IE6 freezes trying to print to HP DeskJet 5550 over network

[RonH]

Running a home network, I installed an HP DeskJet 5550 to Parallel Port on
Win98 computer. Printer is setup as shared. I can print from a second
machine running Win98SE just fine.

I installed the printer software on a new XP Home computer. The installation
software runs fine. The test print is fine. I can print from several
applications. But when I try to print from IE6, Internet Explorer freezes. I
need to end it using task manager. I've tried various combinations of
uninstalling and installing with same result. Everything seems to be able to
print except IE6. I'm running the latest version of IE6 SP1.

Before I got the HP 5550, I was printing fine in this configuration with an
Epson 600 connected to the same Win98 computer.

Any suggestions?

RonH.
Ottawa, Canada

 

[Jacko]

Try installing a new XP driver off the net as the one
that came with the printer may now be out of date.

Jacko

 

[RonH]

I updated the printer drivers, same result. Other applications print fine,
but Internet Explorer freezes with no error messages.

RonH.

 

[RonH]

More data ... I checked the "Print to file" option to see if this is a
driver problem or a network problem (easier than recabling the wires .

IE6 still freezes when trying to write HP5550 format to file, though it
succeeds when another printer (Epson 600) is selected. This suggests to me
that the network is not an issue, but that there is a compatibility problem
between the HP 5550 Printer software and IE6.

Again, IE6 can print to other printers. Other apps can print to the HP5550.
But IE6 freezes with no message when it tries to print to HP5550. O/S is XP
Home.

RonH.