printer not printing

[Jo-Anne]

Yes, either method would work, although some of the USB-to-Whatever
adaptors can sometimes be flaky. My serial convertor works well enough for
what I need it to do, but my SCSI adaptor, not so great.

Hi, again, SC Tom,

Here's the latest. I bought a USB to parallel printer cable, plugged it into
the turned-off printer, turned the printer on, and plugged the USB connector
into my laptop computer. Windows said "USB printing device" followed by
"Your new hardware is installed and ready to use." However, no printer
showed up. I checked Printers and Faxes in Control Panel and found nothing
but the network printer I had used before. I tried to print, but nothing
happened.

I then installed the printer's drivers from the Hewlett-Packard website,
picking the port mentioned by Joe: USB... Virtual Printer Port. I tried to
print, and nothing happened. Eventually, I got the usual error message and
had to manually cancel the print job.

Does this sound like the printer is the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[pjp]

The converter cable would come from Best Buy; I wouldn't want them to look
at the computer. The only place in town where I'd take the printer to get
it checked is a real repair shop, and they're asking $49 just to look at
it. If I think I can get by for a few more days, a friend with such a
cable will be visiting and can bring it. But if it's the computer's
parallel port, that's a strong indication that I should get a new
computer: The hard drive is failing, the CD-RW drive is sticking
closed--and if the port is bad, what next?

AND I want a good quality business-level printer, which will cost big
bucks, I'm sure--and require some research first.

Then go with a new color laser and forget inkjets entirely. Only reason
there's still one in this house (and 2 color lasers) is because they still
want really big bucks to include the fax option and so the inkjet is more a
fax/scanner/copier than used as a pc printer.

Oh, and I'm not sure it makes sense to think long term and pay big bucks for
a printer. Maybe if you're publishing something etc. but if it only lasts a
year at $50 then you can have six each newer with likely better/more
features (and supported drivers etc.) than the previous in same time frame
as something originally $300.

 

[SC Tom]

Hi, again, SC Tom,

Here's the latest. I bought a USB to parallel printer cable, plugged it
into the turned-off printer, turned the printer on, and plugged the USB
connector into my laptop computer. Windows said "USB printing device"
followed by "Your new hardware is installed and ready to use." However, no
printer showed up. I checked Printers and Faxes in Control Panel and found
nothing but the network printer I had used before. I tried to print, but
nothing happened.

I then installed the printer's drivers from the Hewlett-Packard website,
picking the port mentioned by Joe: USB... Virtual Printer Port. I tried to
print, and nothing happened. Eventually, I got the usual error message and
had to manually cancel the print job.

Does this sound like the printer is the problem?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Sounding more and more like it's the printer. Did you try it on both
computers, or just the laptop? Who knows, you may have luck with your
desktop. Generally, on a USB HP printer, the drivers are supposed to be
installed before the printer is even hooked up.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Sounding more and more like it's the printer. Did you try it on both
computers, or just the laptop? Who knows, you may have luck with your
desktop. Generally, on a USB HP printer, the drivers are supposed to be
installed before the printer is even hooked up.

Didn't know that, SC Tom! I did, however, try it on the desktop computer
too. I even changed the printer port on it to USB-Virtual Printer Port,
which became part of the list after I connected the USB cable. I guess it's
time to look for a new printer--something I had hoped to put off for a
while.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Then go with a new color laser and forget inkjets entirely. Only reason
there's still one in this house (and 2 color lasers) is because they still
want really big bucks to include the fax option and so the inkjet is more
a fax/scanner/copier than used as a pc printer.

Oh, and I'm not sure it makes sense to think long term and pay big bucks
for a printer. Maybe if you're publishing something etc. but if it only
lasts a year at $50 then you can have six each newer with likely
better/more features (and supported drivers etc.) than the previous in
same time frame as something originally $300.

I have a different philosophy, pjp. I like good quality and am willing to
pay for it--computer, printer, copier, etc.--even if they go out of date
eventually.

Jo-Anne

 

[SC Tom]

Didn't know that, SC Tom! I did, however, try it on the desktop computer
too. I even changed the printer port on it to USB-Virtual Printer Port,
which became part of the list after I connected the USB cable. I guess
it's time to look for a new printer--something I had hoped to put off for
a while.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

You're welcome. Sorry it's going to cost you :-(

 

[Jo-Anne]

This article suggests that you should have a USB port. Their
installation and troubleshooting steps look quite useful too:

http://sewelldirect.com/support/usbtoparallelsupport.aspx

Thank you, Joe! That article offered excellent help--but the printer still
isn't printing. HOWEVER, when I unchecked "Enable bidirectional support,"
the printer started flashing "Data Received" and then "Ready." What I tried
to print is not in the print queue any more, but it's not printing either.
Any idea of what this means?

 

[Jo-Anne]

You're welcome. Sorry it's going to cost you :-(

Thank you again, SC Tom! I suspect it will.

One interesting change today: Elmo referred me to a site that detailed how
to set up a USB printer cable. The only difference from what I had done was
that it said to uncheck "Enable bidirectional support." I did that and tried
to print something again. The printer started flashing "Data Received" and
then "Ready." What I tried to print is not in the print queue any more, but
it's not printing either. As I asked Elmo, any idea of what this means? (I
suspect it means that the cable is working but the printer isn't.)

Jo-Anne

 

[pjp]

Thank you again, SC Tom! I suspect it will.

One interesting change today: Elmo referred me to a site that detailed how
to set up a USB printer cable. The only difference from what I had done
was that it said to uncheck "Enable bidirectional support." I did that and
tried to print something again. The printer started flashing "Data
Received" and then "Ready." What I tried to print is not in the print
queue any more, but it's not printing either. As I asked Elmo, any idea of
what this means? (I suspect it means that the cable is working but the
printer isn't.)

Does appear something got transmitted that time but if the printer didn't
spit anything out and it's not jammed, has paper etc. etc. still looks like
a new printer is in order and from what you said previously a new pc as
well. Does it print it's own on-board test page? Your manual should tell you
what buttons to hold down (or whatever) on the printer so the printer prints
out some type of summary page of it's settings etc. etc. Never had a printer
didn't have that feature.

 

[pjp]

I have a different philosophy, pjp. I like good quality and am willing to
pay for it--computer, printer, copier, etc.--even if they go out of date
eventually.

I used to believe in that also but found the technology changes so fast and
never sure if you can get a new driver given manufacturer decides if they do
that ... Threw away an Officejet, printer, scanner, copier, fax little while
ago simply because my wife upgraded to a new pc with Vista and HP has no
drivers and states never will as printer is 7 years old. Made it useless for
her. In fact over the last almost 30 years now that pc's have fed me and
family God knows how much good working stuff just got thrown out or given
away just because of that.

 

[Clan D. Estin]

Thank you, Joe! That article offered excellent help--but the printer still
isn't printing. HOWEVER, when I unchecked "Enable bidirectional support,"
the printer started flashing "Data Received" and then "Ready." What I
tried to print is not in the print queue any more, but it's not printing
either. Any idea of what this means?

Contact their support, HoopleHead!!

 

[Jo-Anne]

Does appear something got transmitted that time but if the printer didn't
spit anything out and it's not jammed, has paper etc. etc. still looks
like a new printer is in order and from what you said previously a new pc
as well. Does it print it's own on-board test page? Your manual should
tell you what buttons to hold down (or whatever) on the printer so the
printer prints out some type of summary page of it's settings etc. etc.
Never had a printer didn't have that feature.

It does print its own test pages. That was the first thing I tried. It just
doesn't want to print anything from a computer. I called a repair place that
has worked on this printer and they're willing to have a look at it. (They
don't charge for the estimate.) If it's a board that needs replacement,
maybe it'll be worth doing. I'll report back when I know anything more.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

I used to believe in that also but found the technology changes so fast
and never sure if you can get a new driver given manufacturer decides if
they do that ... Threw away an Officejet, printer, scanner, copier, fax
little while ago simply because my wife upgraded to a new pc with Vista
and HP has no drivers and states never will as printer is 7 years old.
Made it useless for her. In fact over the last almost 30 years now that
pc's have fed me and family God knows how much good working stuff just got
thrown out or given away just because of that.

I do understand, pjp. I'm kind of an old fogey when it comes to computers.
My latest one is a netbook--with Windows XP. I avoided Vista entirely but
will probably move up to Windows 7 someday. In the meantime, XP has served
me well, and the drivers I've needed have been available.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Since there was lightning, I suspect a 70 to 10,000 voltage spike
damaged a chip. The printer repairman is probably your best bet.

But back when I had a Canon 600 printer that I really liked, the printer
head cost $60 more than a new Canon 620 printer. If you can get a free
estimate, try it, but a new printer may be the cheapest route.

Thank you again, Joe! It'll be interesting to hear what he has to say--but I
agree that a new printer is probably in the works, if not this instant then
soon.

Jo-Anne