Closed Bug 447998 Opened 17 years ago Closed 14 years ago

when I print anything, response is "An unknown error occurred while printing"

Categories

(Core :: Printing: Output, defect)

Product:
Core
Component:
Printing: Output
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: emichehl, Unassigned)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1 Problem started several weeks ago. today I uninstalled current firefox downloaded and reinstalled the latest firefox Then I bring up Print Preview of google news, print one page - ... "an unknown error occurred while printing" is the response I do the exact same thing with Internet Explorer 6 and it works properly. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.click print 2.blink 3."unknown error"
Component: OS Integration → Printing
Product: Firefox → Core
QA Contact: os.integration → printing
do you see this issue still with version 3.6 or 4.0 beta?
Whiteboard: [closeme 2011-03-15]
I have Windows 7 (64 bit) and recently upgraded to FF 4.0.1. I get the identical error message ( "An unknown error occurred while printing") when trying to print anything.Prints normally in Notepad and Internet Explorer.This was never an issue in earlier FF builds.
Jim: this bug was filed in 2008, for Firefox 3.0.1, so (given that you've just started getting this error message in 4.0.1), chances are you're not hitting the same underlying problem that the original reporter was. Would you mind filing a new bug on your issue? When filing, please include steps to reproduce (including a sample URL for printing, e.g. http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/README is a good basic one). Also, if you could see whether you can reproduce in a freshly-created Firefox profile*, that'd be very helpful. Thanks! * http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing%20profiles#w_creating-a-profile
(In reply to comment #3) > Jim: this bug was filed in 2008, for Firefox 3.0.1, so (given that you've > just started getting this error message in 4.0.1), chances are you're not > hitting the same underlying problem that the original reporter was. > > Would you mind filing a new bug on your issue? When filing, please include > steps to reproduce (including a sample URL for printing, e.g. > http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/README is a good basic one). Also, > if you could see whether you can reproduce in a freshly-created Firefox > profile*, that'd be very helpful. Thanks! > > * > http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing%20profiles#w_creating-a-profile Daniel,I don't know what to say.I haven't done anything,and now the printer is working again in FF 3.6.17! It started when I went to the URL you suggested,and my printer printed the page without a hitch! Sorry for the false alarm..
(In reply to comment #2) > Daniel,I don't know what to say.I haven't done anything,and now the printer is > working again in FF 3.6.17! That's great to hear! But -- do you know if it's still broken for you in Firefox 4.0.1? (I'd thought *that* was where it was broken for you, rather than in 3.6.x) If so, it'd be great if you could still file a bug on that 4.0.1 issue -- it's good to track when something like this breaks between major releases.
When I arrived home tonite,I booted the computer,and guess what? The problem was back! I am currently using FF 3.6.17,which I prefer,as FF 4.0.1 is incompatible with several of my add-ons.Just before writing this,I had been closing and reopening FF,and it is now allowing normal printing again.Whatever is going on is intermittent.I am using Sandboxie,a virtual environment application,but opening FF in or outside Sandboxie doesn't seem to make a difference.
Hi Daniel.This is crazy.I find it fails to print for awhile,and then prints (without closing the browser).
So to be clear, you're now hitting this problem (sporadically) in Firefox 3.6?
Yes,it works on one page,and then stops working when I navigate to a new page.
Could you try creating a (temporary) fresh Firefox profile following the directions at the URL from Comment 3, and see if you can reproduce it in that profile? Given that very few users have hit this issue, it's possible that some extension or hidden pref in your Firefox profile is partly triggering this. Could you also try installing a free PDF printer and see if you hit the same problem when "printing" there (rather than to your real printer)? "Bullzip" and "CIB PDF Brewer" are two free PDF printers that have worked for me in the past - either of those should be fine.
Hi Daniel.Okay,I created a fresh profile,and the printer worked normally within the new profile.I am back in my default profile as I write this,and the printer is working normally.I have "CutePDF Writer" that prints to a PDF file.I DID try this print option when I was having the trouble,and "CutePDF Writer" didn't work either.Is there some setting/log file I can check next time it heads south? Thanks
Thanks for the information -- so (a) you haven't seen it yet in a fresh profile, and (b) you have hit this issue before in CutePDF writer in addition to on a real printer. > is there some setting/log file I can check next time it heads south? No, sadly... :-/ So our best bet right now is to first determine *definitively* whether or not this affects a fresh profile -- so if you could perhaps continue to use the freshly-created profile (with as few customizations as possible) for maybe a day or two, until you're sure the problem would have arisen in your normal profile, that would definitely help. At that point, if you still haven't hit the bug in your fresh profile (but presumably can continue to hit it in your normal profile), the simplest thing to do would be (if you're comfortable with this) to zip up a copy of your normal browsing profile & email it to a Mozilla developer, to see if they can hit the problem and debug it further. I could volunteer to take a crack at that at some point, though I'm not sure how soon -- I'm working on a number of projects at the moment. Alternately, you could try to isolate whatever's causing the problem on your own, by (a) backing up your profile first :), (b) disabling all your extensions and seeing if that helps, and finally (c) progressively deleting chunks of prefs.js (a file in your profile folder) and seeing if any of that helps.
Whiteboard: [closeme 2011-03-15]
Daniel,I appreciate all your help.I will use the new profile for awhile to see if that helps-if it does,I will go on to the next steps you have suggested.
Hi Daniel.I opened my account under a pseudonym,but have reverted to my real name and email address.You might be interested to know that the printing problem has shown up in Thunderbird (ver 3.1.10),with the same symptoms as in Firefox.
I hate to tell you this,but the problem is present in the test profile as well,where I have no add-ons installed.I have since gone back to the default profile.Today,I was on the Mozilla forum,and someone suggested resetting the "print.print_printer" preference.This helped when I did it,but the next time I started FF,the problem reappeared.Strangely,"print.print_printer" was gone when I next went into "about:config". As well,I am seeing other changes in Preferences,which seem to cycle back and forth after each FF restart.It seemed that the preferences version with the long list of Canon printer entries was running when the printing problem appeared,but I have also seen it when the long list wasn't showing in preferences.I am attaching a link to a couple preferences screen grabs hosted on Imageshack,which hopefully gives you some ideas: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2761/configerationgrown.jpg http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/2842/configeration.jpg
Finally some good news,Daniel:I upgraded to FF 5 Beta a couple of days ago,and the printer problem seems to be gone(so far).The only thing is most of my favourite add-ons are not compatible with the new FF release.
> the printer problem seems to be gone Glad to hear it! Let's give it a little more time to be sure, and then we can resolve this bug as WORKSFORME. > The only thing is most of my favourite add-ons are not compatible with the > new FF release. (Addon Compatibility Reporter may help you hack around that: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/15003/ )
Okay,I will let you know in a week or so..
Hi Daniel.Okay,good news,I haven't had printer issues for a full week.Thanks for efforts.
Oh,and thanks for that Compatibility Reporter add-on -never heard of it before!
(In reply to comment #16) > Finally some good news,Daniel:I upgraded to FF 5 Beta a couple of days > ago,and the printer problem seems to be gone(so far) (In reply to comment #19) > Hi Daniel.Okay,good news,I haven't had printer issues for a full week.Thanks > for efforts. Great! Resolving WORKSFORYOU. :) Thanks for the investigation.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 14 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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