network printer has disappeared

Are you sure your printer is Still Online ?

I mean, you sure that the printer is Still connected to the network and is up and running.

If so, you should try to reset the printer and try to install it again on your computer

Is the printer plugged directly into the network, or attached through another computer?

Have you made any changes or installed (or removed) any files on your system?

I'm suddenly experiencing the same problem with my network printer at home. It's a Lexmark Optra S 1625 with its own print server. Windows XP can't connect to it but Linux has no problem. I'll investigate more later but I wonder if it's related to SP3.

Kent

Make sure you backup your docs and files onto another hdd or flash card (usb device).
Go into your restore section (something like: programs > accessories > system tools) and click on the restore link. It might take a long time for the page to show up so be patient. When the page is shown select the restore options of your choice and just let the computer take over. Hopefully your printer will be ok as well.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

My car radio disappeared once, and coincidentally, some bird or something shattered the side window.
:)

I had a machine do this 2 weeks ago. It had Viewpoint.A and Viewpoint.B viruses that were found by Bitdefender. Once the viruses were removed the printers came back.
http://www.bitdefender.com/site/Downloads/browseEvaluationVersion/1/42/

I fixed it but I'm not sure what caused it. It turns out that the Windows IP port for the printer was still intact, it was just dropped by Windows. After re-configuring the printer to the IP port all is well.

Kent