Printer Question

[Ron]

A friend on mine has a Dell desktop computer (I think it's a Dimension
2400). She had been using a Dell printer on the same computer for
years w/o a problem. She called me last week to come take a look at
the printer because it stopped working. Something was wrong
mechanically. I told her I couldn't fix it. A friend of hers gave her
a Canon MP160. I hooked it up downloaded the driver (from the Canon
website) and it works fine. One small problem. Every time you turn the
printer on or off it makes the sound of plugging in or unplugging a
piece of hardware (USB plug). Looked in device manger while powering
the printer on and off and it is connecting and disconnecting (yellow
question mark). This machine is running Windows XP Pro SP3. Any ideas
of what the problem is?

 

[Ron]

A friend on mine has a Dell desktop computer (I think it's a Dimension
2400). She had been using a Dell printer on the same computer for
years w/o a problem. She called me last week to come take a look at
the printer because it stopped working. Something was wrong
mechanically. I told her I couldn't fix it. A friend of hers gave her
a Canon MP160. I hooked it up downloaded the driver (from the Canon
website) and it works fine. One small problem. Every time you turn the
printer on or off it makes the sound of plugging in or unplugging a
piece of hardware (USB plug). Looked in device manger while powering
the printer on and off and it is connecting and disconnecting (yellow
question mark). This machine is running Windows XP Pro SP3. Any ideas
of what the problem is?

BTW, the wire is fine and it does the same thing on all USB ports.

 

[Ron]

Is it presenting a problem?

When the device is powered off, your desktop computer is recognizing
that it is no longer available.  When powered on, it spots the "new"
device.  That seems reasonable to me.

Is there some sort of problem other than the bleeps and bloops you're
hearing?

Just the one sound. I've never heard a printer do that after it was
hooked up. Plus, if the printer is off it should turn on when you
click on the print icon with the mouse and it's not doing that. You
have to manually turn on the printer to print something. Like I said,
it works fine, but something isn't quite right.

 

[Ron]

It's not the printer, per se, doing that.  It's windows spotting the
"new" device.  The behavior is typical.

I have never had a printer do that. You hit print, it brings up your
printer(s), you choose your printer and click print. Unless her
printer is turned on it's not on the list.

I've also not seen a printer that will turn itself on when it has been
specifically turned off.  Just leave the printer on.  After it's been
idle for long enough, it will go into a low-power state.  When it gets
sent another job, it will wake up and get to work.

Nothing in what you've described appears to be anything but ordinary.

When I print something with my printer the printer powers on when I
click on "print".

 

[123Jim]

When I print something with my printer the printer powers on when I
click on "print".

which printer are you using? Sounds like it has a sleep mode where it is
still connected and ready to wake any time.

Cheap printers don't generally have such a feature. Furthermore if you
insert any USB device Windows makes a sound and does the necessary in
terms of the correct driver. Powering the printer up or down has the
same effect. I'd think you can invoke a response from Windows by
physically powering down your printer, by unplugging it, hitting the
power button on it, or switching off the power at the wall.

 

[Ron]

which printer are you using? Sounds like it has a sleep mode where it is
still connected and ready to wake any time.

Cheap printers don't generally have such a feature. Furthermore if you
insert any USB device Windows makes a sound and does the necessary in
terms of the correct driver. Powering the printer up or down has the
same effect. I'd think you can invoke a response from Windows by
physically powering down your printer, by unplugging it, hitting the
power button on it, or switching off the power at the wall.

It's a Lexmark Z715. I don't know about any sleep mode. I just know
when I click on "print" it will turn on if it is off.