My computer restarts whenever printing a Word document that contains a Visio drawing to a network HP LaserJet 4250 printer, and this same problem occurs with all other computers on the network as well. If I remove the drawing the document prints without problem, and the document also prints on a different printer without any issues. The computers are running Windows XP SP2.

You are correct that this is a rare problem, as I was only able to find a couple of references to this problem when researching your question. Additionally, these references did not suggest a solution to resolve the problem, making it more difficult for us to diagnose the cause of the error. Since the problem occurs across different computers, the problem is likely not related to the individual computers. Instead, it is more likely to do with the printer, and probably the printer drivers.

The first procedure we can attempt is to download and install the latest drivers for the HP LaserJet 4250 printer. Visit www.hp.com.au and click the “Software & Driver Download” link to search for your printer model “HP LaserJet 4250″. Once you have found the driver page for the HP LaserJet 4250, select the “Microsoft Windows XP” option and you should see a listing of new drivers for the printer. At the time of writing, the latest drivers for the printer were the 27 March 2007, which should be newer than the drivers which are currently installed on the computers. There are three types of drivers you can download: PCL 5e, PCL 6, and PostScript. Each of these represents a different type of printer language, and different programs handle these printer languages differently. So, you may receive unexpected results if you install the wrong type of driver. Therefore, I suggest that you install the same type of printer driver as currently installed on the computer. To check the type of your current driver, go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Printers and Faxes” control panel (you may need to first select the “Printers and Other Hardware” category). Right-click on the printer and select “Properties”. In the Properties window that appears, click the “Advanced” tab and you should see the current driver being used by the printer. The driver name should also denote the driver type, being either PCL 5e, PCL 6, or PostScript. Using this information, download a new driver of the same type from the HP website.

After the driver has downloaded, the next step is to update the current printer driver. If you have a direct connection to the network printer from each computer, you will need to update the driver on each individual computer (do this for one computer initially, to test whether the new drivers work). However, if you connect to the printer through a print server, then you need to update the driver on the print server and then delete and re-add the printer on each client machine (so that the new driver is downloaded and installed on each client computer). Regardless of whether you are updating the drivers on client computers or a print server, you can install the new drivers using the same method. Find the downloaded drivers on the computer, and then double-click on the drivers file to extract the drivers to a folder. Once the files have decompressed, go to the folder where the files were extracted and you will notice lots of .CAB files and an .INF file. We will use these to update the printer drivers. Go back into the Printers and Faxes control panel, right-click on the HP LaserJet 4250 printer, and select “Properties”. In the Properties window that appears, click the “Advanced” tab. Next to the drop-down box displaying the current driver, click the “New Driver” button. In the wizard that appears, click “Next” and then click the “Have Disk” button. This will allow you to specify the location of the driver to install. In the “Install From Disk” window, select the location of the drivers. To do this, click the “Browse” button and navigate to the folder where the drivers were extracted. Select the .INF file within this folder, and then click the “Open” button and then click OK. Back in the driver window, multiple drivers should be listed (for different printer models). Select the model of your printer and click the “Next” button and then “Finish”. The driver files should copy, and you will be returned back to the printer properties window. The new drivers should be selected in the driver drop-down box. Click “Apply” and then OK to save and close. Now, check whether the problem still continues.

Should the problem persist, you may also wish to try installing the other types of driver for the printer (i.e. PCL 5e, PCL 6, or PostScript). You can install these using the same procedure as outlined above. Because these are different drivers they should not overwrite the other drivers which you have installed. So, if you find that these drivers don’t work at all, you can re-select one of the older drivers in the driver drop-down menu within the HP LaserJet 4250 properties window.