XP Home add printer problem

[Bill]

Had MSBlaster. Fixed (Norton). Everything now works
except my printer - which used to work but has
disappeared. When I go to 'Add New Hardware' and
click 'Add Printer' I get a info box which says 'Operation
could not be completed'.

The first entry on the Main dropdown menu in the 'Printers
and Faxes' window that opens when you go to the Control
Panel and click 'Printers and Faxes' is 'Add New Printer'
(in bold) and so is the second entry (not in bold) so this
file seems to be corrupted. If you select either of those
options you get 'Operation could not be completed'. This
may not have been the result of the MSBlaster but during
the removal of that virus you lose all your restore points.

If I go: Control panel | System | Hardware | Device
Manager | Ports (COM & LPT) | ECP Printer Port (LPT1) and
then right click and choose 'Properties' then:

Under the 'General' tab it says the device is working
properly.
Under the 'Port Settings' tab 'Never use an interrupt' is
checked as is 'Enable legacy Plug and Play detection' (my
printer is over 4 years old).
Under the 'Driver' tab I have run 'Update Driver' and been
told that the current driver is the best available.
Under the 'Resources' tab 'Use automatic settings' is
checked and 'No conflicts' are reported.

I have no XP Home install disk since this is an OEM (HP)
install and cannot use system restore since previous
settings were lost during the MSBlaster cleanup.

If I run the install hardware wizard I find my printer
listing but after the wizard runs for about a second it
stops and reports 'the specified port is unknown'

So the questions are:

Which file (if any) has been corrupted?
Why can't the install wizard find the printer port?
and
How do I fix this?

Thanks
Bill

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
Had MSBlaster. Fixed (Norton). Everything now works
except my printer - which used to work but has
disappeared. When I go to 'Add New Hardware' and
click 'Add Printer' I get a info box which says 'Operation
could not be completed'.

The first entry on the Main dropdown menu in the 'Printers
and Faxes' window that opens when you go to the Control
Panel and click 'Printers and Faxes' is 'Add New Printer'
(in bold) and so is the second entry (not in bold) so this
file seems to be corrupted. If you select either of those
options you get 'Operation could not be completed'. This
may not have been the result of the MSBlaster but during
the removal of that virus you lose all your restore points.

If I go: Control panel | System | Hardware | Device
Manager | Ports (COM & LPT) | ECP Printer Port (LPT1) and
then right click and choose 'Properties' then:

Under the 'General' tab it says the device is working
properly.
Under the 'Port Settings' tab 'Never use an interrupt' is
checked as is 'Enable legacy Plug and Play detection' (my
printer is over 4 years old).
Under the 'Driver' tab I have run 'Update Driver' and been
told that the current driver is the best available.
Under the 'Resources' tab 'Use automatic settings' is
checked and 'No conflicts' are reported.

I have no XP Home install disk since this is an OEM (HP)
install and cannot use system restore since previous
settings were lost during the MSBlaster cleanup.

If I run the install hardware wizard I find my printer
listing but after the wizard runs for about a second it
stops and reports 'the specified port is unknown'

So the questions are:

Which file (if any) has been corrupted?
Why can't the install wizard find the printer port?
and
How do I fix this?

Thanks
Bill

.
Since the above I've also been into System Information |

Components | Problem devices and under 'PNP Device ID'
both 'ROOT\PRINTER\0000' and 'ROOT\PRINTER\0001' are
listed as disabled.

More thanks
Bill