Printer copier goes offline for no reason

For some reason, from time to time my Sharp Copier (MX-7001N) goes offline and no more jobs can be sent to it.  What I have noticed looking at the printer itself is that the actual machine will be ready, but in Windows Server 2003, the driver is offline.

I’m pretty sure it’s related somehow to these services:

1. HP Port Resolver
2. HP Status Server

These services are installed along with some printer drivers and I read about some people having success removing them from the registry, but I don’t want to spelunk there if I don’t have to.

Here is an ongoing list of things I have tried:

1. One thing I noticed is there was a program called OrderReminder.exe which was loaded into memory.  It is an HP program which reminds you when it’s time to order replacement supplies.  I uninstalled it.
2. There was a process running called hpnra.exe which is responsible for updating the registry with any changes to HP devices (such as adding a new output bn) More information about this proces can be found here.  I disabled it via msconfig.
3. Open up Administrative Tools–>Component Services–>DCOM Config –>Port Resolver…Properties..Location..Uncheck Run app on this computer and save.  The 7000 errors stopped.

Here are the log file errors I had which are related to the printer going offline:

Error ID: 10005

DCOM got error “The system cannot find the file specified. ” attempting to start the service HP Port Resolver with arguments “-Service” in order to run the server:
{5A5AA0AA-1DEB-4683-96B0-B43301E83971}

——————————————————————————————-

Event ID: 7000

The HP Port Resolver Service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

NOTE: If you’re feeling adventurous… you can try the tips listed here and here.  Read both posts before doing anything though.