Printing problems in XP ...

[Michelle L]

Hi I am undecided if my problems should be on a printing forum or here but
I'll give it a shot.

I have formatted my PC from ME and upgraded to XP Pro. still haven't
downloaded the SP1 so this could be my problem. IT's just 30 mb so been
meaning to set up PC at night but haven't got to it. I have a Canon S200SP.
XP couldn't recognise my printer in the beginning. I downloaded the XP
driver from Canon.com and installed it. This was over a week ago.

Sometimes I was able to print but lately I just dont seem able to at all.
Whenever I print, it is slow (the printing software, not the printer) and
non-responsive. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver several times.
Restarted etc. The printer software is hanging and keeps saying the printer
is not responding. Then when I close it all down and delete the print jobs,
in the task bar I get messages saying my PC has detected new hardware ...
USB (my printer is USB) It goes about installing it then says it has
malfunctioned. When I try to print again it just says error withut even
brining up print boxes or properties. When I go into devices under the USB
controllers it has 1xunknown devices, 2 root hubs and 2 Rev 5. I have tried
deleting the unknown device and it keeps coming up when I next try to print
but only when I try to print, no other time. The other root hubs and revs
all say they are operating correctly.

I have a Compaq Presario 7400 with 2 USB ports in the front and 2 at rear.
Nothing plugged into the front but the rear one has a Kodak digital camera
plugged in (which is working fine and downloading fine) and the other for
the printer.

My computer is 500MHz with 120mb RAM. I have tried running thru the
troubleshooter to no avail. I have been installing software as I'm
rebuilding the PC and one software program in particular called Scrapbook
Factory seems to be a bit dodgy when it comes to printing. Is it possible a
software program could be causing all these problems to do with USB errors??

PLEASE HELP.
Michelle

 

[Malke]

Hi I am undecided if my problems should be on a printing forum or here
but I'll give it a shot.

I have formatted my PC from ME and upgraded to XP Pro. still haven't
downloaded the SP1 so this could be my problem. IT's just 30 mb so
been meaning to set up PC at night but haven't got to it. I have a
Canon S200SP. XP couldn't recognise my printer in the beginning. I
downloaded the XP driver from Canon.com and installed it. This was
over a week ago.

Sometimes I was able to print but lately I just dont seem able to at
all. Whenever I print, it is slow (the printing software, not the
printer) and non-responsive. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the
driver several times. Restarted etc. The printer software is hanging
and keeps saying the printer is not responding. Then when I close it
all down and delete the print jobs, in the task bar I get messages
saying my PC has detected new hardware ... USB (my printer is USB) It
goes about installing it then says it has malfunctioned. When I try to
print again it just says error withut even brining up print boxes or
properties. When I go into devices under the USB controllers it has
1xunknown devices, 2 root hubs and 2 Rev 5. I have tried deleting the
unknown device and it keeps coming up when I next try to print but
only when I try to print, no other time. The other root hubs and revs
all say they are operating correctly.

I have a Compaq Presario 7400 with 2 USB ports in the front and 2 at
rear. Nothing plugged into the front but the rear one has a Kodak
digital camera plugged in (which is working fine and downloading fine)
and the other for the printer.

My computer is 500MHz with 120mb RAM. I have tried running thru the
troubleshooter to no avail. I have been installing software as I'm
rebuilding the PC and one software program in particular called
Scrapbook Factory seems to be a bit dodgy when it comes to printing.
Is it possible a software program could be causing all these problems
to do with USB errors??

You've done a good job of describing your problem and computer. I'm
assuming that when you say you "formatted" your pc, you mean that you
did a clean install and not an upgrade (where all your old programs and
data would still be there after installing XP). If you did *not* do a
clean install, I would suggest you back up your data so you can do
that. You can then reinstall your programs and restore your data from
backup.

Your computer is a bit under-powered for XP. The 500Mhz is on the cusp,
but I'd definitely add more memory. I wouldn't run XP with less than
256MB of RAM. In any case, you will want to install SP1. Post back with
more information for more help.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Michelle L]

Hi Mike thanks for your help. Yes I formatted. I used a boot disk and went
into dos and did a format c: and started from scratch. Actually I did it
several times LOL coz Bill Gates forgot to include the ME backup in XP so I
had to download a backup application, reinstall ME, rebackup using different
software so I could open in XP. That was heaps of fun ;-)

Yes I have been told my PC is a bit underpowered but it seems to be running
fine - just not printing. Today after booting up, I have printed something,
it went to the printer, printed the first few lines then just stopped and
said error printer not responding. Someone once before told me I had to do
something, I belive from memory it was to turn off the spooling. I've done
that but to no avail. Maybe it is memory, I will look into how much it costs
to upgrade or I might just ditch XP and go back to ME.

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[Malke]

Hi Mike thanks for your help. Yes I formatted. I used a boot disk and
went into dos and did a format c: and started from scratch. Actually I
did it several times LOL coz Bill Gates forgot to include the ME
backup in XP so I had to download a backup application, reinstall ME,
rebackup using different software so I could open in XP. That was
heaps of fun ;-)

Actually, and I hate to tell you this, but all of that was totally
unnecessary. When you use an upgrade version of XP, all you had to do
in a clean install was stick your ME disk in the drive when XP asked
for qualifying media. Then you could have gone ahead and XP would
request that its cd be put back in the drive.

Yes I have been told my PC is a bit underpowered but it seems to be
running fine - just not printing. Today after booting up, I have
printed something, it went to the printer, printed the first few lines
then just stopped and said error printer not responding. Someone once
before told me I had to do something, I belive from memory it was to
turn off the spooling. I've done that but to no avail. Maybe it is
memory, I will look into how much it costs to upgrade or I might just
ditch XP and go back to ME.

Having more RAM would be a good idea, but I don't think this is causing
your printer problem. You actually do need the spool service to be
running for printing, but I believe that would be enabled by default.
You said that the printer worked for a while, so I'd uninstall it
completely, including shutting down your computer and physically
removing the connecting cable from the printer to the pc. You might try
a different cable, too. Then reinstall the printer exactly according to
Canon's instructions. I'm not familiar with Canon printers, so can't
give you any specifics. If that doesn't work, you can see if Canon has
user forums or newsgroups and post there. Or you can just say "screw
it" and buy another printer that supports XP out of the box. I
personally wouldn't go back to ME because I think it's a sucking os,
but if you liked it better than you always have that option.

Good luck,

Malke