Hello all,

I've found a solution (worked for my setup) that clears the printer offline
problem when printing from a Vista laptop PC over a home network to a printer
connected to a Windows98 desktop PC.  I never had this problem with my XP
Home laptop accessing the printers on the Windows98 PC.

With the Vista PC, I was always able to Add my 2 printers (HP PSC 1350 and
Canon i560) using Vista's wizard (Add a local printer),  but after a restart
of the Vista PC, both printers would be offline.  In Printer properties,
Ports tab, both printers would appear as Client Side Rendering Provider under
the Description column.

My Vista PC is a new Dell Inspiron 1420, Vista Home Premium.
My print server is a Dell Dimension V350, Windows 98.
Home network is WiFi using a D-Link 624 router, WPA-PSK security enabled.
Canon i560 on parallel port of Dell Dimension V350
HP PSC 1350 on USB port of Dell Dimension V350

Here's the fix:
1. In Control Panel, Printers, delete offline printers.  If they wont
delete, it may be because there are pending print jobs in the queue. Open the
printer and Cancel the jobs.
2. In Printer properties, Ports tab, delete the previoulsy installed
printers (offline statuts) that appear as Client Side Rendering Provider
under the Description column. To do this, highlight the port, then click on
Delete Port button. Click Apply.
3. Restart your PC.
4. Now reinstall the printers as follows:
5. Open Control panel, Printers, and click Add a printer.
6. Click Add a local printer.
7. Select the "Use an existing port" radio button, and select LPT1: (Printer
Port). Click Next.
8. Install the printer driver.  Mine were found in the list inlcuded with
Vista. Select the manufacturer and the printer. Click Next.
9. In the next window, accept the printer name or type in a new name. Leave
the "Set as default printer" box unchecked. Click Next.
10. Vista should now install the printer. A window should open saying
"You've successfully added printer name.
11. DO NOT Print a test page at this time, because nothing is connected to
the LPT1 port on the laptop. Just press Finish. The printer you just added
should appear in the Printers window.
12. Click ONCE on the newly added printer to highlight it, then right-click
and open Properties.
13. On the Ports tab, click Add Port…, select Local Port, then click New Port…
14. When the Port Name window open, Enter a port name as follows:
\\computername\printername
(replace computername with the name of your PC acting as print server, and
printername with the name of your printer). Click OK.
15. You should now have a new port listed on the Ports tab of the printer
Properties, but now the Description should be Local Port, instead of Client
Side Rendering Provider. Click OK.
16. Now you can go to the General tab, and Print a Test Page.

Hopefully, your test page will print.  Then restart your computer to check
that the printer comes back online.

This procedure worked for me. Hope it works for you too.  Good luck!