I have multiple computers of both laptop and workstation variety, that are experiencing the same sporadic issue. All computers are Windows 10, all are having the issue with USB connected label printers.
The issue is that instead of printing, jobs go in to the queue, and go to Printing, then restarting, then printing, without stopping. The cycle is so fast that either it looks like it's saying Printing but flickering, or it looks like it just is frozen on printing.
Restarting the print queue does nothing to solve it. Once in this state, the only way I've been able to get it back to working is with one or more OS restarts.
Reinstalling the printer does not fix it.
Several things can be ruled out as causes. It happens with more than one printer manufacturer and model. It does not follow the printer when moving it. It has struck versions 1903, 1909, 2004, and 20H2.
I can get the printer into this state by turning the printer off and on, or by disabling and re-enabling it.
I don't see any warnings or errors in the event viewer that have helped me find a solution.
This has been going on for months and I could really use some help trying to diagnose the issue and/or solve it.
My best idea now is that something is coming on at startup that isn't restarting when the USB connection is severed and joined. Maybe a specific memory location or something is allocated at startup.
Part of the issue are the event viewer logs not saying why the job is restarting.
I have more details on this if/when needed. Please, help me help myself.