HP LaserJet 4MP install fails with "specified port is unknown"

[Jerry Vanden Heuvel]

I'm attempting to upgrade a system running Windows 98SE
to Windows XP Pro SP1. I have a HP LaserJet 4MP printer
attached to a parallel port pass-through on an old
Digital Research scanner. This setup worked fine on
98SE, but the install of either the XP Pro Postscript
driver or the HP Postscript seems to fail to complete.
Each time the printer is turned on, XP Pro indicates a
new HP LJ 4MP printer has been found and attempts to
install the appropriate driver. Each time it fails to
complete with the error message text of "the specified
port is unknown". The printer is initialized to a bad
state, with "Error 22" showing in the printer display.
Once that's cleared, though, the print test page comes
out fine. Any suggestions on how to resolve this problem
would be appreciated. I didn't find anything easily in
the MS KB search.

 

[Guest]

I solved this problem by removing the HP printer from the parallel port pass-through connection on the scanner and connecting the printer directly to the computer's parallel port. I had to do a complete re-installation anyway because the entire Control Panel environment would lockup on me when I selected any option at all (improved reliability, right!). The printer was detected and the driver installed just fine on the complete reformat and re-install of XP Pro. I haven't tried to reconnect the scanner and the printer in the original configuration because I can't get a driver to work with the old DR scanner anyway. Progress, I guess, or just planned obsolescense

----- Jerry Vanden Heuvel wrote: ----

I'm attempting to upgrade a system running Windows 98SE
to Windows XP Pro SP1. I have a HP LaserJet 4MP printer
attached to a parallel port pass-through on an old
Digital Research scanner. This setup worked fine on
98SE, but the install of either the XP Pro Postscript
driver or the HP Postscript seems to fail to complete.
Each time the printer is turned on, XP Pro indicates a
new HP LJ 4MP printer has been found and attempts to
install the appropriate driver. Each time it fails to
complete with the error message text of "the specified
port is unknown". The printer is initialized to a bad
state, with "Error 22" showing in the printer display.
Once that's cleared, though, the print test page comes
out fine. Any suggestions on how to resolve this problem
would be appreciated. I didn't find anything easily in
the MS KB search