Upgraded to XP, printer not working 1

[cwinnyk]

I recently upgraded a PC from Windows ME to Windows XP. An HP Deskjet 810C was attached to the computer via a parallel port (@ LPT1). This printer worked fine while under Windows ME, but was not present once I upgraded to Windows XP.

I manually added the printer and installed the HP DeskJet 810C driver. However, now when I print to the printer, nothing prints out. The computer does not give me an error that the printer is not taking the documents or anything. You you print a page, you can see the print queue in the tray process the document. I thought that if the document did not print properly, I would get an error message.

I went to the HP website to try to Download the newest driver, but HP stated that Windows XP already had the newest driver for the 810C and did not give me an option to redownload it.

When I go to device manager, I do see that there is an "Unsupported Device" present, but I can't determine what hardware it is and if it's related to my printer problem. I did check to see if Windows detected the LPT port in the Device Manager, and its there.

Any help would be greatly appreactiated! Thanks!

 

[bcastner]

Read both of these articles:

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/docume...XGR3UOSQ?reg=na&cc=us&docName=bpd09005&lc=en&

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

But start by applying this Hotfix if the printer is USB:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;822603

I hope that you have Service Pack 1a installed, otherwise the situation is nearly hopeless.

In addition, download and apply the rollup packages for XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=826939

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=820128

 

[TSSTechie]

Howdy,

Delete the printer, reboot the computer and see if it's auto-detected. If it's not, here's something i've done in the past on XP.
Go to Device Manager and delete the LPT port, then reboot.
When Windows loads, it re-installs the LPT port and, when I did it, it noticed that there was a printer plugged into it and installed that as well. You may have to go to the printers folder to check. It didn't tell me it had installed it, it just appeared in the printers folder X-)

Might be worth a go.

Hope this helps

TSSTechie

May The Force Be With You

 

[beetle10]

I am having the same problem, I upgraded to XP from ME and the print queue empties however nothing prints. I have tried removing the drivers, deleting the lpt port, and nothing seemed to work. Then in device manager i enabled Legacy Plug and Play for the lpt1 port. XP found the printer and worked fine, until a reboot. If I enable, then disable Plug and Play it will work again, however after a reboot it will do the same thing.. leave the queue and not print. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The printer in a hp 960c and the computer is a Dell Dimension 8100. SP1 and other MS updates inculed.

 

[cwinnyk]

Hey guys. I finally solved the problem. I had to go to the BIOS and change the Parellel setting from ECP to EPP. Once I did that, Windows detected the printer.

Give that a shot beetle. The computer I was having a problem with was a Dimension too.

 

[garebo]

Since the prob seems to have been fixed, and i notice, lol, that the fix was elementary, which we should have picked up on at the start, the bios issue, i have another question.

To Bcastner

You mentioned some info and some downloads, one of them is the last one you mentioned:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=820128

This one seems to apply only to usb mouse and hibernating.
I was wondering how that would apply to this posters prob with his printer. Now it may seem i am being facetious but i am not. I can readily see your advanced abilities here so it is just a basic question, nothing else intended with the question, i'm only looking for more knowledge.
thanks

 

[bcastner]

Quote: "But start by applying this Hotfix if the printer is USB"

But you are right, the notion that the printer was parallel was not clear enough in my mind when responding.

My apologies.

 

[paparazi]

cwinniyk
Personally I would connect the HP810C with a superior USB A to B cable and resign the Parralell lead to the waste bin.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[garebo]

To Paparazi

I wouldnt be too quick to want to abandon the parallel port. For one thing, there seem to be more usb printer probs than parallel printer probs in win xp. Look at this thread, all the person had to do was change the bios setting to EPP, which is fairly standard procedure, not being rude to this person at all, we all help each other here, just making a point.
I have several usb1 and usb 2 devices, incl but not limited to external hard drives, thumbdrives, etc, etc.
However, one of my favorite external hard drive setups is a parallel port external hard drive enclosure that i have running in win xp pro with a 40 gig maxtor hard drive!! It is fast enough for me and even more stable than usb in my opinion and in my experience with both modes.
Lots of people dont even know parallel port externals exist that you can put hard drives in, but they do exist, i have 3 of them.
I, for one, would not readily give up my parallel port, at least not yet anyway.

Not arguing, just stating my experience with usb and parallel ports. And, quoted speed rates of usb vs parallel are much different in real life.
Nothing wrong with usb, but nothing wrong with parallel either is what i am saying.

 

[cwinnyk]

Does anyone know why Windows ME recognized the HP while set to ECP and not Windows XP?

Also, USB was not an option in this case, since it wasn't included on this 810c for some reason; probably becuase it's an older printer.

 

[bcastner]

I suspect it is an upgrade vs. clean install issue, of which there are many.

See this article:

http://www.compphix.com/xpprintprob.html

 

[beetle10]

Thanks guys, yeah I found that EPP setting yesterday, I was just about to post it on here when I recieved my notification email. MS actually has this on their website

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315325

. It't not very in depth though, but it walks through the same steps I took.