Printing on HP 845C suddenly stopped

[Guest]

Printing from ANY applic stopped on HP 845C....checked the cables, rebooted....
XP acknowledges when turning the printer on/off
The printer goes through the motions of printing, ie the heads traverse back
and forth but there is no output.
From the printer troubleshooting help, I can't do align print heads, can't
print a test page which both try to print something
BUT, I can do a clean print heads and that page comes out fine.
There are NO error messages or indicators
Tried re-installing the driver BUT the install said it was unable to locate
the printer on USB001 although looking at the printer status it shows that
it's ready AND on USB001
HELP.....

 

[Guest]

I've downloaded all the MS patches when the system notifies me and I have
been able to print since the last automatic update.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Uninstall and reinstall the printer...
http://www.coribright.com/windows/Article One.htm

 

[Guest]

Thank you. I removed and re-installed the printer driver from HP but it still
doesn't work, when I tried the 'print test page' after re-installation. It
acts the same way, in that it sounds likes it printing, but nothing actually
prints on the page. I'm wondering if it's a hardware problem with the printer
regarding data to print coming from the computer although the 'clean heads'
works.

I've gone to the HP website and checked for a newer version of the driver.
It ran a printer check program and indicated there was a newer version.
17+MB. Update later.

The last software update I did was an Acrobat Reader 7.0.8 update on 6/23/06
but can't remember if I printed sucessfully after that update was installed.
I know I printed something the day before and it was with Acrobat Reader.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Sound more like a hardware problem inside the actual printer. You could try
changing the cable and see whether that works, but it's a rather old
printer, I'd probably just buy a new one.

 

[Guest]

Cari, Thanks again. Here's what I've done since my earlier post.
I removed and reinstalled the HP driver s/w that I had. It did not work BUT
the strange thing that happened was that it seemed to NOT recognize that the
printer was on the USB port from the HP install. The msg said something to
the affect of contacting the manufacturer and modifyig BIOS.
Then, I went ot the HP website and downloaded the latest 845 driver
(4.3.0.0) and removed the old and installed the new. The same thing happened
during the install not recognizing the printer on the USB port. It suggested
removing and replugging in the USB cable. NO luck on the printer end. When I
unplugged the USB Cable on the computer end, the install procedure took off
by itself and competed. BUT, it still acts the same...can't print a test page.
I think my only hope is to see if I can get the h/w checked out at the local
Best Buy or whatever and then buy a new one if nothing comes of it. Unless
this latest piece of the saga rings any bells with you.
Thanks for all your help.

 

[Guest]

As a last ditch attempt this morning I unplugged the USB cable from it's
normal spot in the back of the computer to a 2nd USB port on the front that
ius normally used for connecting a device like a digitial camera to download
pictures. The printer works in the 2nd USB port. Now I need to troubleshoot
and fix the USB port or use the workaround until it possibly breaks. Thanks
for your help.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

The quickest and easiest way to resolve this is to purchase a PCI USB 2.0
port card..... all you need to do is literally insert it into a PCI slot,
and restart Windows. Windows will do the necessary installing as the
drivers are included.

You'll then get extra USB ports and the front ports will again be free for
the other peripherals.

Something like:
http://shop1.outpost.com/category/Outpost/PCtab/Computer+Upgrade+Cards+&+Hubs?accipterAreaString=

 

[Guest]

Good idea. Thanks for all the info along the way.