110024 - Printing fails when default printer is not available.

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: Printing: Output, defect)

Description

[Michael B. Venezia]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:0.9.5+)
Gecko/20011113
BuildID:    2001111303

The machine that shows this problem is set up as this:

Wireless Network card for one network (at home)
Wired Network for other network (at work)

My default printer is a shared printer (Ricoh AP204 Color Laser with built in
Network Card) that I connect through the wireless network card.  When I am not
connected to the wireless network, the printer remains the default printer but
is "unavailable" according to Windows 2000.

When I try to print to a different printer (one that is connected to the wired
network, but not the wireless network) (by hitting the print icon, selecting the
different printer and clicking on "OK") while connected to the wired network but
not the wireless network I get the following message (and subsequently no printing) 

"Print failed for some reason."

If I change the default printer in the control panel to a printer that does
exist on the wired network, and do the same thing (print to a printer on the
wired network) Mozilla prints correctly.

I have tried this on Mozilla 0.9.5 and had the problem and upgraded to the most
recent build (2001111303) and had the same problem.  By chance I had changed the
default printer and tried to print again.  It worked and here is the bug.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Select a printer that is unavailable (choose a network printer, disconnect
the network from the machine) and set it as your default printer.
2. Try to print a web page using a different printer (one that is connected
directly perhaps, or maybe a second network)


Actual Results:  Error Message box: "Print failed for some reason."

Expected Results:  Printed the Page

Mozilla seems to hang for just a second or so while realizing the default
printer is not available and instead chooses another printer (it chooses one
that is online, I'm not sure if that is on purpose or if it just so happens to
be the next one in line that it checks.  I only have two printers so I cannot to
figure out how it decides to pick the printer that is online)  By chooses I mean
that the printer that is already selected (after selecting the print icon) is
not the default printer but rather a printer that is available on the current
network.

Obviously the easy fix is to just make one's default printer available on the
network.  However that is somewhat sloppy considering that Mozilla is told to
not use the printer that is offline.

Comment 1

[rods (gone)]

taking bug

Comment 2

[Andrew Hagen]

Worksforme on Mozilla 0.9.7 Build ID: 2002011803.

I created a networked printer, \\servername\testprinter, which doesn't exist,
using the Apple Laserwriter driver. I made that the default printer. I opened
Mozilla. I went to http://www.xulplanet.com/search_help.shtml to print it out. I
selected File  | Print, and printed to the Apple Laserwriter. Nothing printed.
Then, I printed to my real printer, a Lexmark Optra Ep. That worked just fine.

Reporter, with the current nightly build, is it now working for you? If it is,
we can close the bug.

Comment 3

[Michael B. Venezia]

Yes, it appears to be fixed now.  I haven't tried it in a while, so I'm not
exactly sure when it first stopped occuring.  Well, I'm glad its no longer occuring.

Comment 4

[sujay]

marking verified per comments.