Printer Driver Installation?

[Sam]

A neighbor has a Gateway computer with windows XP (SP2) and is approximately
two to there years old. Her husband has purchased the computer for his use
but passed away approximately a year ago. Approximately three months ago, a
family member tried to setup the computer and was able to get it working
(mostly). However, they could not get the printer to work and I was asked
to see what I could do with it. I looked in the printer/fax Icon in the
control panel and did not see any printer icon. I should note that the
printer model is a HP 3520.

I rebooted the computer hoping that windows would pickup the printer by plug
and play and install the applicable driver. Unfortunately that did not
help. If I remember correctly, I could start the Add Printer Icon feature
and could manually select the HP 3520 or a similar HP printer. However, it
has been a long time since I have used this feature. Any comments about the
use of the feature would be very much appreciated. I did check for the
latest driver for down load at the HP web site and it is rather old, 2003.
So I don't know how well that would play with windows XP.

I should note that the computer is a bit shaky at best and I don't want to
do something to push it over the edge. I don't have the time to do any
major trouble shooting and repair. Any suggestions would be very much
appreciate in solving this computer problem with minimal effort and safety.
Thanks, Sam.

 

[DL]

If the PC is allready iffy you are on dangerous ground.
Unplug the printer, download its software from HP site, install software, at
some point it will tell you to connect the printer

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A neighbor has a Gateway computer with windows XP (SP2) and is approximately
two to there years old. Her husband has purchased the computer for his use
but passed away approximately a year ago. Approximately three months ago, a
family member tried to setup the computer and was able to get it working
(mostly). However, they could not get the printer to work and I was asked
to see what I could do with it. I looked in the printer/fax Icon in the
control panel and did not see any printer icon. I should note that the
printer model is a HP 3520.

I rebooted the computer hoping that windows would pickup the printer by plug
and play and install the applicable driver. Unfortunately that did not
help. If I remember correctly, I could start the Add Printer Icon feature
and could manually select the HP 3520 or a similar HP printer. However, it
has been a long time since I have used this feature. Any comments about the
use of the feature would be very much appreciated.

Just do it; it should work fine.

I did check for the
latest driver for down load at the HP web site and it is rather old, 2003.
So I don't know how well that would play with windows XP.

Note that *any* driver is not just for a printer, but for a printer
running in a particular operating system. Make sure you get a Windows
*XP* driver for the HP 3520. But if Windows lets you "manually select
the HP 3520 or a similar," you don't necessarily need another driver
from HP. Although you should get one if there's a newer driver
available, it will work with what's built into Windows.

I should note that the computer is a bit shaky at best

Exactly what does that mean.

and I don't want to
do something to push it over the edge.

No guarantees, of course, but I don't see any reason why installing a
printer should "push it over the edge."

 

[Sam]

Ken, thanks much for your reply. Regarding the HP 3520 Printer Driver, the
one I downloaded was for windows XP.

I should have been more specific as to "Shaky." For example, apparently the
log in profile has some corruption. You can type in the ID name and
password, click on the enter button and it will come back with a message
saying something to the effect to enter the correct password or ID. If you
do this anywhere from five to eight times, using the same ID and password,
it will log you in. (Initially I suspected the key board, but it appears to
work okay for any other function that we used it for).It also takes a long
time to reboot compared to most computers I have worked with, including
mine. The profile being used was one with administrative privileges."
Because I was concerned that this profile was possibly corrupted, I went
ahead and created a new profile. Initially when I went to the Control
Panel, User Account, I saw only two profiles, guest, and the profile being
used (owner). I also noticed in the event viewer, application and system
entries, a noticeable amount of red Xs. During the few operations that I
initiated with the computer, it also appeared to be noticeably slow. As
best as I can remember, there were some programs that obviously needed to be
updated, such Sun Java JRE, etc. The computer is connected to DSL and it
and the computer are always on. I did not have a lot of time to go thru the
computer in detail, other than a quick review.

Light Bulb Thought -- if I am remember correctly, the OS on this computer
was windows XP Media - is this windows XP Home or windows XP Pro? If this
is a Home version, and I remember correctly, the administrator profile will
not show up in the control panel for the Home version???) Thanks, Sam.

 

[Sam]

DL, many thanks for your reply, Sam.

If the PC is allready iffy you are on dangerous ground.
Unplug the printer, download its software from HP site, install software,
at some point it will tell you to connect the printer