Parallel to USB with XP Home Edition-Probem

[Guest]

For a number of years I Have had two IBM notebooks and two HP Deskjet
printers. One is a Deskjet Portable (black and white) and the other Deskjet
(color) 820Cse. They are both parallel connected through a switch and never
had a problem. One notebook has Win 98SE and the other XP Professional.
Here is the BIG problem:

I just got a Dell notebook (with XP Home Edition) which has only 3-USB ports
and one PCMCIA. I took me a week but got the black and white connected with
a 36-pin to USB adapter, but I cannot get the color printer to PRINT anything
that I typed in Word or Wordperfect using the same means of installation. It
prints anything from the Internet or selected sections of an existing
document, though, but with my own documents It goes through the motions but
the page comes out totally blank.

Any ideas, please? Thanks

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Probably will never work, no matter what you do.

To connect to/from a USB device, the device itself has to have hard coding
written into it so the PC to which it is connected is aware of what is
connecting to it. No data... no connect.

Nothing whatsoever you can do about it if the printer has no USB port,
except buy a newer one.

You can try as many cables as you like, but if the data is not present in
the unit (in this case the printer) the PC has no idea what is trying to
connect and will not allow a connection to take place.

 

[Guest]

I would be willing to accept defeat except that the black and white is much
older and less sophisticated. And if it prints just about anything in color
from the Internet including "links" why not a .doc or .wpd that I am typing
or have typed print? Why a whimsical function?
Thanks for any more comments or suggestions

 

[Guest]

Jonybrv - I do not see anything unusual, particularly after comparing with
the IBM that has XP Professional. What else can you think of, please?

 

[Stan Brown]

Nothing whatsoever you can do about it if the printer has no USB port,
except buy a newer one.

There are commercial parallel-to-USB cables. My own solution was a
Universal Docking Station, which is a self-powered USB hub with
serial and parallel ports. Search Google for
"universal docking station"
WITH quotes.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

 

[Guest]

Thank you Stan - I would not go down fighting and I will do as you suggest.
What brand did you get and were you having the same problem and it got solved?

 

[Stan Brown]

For a number of years I Have had two IBM notebooks and two HP Deskjet
printers. One is a Deskjet Portable (black and white) and the other Deskjet
(color) 820Cse.

Any ideas, please? Thanks

Please don't post the same article multiple times. That just wastes
time for everybody.

"What is the accepted way to share a message across multiple
newsgroups?" http://smjg.port5.com/faqs/usenet/xpost.html

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

 

[V Green]

There are commercial parallel-to-USB cables. My own solution was a
Universal Docking Station, which is a self-powered USB hub with
serial and parallel ports. Search Google for
"universal docking station"
WITH quotes.

I missed some of the beginning of this thread, so if the
OP has already stated that they don't have any PCI slots
free, ignore this suggestion.

You will probably be better served by buying a USB
PCI card than with a parallel-USB converter. The
"converters" often do NOT correctly implement one
side or the other correctly and cause problems.

They're cheaper as well.

 

[V Green]

Oops, I see now that you're running a laptop.

Revised suggested solution:

donate the printer to your local school, get a newer one.

If you place any value on your time at all, you will spend
more $$ trying to work around this than you will on the
new printer.

 

[Guest]

My apologies - absolute desperation.
Helpless

Please don't post the same article multiple times. That just wastes
time for everybody.

"What is the accepted way to share a message across multiple
newsgroups?" http://smjg.port5.com/faqs/usenet/xpost.html

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

 

[Guest]

I am inclined to follow Stan Brown's suggestion, however, economy is high
priority. Could you clarify (just in case) what OP and PCI mean? My IBMs
have two PCMCIA slots, this Dell has only one. Is that what you mean by PCI?
If I have that slot busy with a card I would not be able to print then,
right? But would this solution would be a sure thing and considerably less
expensive, or just about the same? Sorry, not a very good knowledge of tech
vocab.
Thanks

 

[V Green]

Sorry, I see now that you have a laptop. See my
other post re: getting a new printer.

 

[Jonybrv]

Seems strange as selected portion of the document prints. How does the Print
Preview look ?
In Word, check Tools | Options | Print tab for any options that might of
been turned off.