Hello All,

This is my first post here.

I've read the available posts concerning 'the handle is invalid' error message received by Notepad when attempting to print and am also receiving an error from Office 2007 that simply states that Word was unable to print with the message *'Windows cannot print with the current printer setup', but makes no mention of what the actual error is.

Background:

I own a Canon laser printer that was originally used with a Win98 machine. The machine was replaced about 6 years ago with a Gateway 2Ghz machine running XP Home Edition.

While XP complained that the driver for the laser was not certified for XP it did none-the-less install and run fine. I moved from Office 2000 to Office 2007 in June of 2008 and everything seemed fine. The last time I use the printer (connected to the parallel port on the Gateway box) was just before New Year's Eve 2008 / 2009.

When I booted the system on New Year's Day everything was fine, until I went to print a document. This was the first time I ever saw this *message mentioned above, or the one that Notepad generates 'the handle is invalid'.

Corrective action:

Tried rolling the date back to 01/01/2008, re-booting but this did not help.

Contacted Canon; they think it is a MS OS problem.

I have since reloaded XP (currently at SP3 with all related patches) thinking that something in the OS might have become corrupted. The driver for Canon MultiPASS was pulled down from the Canon site along with a patch update.

Result:

The problem persisted.

Next Action:

Moved the Canon printer to a Win2000 machine. Pulled down the appropriate driver for Win2000 and installed. Shared the printer.

XP can see the printer, but attempts to 'find' printers within Word print generated the following error message: 'The directory Service is currently unavailable'. This is a consistent error that occured prior to re-loading as well.

What is known:

The printer works fine with Win2000. I can print directly from Win2000 using Office 2000, but cannot print using XP with Office 2000 / Office 2007.

However, I can print from XP to another Epson network printer attached to another Win2000 machine in my daugther's room.

Observations:

It would appear that some patch downloaded, or a date activated ‘poison pill program’ of some type now makes the Canon printer unusable. This seems hardly likely, but the persistence of the problem leaves the date roll-over as a key contributor.


Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Running XP Home Edtion SP3 - AVG 8.0.168, - XP Firewall enabled - Office 2007

To eliminate the possibility of having contracted a "poison pill program", please click on the Pre-Work link in my signature and follow the directions. Attach/paste any requested data to this thread, then I'll move the thread so the Security experts can evaluate the data.

Good luck...

The attached logs represent the results of the scans by HiJackThis and MalWareBytes, performed as outlined. Three attempts at running Trend Micro House Calls ended prematurely. The last one, run this morning, ended with 41 minutes to go.

Safe to say that the scan did complete the primary drive. All of the data that was placed on C: was copied from the backup drive (where the scan terminated prematurely).

I use AVG8.0, Spybot, Spyware Blaster and have used but have not currently installed, SuperAntiSpyware. I used Adaware 2007 until it became to cumbersome and used far too many memory resources.

Since the primary was formatted and reloaded from the recovery image Gateway provides, it is unlikely that a virus or malware of any type could be downloaded this early on in the analysis. Spybot did find and did remove some questionable items once the download of SP3 was completed.

If I have missed anything important, please let me know.

HiJackThis Log:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 9:20:29 PM, on 1/5/2009
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16762)
Boot mode: Normal
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\hijackthis\HijackThis.exe
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = Gateway.net
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = MSN.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = Live Search
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = Live Search
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = MSN.com
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: AVG Security Toolbar - {A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E} - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: AVG Security Toolbar - {A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E} - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [\\Stephanie\EPSON Stylus CX4200 Series] C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\E_FATIA EA.EXE /P38 "\\Stephanie\EPSON Stylus CX4200 Series" /O6 "USB001" /M "Stylus CX4200"
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware] C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbamgui.exe /install /silent
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Install Pending Files.LNK = C:\Program Files\SIFXINST\SIFXINST.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: usb7100 Startup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Cordless USB Phone\Vtech Cordless Phone Suite.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Define - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Look Up in &Encyclopedia - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Encarta Encyclopedia - {2FDEF853-0759-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Encarta Encyclopedia - {2FDEF853-0759-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_ENC.HTM
O9 - Extra button: Define - {5DA9DE80-097A-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Define - {5DA9DE80-097A-11D4-A92E-006097DBED37} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Reference 2001\A\ERS_DEF.HTM
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {0F04992B-E661-4DB9-B223-903AB628225D} (DoMoreRunExe.DoMoreRun) - file://C:\Program Files\Gateway\Do More\DoMoreRunExe.CAB
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://www.update.microsoft.com/wind...?1230943613871
O16 - DPF: {6E32070A-766D-4EE6-879C-DC1FA91D2FC3} (MUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/microsof...?1230944028951
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{40288585-64E5-4BA5-BF9A-CD263E27505F}: NameServer = 192.168.1.2,4.2.2.1
O18 - Protocol: intu-qt2007 - {026BF40D-BA05-467B-9F1F-AD0D7A3F5F11} - C:\Program Files\QuickTax 2007\ic2007pp.dll (file missing)
O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgpp.dll
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: avgrsstx.dll
O23 - Service: AVG Free8 E-mail Scanner (avg8emc) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG Free8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Active Monitor (imonNT) - Intel Corp. - C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Active Monitor\imonnt.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: PictureTaker - LANovation - C:\WINDOWS\System32\PCTKRNT.SYS
--
End of file - 6313 bytes

MalWareBytes Log:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.32
Database version: 1621
Windows 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3
1/5/2009 9:18:05 PM
mbam-log-2009-01-05 (21-18-05).txt
Scan type: Full Scan (C:\|D:\|)
Objects scanned: 107079
Time elapsed: 44 minute(s), 37 second(s)
Memory Processes Infected: 0
Memory Modules Infected: 0
Registry Keys Infected: 0
Registry Values Infected: 0
Registry Data Items Infected: 0
Folders Infected: 0
Files Infected: 0
Memory Processes Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Memory Modules Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Keys Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Values Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Registry Data Items Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Folders Infected:
(No malicious items detected)
Files Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

That's all normal. I'll move this out to another forum for evaluation

Great. Now we know your computer is clean.

Let's go here next...
Open your Device Manager
Click on View ... Show hidden devices

Click on and Delete (with the Delete key) any devices that have a ? or ! in front of them.
If the Device Manager has an "Other" device category, open it and Delete any devices in the "Other" category.
Now, reboot.

The reboot will force Windows to refind the deleted devices and hopefully see them for what they are.
After rebooting, give Windows time to locate and properly install the deleted devices.

Go to the Device Manager and verify that all your devices are listed correctly.

Hello again,

I just opened Device Manager and took a snapshot of it. Uploaded to PhotBucket:



As a reminder, the printer is now attached to another PC on our home LAN. The problem is the same regardless of whether it is attached to my XP device or to the Win2000 machine.

So, in this case Device Manager shows that all is well. It did, I recall, before I moved the printer to the other machine. In fact, if the bi-directional parallel cable and printer are attached to the parallel port when XP is booted, it will, if the driver has not already been loaded, find 'new hardware' and attempt to install the driver.

I’m not trying to be difficult, and I can move the printer back to XP if this is deemed necessary. But it seems to me that what is happening is that XP is expecting this Canon device to ‘look’ a certain way, ‘chat’ in some specific way, or to respond to a string command that the printer either ignores, or replies incorrectly to.

I know that this sounds ‘down in the weeds’, but I am grasping at what might be going on with XP and this printer at present.

By the way, Canon left me a message today asking me to call them, as they felt it might be easier to work on the problem (from a Canon perspective) over the phone, rather than email back and forth.

If you think it appropriate, I can place our diagnostics on hold pending some sort of outcome from Canon.

Troubleshooting without the printer being connected is a waste of time.

Go with Canon.