HP Deskjet does not print from LPT2/LPT3

[Larry]

I have a new system with a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H motherboard and Rosewill
RC303 LPT card in PCI slot. The Rosewill maps as LPT2 in Windows; printer is
HP Deskjet 5550.

I used a Centronics parallel cable to the Rosewill, but nothing will print.
The printer feeds a sheet, does the initial cartridge calibration, then
ejects the page with no printout. This happens with Notepad, Word, Excel,
printer test page but NOT with the HP Assistant software test prints.

I've reset the printer, spooler, removed the LPT1 and LPT2 ports from device
manager then reset all of them via detection process. I've
uninstalled/reinstalled the HP drivers and s/ware.

Swapping cable from Centronics to USB and repeating all the reset steps
still does not correct the problem.

Does anyone have other ideas where to look for the problem?

Thanks!

 

[Chuck]

This is the key, and generally means that the printer drivers are not
correctly installed, or that the registry entries are messed up for the
printer.
It can also indicate that the print spooler is not functional.

Does the MBD BIOS see the additional printer ports?
Is parallel printer I/O disabled in the BIOS?

My usual cure process --
Uninstall the printer(s)
Uninstall the printer driver(s)
Run an OEM "cleanup" utility (if available from the OEM website)
Shutdown
Boot
Check the registry for left over printer related entries. If they exist,
save a copy of the registry. Since the printer is a hp printer, use hp as
the initial search key.
When you are sure that the registry entries are directly related to your
printer, it is generally safe to delete them. If not, that's why you
previously saved a copy of the registry.
Do a shutdown & reboot, then check the registry again to make sure that the
hp printer related entries are history.

Reinstall the printer drivers with the printer disconnected.
Shutdown
Boot.
If you are curious, check the registry to see what HP printer related
entries were added.
Shutdown if necessary (usually the best thing to do)
Connect the printer, and turn it on.
Boot
Usually, the install process is semi automatic frome this point on.

Since USB is involved as well, when all else fails, it may be necessary to
uninstall the USB controller and port drivers.
drivers. This can create a problem with the keyboard and/or mouse on some
systems. It's a good idea to have a PS2 keyboard & mouse available
if this is possible on your MBD.


This is not all inclusive. There are other possibilities.


"Swapping cable from Centronics to USB and repeating all the reset steps
still does not correct the problem"