HP USB Printer woes

[mattdymock]

Hi all.

I have just purchased a hp deskjet 3745. I have no issues with the
printer itself - it works perfectly - rather with the driver
installation. I am well aware that the hp cd must be run through the
system before the printer is connected, and that the add hardware
wizard (windows 98) offers no facility to connect usb printers.

My problem is this: the computer that the printer *must* be installed
upon is a pentium-100, with 16 megabytes of RAM. Thus the hp cd refuses
to install the software. I don't even care about the software (!) all i
want is the usb drivers to make the printer work.

My question, therefore: is anyone aware of a way to get this printer
working thru a manual installation of the driver, or am i stuffed
completely?

Somebody please help. Please!

 

[Mushroom]

You might try the following:

MAke sure that the pritner is not conencted to the PC. Add a printer in
the normal way instead of through the driver CD. Tell it that you are
printing to "File" as a port instead of USB/LPT1 etc. When you get to
"Have Disc", browse the CD and install the driver without all the other
gubbins that comes with the printer (photo managers etc). When you have
installed it, go back to the printer properties and change the
connection to USB and then connect the cable to the printer. It should
discover it and at least you'll be able to print.