Brother MFC-420CN Printer Prevents Computer From Booting Up

[Guest]

When I installed the new printer everything went well until I hit Restart to
fiinish the process. My HP Compaq Presario with Windows XP Home Edition SP2
froze at the initial screen. When I disconnected the USB Cable to the
printer, everything booted up fine and after booting reconnecting the cable
allows normal use of the printer w/o any problem. However, anytime I turn the
computer ON or hit Restart to boot up with the printer connected, nothing
happens, just total freeze-up.

Brother said this was the first report of this problem and that it was
Microsoft's fault. Microsoft said there's no hotfix and this is the first
report of the problem, and that Brother should forewarn potential customers
before they buy and accept a product return/replacement. I bought the printer
via mail-order.

Please advise.
Thanks, Dan

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Is your BIOS set to look for a bootable USB device at startup? If so,
disable that feature.

 

[Guest]

Cari,

Thanks for the tip, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the BIOS.

Please advise (to a novice)..

Thanks again,
Dan

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Look for the boot device order.... it may well have 'removable device' which
would be the USB... I presume the Brother may have smart card slots in it?

 

[Chuck]

The Brother 420CN drivers gave me nothing but grief as well. At one point in
the process, Brother had a bunch of registry cleanups, cleanouts, and manual
patches that led me to believe that the installer from Brother was the major
culprit. I finally ended up forgetting the USB connection, and using the
LAN connection and support software.
That installed and worked a heck of a lot better. I never did figure out if
the problems were due to other OEM printer/fax/scan software and drivers
that were present when the 420CN software was installed. To make matters
worse, the download driver package that we installed with was later than the
CD, and had as many (but different problems.).
Win XP SP-1 was used. I don't want to think what will not work with SP-2.
We used to have problems with OEM products (such as Compaq and Dell and
all-in-ones. Seems the troublesome models usually came with internal
"softmodems" that had drivers/software with serious compatability problems
with the all-in-one drivers and software.