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Does anyone know why my Canon PIXMA MP220 refuses to print out documents but simply places them in a print queue?
Mike Freeman.

PS: Canon have discontinued this printer and I cannot discover any technical advice on it

Has it ever printed?

If so have you changed anything (moved from XP to Vista for example)?

Often the software that comes with a printer allows you to print a test page, what happens if you do that?

Have you tried different applications (Word, Notepad etc), and do they all do that?

Have you set it as the default printer (go into Control panel, find Printers, RIGHT click on the printer icon and select Default. Should put a tick against it)?

Are you sure you are printing to the right printer (not as silly as it sounds). If you have had a number of printers on your PC they might all still be listed as available even when they are no longer connected. Make sure the right one is selected as Default. If you have software installed for other printers delete it)

Hi Guilbert,
Thanks for the advice but I have tried everything that you say .The printer has printed before but on a diffeent computer and both were running Vista. I lost the software but downloaded the driver from Canon and the set-up went okay and the printer icon dispays correctly with a green tick and saying "ready". In fact the printer obeys all commands but instead of printing places the document in a queue!
The test page does not print nor Word or Notepad.
Thanks again. Puzzled!
Mike Freeman.
!confused!

Guilbert,
It now says "default print" but with "status error".
Mike Freeman.

I'd try deleting the printer - Go Start / Control Panel / Printers - right click the Canon and then remove it. Then restart the PC and let Windows reinstall it.

Thanks JonnyHungwell ,
I have already tried deleting and re-installing the drivers then plugging in the USB to let Windows install it but it is the same.
Thanks again,
Mike Freeman.

Uninstall the printer completely, by using the control panel and unplugging it. Do a reboot (important) and then reinstall the printer again. Now try printing from a simple application like notepad and if it fails wait about 2 mins then check your event logs to see exactly what is wrong.

To check the event logs, goto control panel, then administrative tools and then click event viewer. In XP you can check the application/system event logs in date order to see what went wrong, in Vista click Windows Logs then Application/System. You only need to check for error messages and obviously only upto the time you tried to print. The event logs should be in date order and so you should only have to shift through a view of them.

Twingo,
You certainly know your stuff on computers. I did all that you said and the default printer now has a green tick. However the printjob is still placed in a print queue.
Following your advice I obtained the error report:

Event ID: 6161
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: guy-PC\guy
Computer: guy-PC
Description:
The document printer advice - Notepad, owned by guy, failed to print on printer Canon mini220. Try to print the document again, or restart the print spooler.
Data type: NT EMF 1.008. Size of the spool file in bytes: 65536. Number of bytes printed: 0. Total number of pages in the document: 2. Number of pages printed: 0. Client computer: \\GUY-PC. Win32 error code returned by the print processor: 2. The system cannot find the file specified.
Thanks,
Mike Freeman.

You could make sure that the printer shows USB port and not LPT1.

Or alternatively add a local port using \\computername\printername.