Printer shuts off computer

[kaharris]

I have a dell pc running xp pro when I turn on my printer it immediately shuts down. It just started doing this. help!

 

[gguerra]

Does it power off or actually do a shut down?.

 

[kaharris]

power off I think

 

[gguerra]

Try isolating the power connections. Plug the printer power to a different outlet or if using a surge protector plug printer directly to the wall. If it still happens, delete the printer driver and reinstall. Also check power management in the BIOS and in Windows itself. Unplug the printer from the computer and see if still happens. In other words use process of elimination to isolate the problem.

 

[kimsland]

Go to your Prinnter properties page
Usually Start->Control Panel->Printers-> and then right click on your printer-> Properties

Locate: Print directly to printer (instead of "spooling")
Enable it, then try printing again
If it works this way, then you could have a Printer memory problem
Some printers can have more ram installed, or just leave it as direct print
But the program you are printing from, will need to remain open until the printing has finished

It could also be your computer's Ram (memory) as well, have a look at running Memtest on your Ram
I always recommend running CCleaner as well (to clean up temp files)

Test that

 

[kaharris]

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer and it is still happening. but let me give better info. when I push the power button on my printer my computer goes to a blue message screen that says it is shutting down to protect itself. and some other stuff I don,t understand.

 

[gguerra]

Sounds like you have USB issues. Try unplugging all USB devices except the printer. It could be a conflict. If it still happens uninstall USB support from device manager, reboot and let windows reinstall the drivers. If it still happens turn off the auto reboot so it freezes on the bsod and post the error message you receive in full

 

[Taff]

Hi,

A long shot here - USB trying to draw too much power (printer power brick not supplying enough juice?) or your computer power supply beginning to fail?

Can you access the System logs (in XP - Computer Management, Event viewer, System - Vista will be similar) to find the error messages that were logged at the time it shut down?

Cheers,

Taff.