Word 2007 document prints but not Notepad document

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I can print Word 2007 documents to my Brother HL 5370DW printer (drivers up to date) OK but if I try to print a Notepad document it says ‘Notepad not working’ The same happens with a ReImage document. Also they will not print to my Epson Stylus Photo 310 either. I have searched Microsoft Help but have not been able to find an answer.

Windows 7 Home Premium with all updates

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Curious……!

If you can print from one application the printer and it’s drivers are correctly installed.

I guess possibilities include firewall software, AV tools, disk corruptions, unprintable chars etc.

A few questions: When did the problem start happening, was it sudden or has there been a time when it sometimes worked? After you get the error on Notepad, can you print from Word without having to reboot, log-off or close any applications? Is the notepad doc a simple ascii text doc….try just typing a simple test doc in Notepad and see if that prints. Have you made any software changes or updates to the system recently. Are there any other system errors or problems?

Also, could you take a copy of the error message window (use the snipping tool in Win7) and paste to this thread so we see more data?

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Thank you for your reply. Standard Notepad document. I seldom print Notepad documents but as I had a problem printing a ReImage file I started experimenting. I brought back an image of my ‘C’ drive before I installed ReImage and tried again, same problem. Yes, I can print a Word 2007 document immediately after the failure to print the Notepad document without logging off or rebooting, I wonder if a Windows Update has upset the apple cart. I have tried cleaning the Registry with JV16 and updating printer drivers, all to no avail. Error message attached.

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While I like a challenge, this does sound rather odd. Can I summarise what I have understood from your symptoms….let me know if I’ve got anything incorrect.

[*]You installed ReImage software and there were some problems printing a file from Notepad, but you observed that from Word prnting was OK.
[*]You reverted to a known good image backup from before ReImage was installed and yet the problem remains.
[*]Registry clean and printer updates have no effect on Notepad behaviour and Word continues to print ok.
[*]The issue presents itself as a standard Windows Application Error pop-up saying that Notepad has encountered a problem when trying to print.

I’m scratching my head to think what might cause that and what might be a way forward. Assuming for a moment that ReImage caused a problem, reverting to a known good backup should fix it, restoring the registry that may have become corrupt during ReImage installation or use at the same time.

You might take a look at the event viewer to see if there are any more descriptive entries when Notepad fails. Click Start, then enter “Event Viewer” in the Search Program and Files box at the bottom of the Start Menu. Open Event Viewer and expand Windows Logs in the left hand pane. Explore System and Application logs for any errors and warnings co-incident in time with the Notepad failure. You could also check The Security Tab which may tell you if it thinks there has been a file corruption.

To be honest though, at this stage the fix may be looking like a Windows re-install. Not something you would wish to hear, however if reverting to a known good image backup does not fix it, I’m not sure that a new Windows install would work either.

For now, see what Event Viewer says, or if anyone else in the Lounge has some ideas…….

Now then, Just a thought before I post this, could ReImage have damaged the disk? Files could be corrupt even on reversion to known good backup in the event of a disk error A bit-by-bit disk image will place the files in the same clusters as before, so if a disk error has occurred it may propagate to the restored backup. Clutching at straws now, but perhaps drop a new drive in and restore the known good backup to that?

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Almost, I tried to print a ReImage report, when it failed I tried to print a Notepad doc, when that failed I printed a Word doc to confirm the printer was working. I have the ReImage tech support fellow remotely accessing my machine tomorrow, I shall report if he manages to solve it. If not I might try Fred Langa’s ‘Win7’s no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall’

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The Reimage techie did get the printer to print Notepad documents but at what cost I ask myself, he disabled so many startups and fiddled with something called DEP that I have no idea what actually caused the problem, probably best to live in ignorance and worry about the world financial situation instead.

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Yikes!….he fiddled with DEP?

DEP is Data Execution Protection. It does what it says on the tin: prevents data resident in memory from being executed as code.

In the past, malware would inject data and then deliberately cause a buffer overflow to execute the malicious code contained in the data. DEP was a major step forward in preventing this and should be turned ON unless there is a very good reason for it not to be.

You should verify he has left you DEP settings as they should be. Click Start and enter “Advanced System Settings” in the search program and file text box just above the Start button. Click on View Advanced System Settings at the top of the Start Menu. This will open The System Properties windows with the Advanced tab already pre-selected. In the Performance section, click Settings. This will open the Performance Options window. Click on the Data Execution Prevention tab and verify that DEP is turned On.

See attached….

28619-DEP-settings

It’s getting late here tonight, so will be offline shortly: others may be able to pick up from here if it is set incorrectly.

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Scroll down through this Windows Seven Forum articleto see if this might help

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Thank you for that. The option to turn it back on was greyed out so the ReImage techie had another remote session to turn it back on. All seems to be working OK.

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Good, but…..

I would be nervous about why they needed to turn off DEP in the first place. Perhaps monitor the machine for a while longer to make sure it’s ok.

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