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Cannot print due to error message--printer working with Internet Explorer--How do I correct?

  • 15 replies
  • 47 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by gattaca

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Last week printer worked fine with Firefox.

This week a message comes back "an error occurred while printing".

Printer works fine with Internet Explorer.

Last week printer worked fine with Firefox. This week a message comes back "an error occurred while printing". Printer works fine with Internet Explorer.

All Replies (15)

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Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

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Still having same problem

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When you open the Print dialog, if you click the Properties button, is Firefox able to successfully read and display the printer settings?

Do you have any other printers you can try (such as Microsoft's XPS printer, or a PDF printer) and do those work?

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Can successfully read and display printer settings.

No other printers available.

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Does the error message give any other detail? I just don't have enough to go on here.

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No other detail--everything was working fine for the past three years until last week. Printer works when I use Internet Explorer so I figure it is a Firefox issue. Very frustrating!

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To test how Firefox runs "uncustomized" on your system, could you do a two-minute experiment?

Create a new Firefox profile

A new profile will have your system-installed plugins (e.g., Flash) and extensions (e.g., security suite toolbars), but no themes, other extensions, or other customizations. It also should have completely fresh settings databases and a fresh cache folder.

Exit Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager using Start > search box (or Run):

firefox.exe -P

Any time you want to switch profiles, exit Firefox and return to this dialog.

You'll click the Create Profile button. I recommend using the default location suggested (i.e., just ignore the option to choose a different folder). Then start Firefox in the new profile you created.

Can you print?

When returning to the Profile Manager, you might be tempted to use the Delete Profile button. But... it's a bit too easy to accidentally delete your "real" profile, so I recommend resisting the temptation. If you do want to clean up later, I suggest making a backup of all your profiles first in case something were to go wrong.

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My neighbor had the same problem last month and turned off printer and computer--she powered up the next morning and everything worked. I am trying that now and hope tomorrow it is successful.

Good night.

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Hi, I have found this is related to rebooting. After I put my machine asleep / suspend and then resume, the printing is broken ONLY for FF27+ or Thunderbird 24+. After rebooting the machine, they work fine on printing until the system is suspsended again, then no dice.

I had 0 problems w/ this before upgrading FF to 27.0+ and Thunderbird to 24+. Something is broken w/ how they are both handing resume from suspend and reiniting some queues..

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I've just decided to "ride this one out", it will get fixed in some version. I can always print the page from IE or screen cap and print that..

I also received a suggestion to backlevel FF and TB to prior versions and I'd rather not do that.

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. Cheers.

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I'm still having the same issue - "An error occurred while printing" is the only error message I get. My printer works fine if I'm in Internet Explorer or Chrome, but not Firefox. I have tried every workaround on the Mozilla site and it still does not work. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! I NEED TO PRINT!!!

When I open the Print dialog, if I click the Properties button, I do not see the box displaying the printer settings, I only get, "An error occurred while printing".

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Hi oberz3, does your issue follow the same pattern as gattaca's where printing works until you suspend Windows, after which it does not work until you restart Windows?

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Hi jscher2000,

Thanks for trying to help me out with this! No, my issue doesn't follow the same pattern as gattaca's. I am not able to print at all. I cannot click on the "Properties" box when I click "Print" from Firefox. I have already uninstalled/reinstalled different versions of Firefox, deleted prefs.js files (and put them back) - nothing is working! Only thing I'm sure of, it's NOT my printer. Works just fine if using another browser. I have also tried to print in Safe Mode, but that didn't work either. I am at a total loss here.

One more bit of information . . . I have 2 other computers that share this printer (it's a wireless setup) - 1 is a desktop PC, the other a laptop. Both run Windows 7 64-bit, just like the computer I'm having trouble with, and both are able to print from Firefox without any trouble.

Modified by oberz3

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Knocking on wood as I type.. I've not had the "no printing" issues I reported earlier since I updated to FF 28.0 and TB 24.4. YMMV. Cheers.