pinging their respective IP's works great. The funny thing is that it worked perfectly up until last Thursday.

Could it help to reinstall the printers, or is there something settings-wise to tweak?

[prs]

OK, now I've fixed it temporarily.

By adding the addresses hp4050tn and okic9200 to the file:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

and now the printers are responding correctly. Now I just have to find the correct reason for the initial failure...