Lexmark X125 driver crash problem
At
I am using the X125 model Lexmark printer with windows 2000, and find that
the driver crashes - often more than once a day. When the driver crashes, I
can no longer print, until I reboot the computer. I know the driver has
crashed when the Lexmark "red diamond" turns in to a red letter "X" icon
instead (down in the system tray).
Lexmark "support" claims this is not a known problem (and have not
acknowledged that it is a problem, either) - even though others are having
the same issue:
see the web page
http://www.indix.org/lexmark_x125.html
where this problem is talked about.
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Problem: The LexMark X125 printer driver hangs after about 12-48 hours of
idle time. If you look at the LexMark icon on the system tray you see a red
"X" symbol.
Workaround: The way to recover is to kill type Ctrl-Alt-Del, find the
process LEX125SU and kill it. Then stop and re-start the Print Spooler
service (NET STOP "Print Spooler"; NET START "Print Spooler"). Then re-run
"\Program Files\...\Lexmark X125\LEX125SU.EXE". Reboot also works.
I wrote a batch script to do this using the PSKILL and PSSERVICE
command-line utilities from www.sysinternals.com.
Cause: The LEX125SU.EXE program has a resource leak. It leaks Win32 object
handles when left idle. It happens on XP, W2K, and W2K3. Eventually all
handles are exhausted and you see the red "X" in the system tray for the
Lexmark X125 icon.
LEX125SU is leaking a Win32 object called a "metered section". A metered
section is a like a critical section except it works across processes and is
able to count the number of times the critical section was entered.
You can see the leak if you run Process Explorer from SysInternals
(www.sysinternals.com). Click on LEX125SU.EXE and you will see hundreds of
object handles open with the names
\BaseNamedObjects\DKC_MSECT_EVT_OAcriticalTrans and
\BaseNamedObjects\DKC_MSECT_MMF_OAcriticalTrans. The number of open handles
grows until eventually too many handles are opened. Then when you try to
print it tries to open a named pipe to the print spooler but fails with
ERROR_TOO_MANY_OPEN_FILES. At that point the printer is effectively dead.
This is a very simple bug for the driver developers at LexMark to fix.
If I had the time (which I don't) I could apply a runtime patch to intercept
CreateMeteredSection() and redirect to a stub that caches and recycles an
already open handle.
This is *not* a Microsoft software bug, nor a hardware problem. It is a
LexMark driver bug.
Regards,
Alan Klietz
Algin Technology (www.algintech.com)
spiderpete
What the hell is going on with these guys over at Lexmark!
I too have the same freaking problem. I tried every driver I could
find and nothing.. I returned the printer to the store today but they
want a restocking fee, and they want to charge me for the print
cartridges. This makes up about 70% of the cost of the Lexmark and
I've only used for a couple of days.
On Lexmark side, they have been completely useless and clueless. If
ANY one has a patch for this issue, man, i'd be really greatfull.
And what's with the OS upgrade issue? Will this thing work with 2K3? I
don't think it will according to Lexmak's web site.
Can anyone help?
- spiderpete
"I've been royaly screwed by Lexmark"