«

Last weekend my Pavilion - Vista SP1 32 Bit - suffered blunt trauma
injury - do not ask, but the harddrive failed. Went to Bestbuy to
have them recover data - couldn't. Brought in the recovery DVDs(3)
that I burned upon removing the PC from the box in 2008. At that time
I followed ALL PROMPTs regarding buring either a dozen CDs or up to 3
DVDs as recovery vehicles. Disc 1 was finished, it prompted me for
Disc 2, I put that in, and so on.

Turns out the DVDs are empty. There's NOTHING on them. How the F%$
did that happen? Now I have to call HP for the discs(they're
relatively cheap) but I just don't get it.

-ChrisCoaster

ChrisCoaster wrote:
> Last weekend my Pavilion - Vista SP1 32 Bit - suffered blunt trauma
> injury - do not ask, but the harddrive failed. Went to Bestbuy to
> have them recover data - couldn't. Brought in the recovery DVDs(3)
> that I burned upon removing the PC from the box in 2008. At that time
> I followed ALL PROMPTs regarding buring either a dozen CDs or up to 3
> DVDs as recovery vehicles. Disc 1 was finished, it prompted me for
> Disc 2, I put that in, and so on.
>
> Turns out the DVDs are empty. There's NOTHING on them. How the F%$
> did that happen? Now I have to call HP for the discs(they're
> relatively cheap) but I just don't get it.
>
> -ChrisCoaster

This is one of the problems I have with recovery media. The
insistence you can burn only one copy, from the recovery partition.
It's a stupid limitation. It doesn't allow for the possibility
that the optical burner hasn't been tuned up yet (i.e. latest
firmware installed).

When I burned the recovery media for my laptop, I "imaged" the
DVDs immediately and stored the images on a separate hard drive.
If the crappy media I used, fails later (so-called "bit rot"), then
I burn new DVDs, using the backup copy of the disc I made after
burning it.

Now, that being said, I neglected to check the media, to see
if there was anything on it So I could well have backed
up a "giant source of zeros" and wouldn't have noticed.

It is too bad, the recovery set burning process, doesn't carefully
verify the burn and make sure all is well. If it did, you could
then back up those optical discs, confident that if the discs
go missing, you'll have them stored on a hard drive (somewhere).

There are tools for doing data recovery on optical media,
but I don't really want to go down that path It might
look like there is nothing there, but it might be that
virtually everything is there, and a single bit is missing.
Or, the session wasn't finalized or something.

Paul

On Jun 22, 11:42*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
> Now, that being said, I neglected to check the media, to see
> if there was anything on it So I could well have backed
> up a "giant source of zeros" and wouldn't have noticed.
>
> It is too bad, the recovery set burning process, doesn't carefully
> verify the burn and make sure all is well. If it did, you could
> then back up those optical discs, confident that if the discs
> go missing, you'll have them stored on a hard drive (somewhere).
>
> There are tools for doing data recovery on optical media,
> but I don't really want to go down that path It might
> look like there is nothing there, but it might be that
> virtually everything is there, and a single bit is missing.
> Or, the session wasn't finalized or something.
>
> * * Paul
__________________________________

Thanks Paul, very informative. Now my next question is - where would
the recovery utility reside should I decide to create the disks at a
*later* date - read - several months after the PC has been purchased,
but still no serious problems?

And secondly, I just purchased a Toshiba 500GB USB drive - can I store
the recovery to that - or must I still use DVDs/CDs?

Thanks, you've already given me a UCONN MIS degree's worth of info so
far in just a few paragraphs.

-CC

ChrisCoaster wrote:
> On Jun 22, 11:42 pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>> Now, that being said, I neglected to check the media, to see
>> if there was anything on it So I could well have backed
>> up a "giant source of zeros" and wouldn't have noticed.
>>
>> It is too bad, the recovery set burning process, doesn't carefully
>> verify the burn and make sure all is well. If it did, you could
>> then back up those optical discs, confident that if the discs
>> go missing, you'll have them stored on a hard drive (somewhere).
>>
>> There are tools for doing data recovery on optical media,
>> but I don't really want to go down that path It might
>> look like there is nothing there, but it might be that
>> virtually everything is there, and a single bit is missing.
>> Or, the session wasn't finalized or something.
>>
>> Paul
> __________________________________
>
> Thanks Paul, very informative. Now my next question is - where would
> the recovery utility reside should I decide to create the disks at a
> *later* date - read - several months after the PC has been purchased,
> but still no serious problems?
>
> And secondly, I just purchased a Toshiba 500GB USB drive - can I store
> the recovery to that - or must I still use DVDs/CDs?
>
> Thanks, you've already given me a UCONN MIS degree's worth of info so
> far in just a few paragraphs.
>
> -CC

I only have experience with the process on an Acer laptop
I was given.

When a machine comes new, there might be three
partitions on the hard drive. One partition is C:, which is
what the user can use immediately.

When using such a computer, a popup dialog may appear soon
afterwards, suggesting the user burn "recovery media". One of the
three partitions, contains that information. It might not be an ISO
file as such. Just loose files, compressed, which can be converted
into an image to be burned.

The Recovery media burner is supposed to pester you, until you
make your one copy. Such a scheme reduces the work for the manufacturer
when they get product returns, as the user can't "hijack" the discs,
and the hard drive can be "resealed" before the next user is shipped
the same product.

On a Vista or Windows 7 machine, the recovery media burner will
burn three DVDs or so. That's how many my laptop needed. Three
single layer DVDs. Or about 15GB of data. I think a fourth disc was
used for driver files (but why exactly, wasn't clear to me, as
they should already be installed in the other three discs).

On some earlier OSes, it might be a single CD of some sort.
Vista and Windows 7 are huge.

*******

Now, say the fateful days comes along, the hard drive fails.
The average user, ignored the dialog box offering to burn
recovery media, and just used and enjoyed the computer.

In that case, you contact the manufacturer and get their
pre-burned recovery media. The charge for it, can range up
to around $50 or so.

If you plug in a recovery DVD, it is going to

1) Potentially wipe the drive. This is fine if the drive is
brand new and empty, but not so fine if the drive has
email and user files on it. Before using the recovery process,
you back up the user files somewhere. Some manufacturers offer
options for this, so that data recovery is included in the process.
But worst case, the recovery process is "nuclear" and erases
everything on the primary drive. On my laptop, I remove the
2.5" SATA drive from the bay, lay it next to my desktop machine,
run over a SATA power and data cable, and then I can do work on
the disc (I did that for a backup, but the procedure can also
be used for maintenance, like saving the email files). That's
the nice thing about laptops with SATA drives, the cables in
your desktop are ready to use with the laptop drive.

2) The recovery media may choose to re-install the recovery partition.
This is in case the recovery discs again go missing (or are destroyed),
the hard drive is working, and the user seeks to "level and reload".
You can boot the computer from the recovery partition, and it will
offer to do much the same as in (1).

So really, it's a lot of variations on the theme of returning the
disk to its "factory state", clean.

*******

On my Acer, I was offered one other option. I'd burned my three
recovery DVDs (15GB) and driver disc, but then a *Microsoft* dialog
popped up. It wanted me to prepare a "Repair CD". That is a CD, that
when booted, can automatically repair the boot partition on the hard
drive. This is for accidents, where the computer will no longer
boot. That CD also has a Command Prompt option, which allows DOS-like
commands to be issues. If you needed to back up some registry files,
or move in an empty set of registry files, you could do that via
the Repair CD. The Repair CD is around 200MB, and is a bare boot
disc. It will not re-install the 15GB of data.

The Vista or Windows 7 Repair CD, can also work on a WinXP partition,
but only the Command Prompt works then. I've tested that once.

So I burned a total of five disks, over a two day period.

(3) single layer DVD, 15GB total roughly, Windows 7 image for C:
(1) single layer DVD (driver files, may be useful if reinstalling
using a retail Windows disc, otherwise useless).
(1) Microsoft Repair CD, for command prompt work.

If I lost my recovery DVDs, or they got bit rot, and I had to contact
Acer, they'd probably send the first three. If I used those, that would
be sufficient to return the hard drive to "factory state", complete with
a recovery partition that could be used to reload C:, even without
the recovery media (either prepared or bought).

*******

In some cases, the recovery partition is in a well known format.
In one case, it was related to Ghost. That would make it pretty
easy to examine what is stored in there.

But in other cases, manufacturers have resorted to the most arcane
schemes imaginable. One company, uses MBR switching, and a partition
hidden with an HPA or Host Protected Area. Only their own BIOS,
knows how to switch that in and out, and if the MBR or alternate
are damaged, you could be in a mess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area

To the unaided eye, the HPA disk drive looks "smaller than normal". The
end of the disk has been moved down. This leaves a hidden area,
where normal utilities can't get at it.

To compound matters, many motherboards (like my Asus motherboards),
if I were to slave up an HPA-protected disk to the computer, the
BIOS locks it and prevents OS level modification to the HPA. That's
done, to prevent malware from making its own HPA. So you can't necessarily
unlock the hidden area, with just any computer.

The end result is, it can be very difficult, and top-level rocket
scientist work, to get at the data in there.

So some recovery partitions, are dead easy to examine. Others,
not so much. In the case of the company doing the MBR switching
and HPA, that was a smaller firm selling computers. And they
changed the recipe with each generation of hardware they made.
Needless to say, a user would be well advised to ask questions
about the product and its recovery capabilities, when such
stupid setups are being used. You'd think twice before
buying into something that tough to work on. It's just possible,
your local computer store wouldn't want to work on it.
(There are a couple command line utilities for working on HPAs,
and I'm not aware of any tools with an actual GUI. So it's
pretty 1980's style stuff. It means, while you're working
on the disk, you have no browser to do searches on the
Internet.)

Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

Paul

On Jun 27, 2:10*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:

>
> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>
> http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>
> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
____________________________
*** B R E A K I N G N E W S ***

Paul, et al!!

I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. Three
and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
discs. And so I did. And the procedure took about 3 hours.

I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
before putting this to bed, finally: Back in spring 2008, when I
unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . I

****ED

UP.

The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
the risk of being crude . . . I

****ED

UP.

(somehow!)

And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
on this burner.

So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
with actual DATA on them.

-Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster LOL....

ChrisCoaster embroidered on the monitor :
> On Jun 27, 2:10*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
>> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
>> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>>
>> http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>>
>> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
> ____________________________
> *** B R E A K I N G N E W S ***
>
> Paul, et al!!
>
> I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
> DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
> and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. Three
> and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
> a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
> across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
> discs. And so I did. And the procedure took about 3 hours.
>
> I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
> before putting this to bed, finally: Back in spring 2008, when I
> unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
> somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . I
>
> ****ED
>
> UP.
>
> The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
> clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
> the risk of being crude . . . I
>
> ****ED
>
> UP.
>
> (somehow!)
>
> And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
> CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
> the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
> on this burner.
>
> So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
> just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
> with actual DATA on them.
>
> -Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster LOL....

Glad you got a good set to work with Chris. Hope everything else works
out OK.

--
-There are some who call me...
Jim


"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's
troublesome."
- Isaac Asimov

On Jul 17, 1:34*pm, James D Andrews <jamesdandr...@att.net> wrote:
> ChrisCoaster embroidered on the monitor :
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Jun 27, 2:10*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
> >> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
> >> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
> >> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>
> >>http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>
> >> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> >> - Show quoted text -
> > ____________________________
> > *** B R E A K I N G * *N E W S ***
>
> > Paul, et al!!
>
> > I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
> > DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. *I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
> > and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. *Three
> > and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
> > a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
> > across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
> > discs. *And so I did. *And the procedure took about 3 hours.
>
> > I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
> > before putting this to bed, finally: *Back in spring 2008, when I
> > unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
> > somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . *I
>
> > ****ED
>
> > UP.
>
> > The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
> > clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
> > the risk of being crude . . . I
>
> > ****ED
>
> > UP.
>
> > (somehow!)
>
> > And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
> > CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
> > the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
> > on this burner.
>
> > So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
> > just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
> > with actual DATA on them.
>
> > -Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster *LOL....
>
> Glad you got a good set to work with Chris. *Hope everything else works
> out OK.
>
> --
> -There are some who call me...
> Jim
>
> "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's
> troublesome."
> - Isaac Asimov- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
_____________________________
**LATE BREAKING** JUst started happening.

Printer will not print from certain webpages. Acc to Windows Vista,
the "Spooler" keeps shutting down. I need to reinstall this "spooler"
thingie to get printing again.

Help!

-ChrisCoaster

On Jul 17, 1:34*pm, James D Andrews <jamesdandr...@att.net> wrote:
> ChrisCoaster embroidered on the monitor :
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Jun 27, 2:10*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
> >> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
> >> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
> >> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>
> >>http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>
> >> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> >> - Show quoted text -
> > ____________________________
> > *** B R E A K I N G * *N E W S ***
>
> > Paul, et al!!
>
> > I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
> > DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. *I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
> > and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. *Three
> > and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
> > a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
> > across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
> > discs. *And so I did. *And the procedure took about 3 hours.
>
> > I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
> > before putting this to bed, finally: *Back in spring 2008, when I
> > unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
> > somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . *I
>
> > ****ED
>
> > UP.
>
> > The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
> > clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
> > the risk of being crude . . . I
>
> > ****ED
>
> > UP.
>
> > (somehow!)
>
> > And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
> > CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
> > the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
> > on this burner.
>
> > So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
> > just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
> > with actual DATA on them.
>
> > -Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster *LOL....
>
> Glad you got a good set to work with Chris. *Hope everything else works
> out OK.
>
> --
> -There are some who call me...
> Jim
>
> "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's
> troublesome."
> - Isaac Asimov- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
________________________
In addition it keeps saying there is a problem with MS Word! What
does word have to do with my printing out map directions from Bing??

-CC

On Aug 16, 11:15*am, ChrisCoaster <ckozi...@snet.net> wrote:
> On Jul 17, 1:34*pm, James D Andrews <jamesdandr...@att.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > ChrisCoaster embroidered on the monitor :
>
> > > On Jun 27, 2:10*pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
> > >> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
> > >> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
> > >> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>
> > >>http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>
> > >> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> > >> - Show quoted text -
> > > ____________________________
> > > *** B R E A K I N G * *N E W S ***
>
> > > Paul, et al!!
>
> > > I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
> > > DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. *I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
> > > and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. *Three
> > > and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
> > > a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
> > > across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
> > > discs. *And so I did. *And the procedure took about 3 hours.
>
> > > I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
> > > before putting this to bed, finally: *Back in spring 2008, when I
> > > unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
> > > somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . *I
>
> > > ****ED
>
> > > UP.
>
> > > The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
> > > clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
> > > the risk of being crude . . . I
>
> > > ****ED
>
> > > UP.
>
> > > (somehow!)
>
> > > And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
> > > CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
> > > the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
> > > on this burner.
>
> > > So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
> > > just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
> > > with actual DATA on them.
>
> > > -Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster *LOL....
>
> > Glad you got a good set to work with Chris. *Hope everything else works
> > out OK.
>
> > --
> > -There are some who call me...
> > Jim
>
> > "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's
> > troublesome."
> > - Isaac Asimov- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> ________________________
> In addition it keeps saying there is a problem with MS Word! *What
> does word have to do with my printing out map directions from Bing??
>
> -CC- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

___________
Also when I double click the open "printer"-like icon in the
systray(the one that appears when the printer is *supposed to be*
printing), in the title bar it says "unable to connect". Obviously I
have taken all the steps, physically disconnecting/reconnecting the
cables, deleting and reinstalling the printer drivers direct from HP.
It seems like it's more a windows spooler problem than my f4180 HP
printer.

-CC

ChrisCoaster wrote:
> On Jul 17, 1:34 pm, James D Andrews <jamesdandr...@att.net> wrote:
>> ChrisCoaster embroidered on the monitor :
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jun 27, 2:10 pm, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>>>> Some computer brands, have great third party web pages to
>>>> support them. This is an example. HP has their user to user
>>>> forum, but I don't know if it goes into this much detail.
>>>> http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/
>>>> Paul- Hide quoted text -
>>>> - Show quoted text -
>>> ____________________________
>>> *** B R E A K I N G N E W S ***
>>> Paul, et al!!
>>> I just in the past half hour wrapped up creating a set of recovery
>>> DVDs for this damn Pavilion 6300F. I examined them in DIRECT SUNLIGHT
>>> and there is definitely something written on all three DVDs. Three
>>> and a half weeks after recovering my OS with HP DVDs and reinstalling
>>> a schlep-load of apps, earlier this morning Recovery Manager mozies
>>> across my screen and asks if I want to create a set of recovery
>>> discs. And so I did. And the procedure took about 3 hours.
>>> I don't like dredging up old topics but I need to confess something
>>> before putting this to bed, finally: Back in spring 2008, when I
>>> unboxed and set up this PC and created the recovery DVDs, somewhere,
>>> somehow, though I will never likely recall . . . . I
>>> ****ED
>>> UP.
>>> The directions to follow when creating recovery CDs or DVDs are so
>>> clear even my cat could understand them, but nonetheless, I repeat at
>>> the risk of being crude . . . I
>>> ****ED
>>> UP.
>>> (somehow!)
>>> And the reason I believe I did is because I successfully created audio
>>> CDs on this computer - although some CD players could not play past
>>> the 12th track or so out of 20 on the disc - I did create usable CDs
>>> on this burner.
>>> So in closing I thank you all for your patience in trying to determine
>>> just WHAT THE F$#(&#K happened, and now I possess actual recovery DVDs
>>> with actual DATA on them.
>>> -Chris(who sometimes amazes even himself!)Coaster LOL....
>> Glad you got a good set to work with Chris. Hope everything else works
>> out OK.
>>
>> --
>> -There are some who call me...
>> Jim
>>
>> "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's
>> troublesome."
>> - Isaac Asimov- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
> _____________________________
> **LATE BREAKING** JUst started happening.
>
> Printer will not print from certain webpages. Acc to Windows Vista,
> the "Spooler" keeps shutting down. I need to reinstall this "spooler"
> thingie to get printing again.
>
> Help!
>
> -ChrisCoaster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooler

"With spooling, multiple processes can write documents to a print queue
without waiting."

The Print Queue decouples an application, from the printing process. With
your web browser open, you can print your map, and the browser writes out
the print job to the spooler at top speed (as fast as the disk can go).
The browser is then free to go about its business, after a very short
delay.

The spooler is a first-in-first-out queue. It stacks up print jobs,
and patiently waits for the printing service to handle each print job.

If there is a problem, the spooler should pop up a dialog of some
sort, saying "your print job did not complete for the following reason",
and the reason could include a problem with the spooler itself, or
with the print engine doing the printing of the actual job.

Sometimes, a Service has died, and that is what is stopping printing.
Or, it's the print document itself, that isn't the right type. It
may be difficult to diagnose, using on the error message.

It's a matter of looking at the symptoms, checking the print queue,
to see what is going on.

Some users, may have printed a Microsoft Word document last month,
the print job failed for some technical reason, and the user has
ignored the print job. Perhaps, every time the computer was booted
after that, the spooler service would attempt to complete the
print job again. It might require user intervention to say "yes,
I know about that print, and I no longer need it, so delete it
from the queue". A print job will stay in the queue, waiting
for the printer to be loaded with paper, the printer to be
repaired and so on. So you could have "stale" print jobs
stacked up in there.

So the next time you see a dialog, take note of what type of
dialog it might be.

You can

1) Do a PrintScreen.
2) That's the equivalent of doing a copy/paste kinda thing, of the
screen. Now there is a copy of the screen in the clipboard buffer.
3) If you now open a paint program (or my favorite the GIMP program),
you can then paste the clipboard image into a new document. Now,
edit the image, crop out the garbage on the screen, and keep
just the portion you have a question about.
4) Use a web site like imageshack.us or picasa or other image
hosting site. Upload the image to the site. Keep a copy
of the resulting URL of the image stored on the web server.
You can post that URL here, in your next question.

You can store big images on those servers, as long as you select
"do not resize" when uploading them. That keeps the quality of
the original image. Here is an example of a large image I shared
some time ago. So if I wanted to discuss something like this
that I saw on my screen, I could share it with you this way.
Some image servers delete content after a while, but I haven't
lost anything here yet. Apparently, this hosting service
censors content in some countries, so if you live in a certain
country, you can't view this picture. That's a potential downside
of this site.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/8...scomposite.gif

Paul