Printer Problems
 

Morning all,

Just been trying to help a friend out earlier.

Epson Stylus 440 printer oldish one. :)

Running Windows XP Pro.

When clicking the print icon in †œwordâà ƒÆ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚ � the following message appears †“

No printers are installed, to install a printer, point to settings on the windows start menu, click printers and faxes, then double click add printer and follow the wizard.

After doing the above he gets a Windows error box saying †“ Operation could not be performed.

When trying to print from notepad using file then print the wizard auto launches with the following message †“

Before you can perform printer-related tasks you need to install a printer. Do you want to install a printer now choosing yes gives †“

Operation could not be performed.

Up to now we have powered the printer on and off, unplugged the cable and restarted the PC etc.

Device manager shows no problems with LPT Port the printer is on.

All was working fine until tonight.

Any ideas as ever greatly appreciated.

:)

Re: Printer Problems
 

Assuming you have the printer installation disks handy (in case) Try removing all printers from Start>settings>printers and faxes, switch everything off, and rebooting. I had a similar thing, XP pro/Canon BJC. Fine for ages, wobbly all of a sudden.

Re: Printer Problems
 

Has he tried just installing the Epson drivers and bypassing the Printers & Faxes CP applet? Normally you'd just bung in the CD, install and it'll add the printer for you.

Re: Printer Problems
 

Is the printer set to default? - I've seen this with HP Drivers.

Re: Printer Problems
 

Try using the win2000 drivers from www.epson.co.uk they work well for my 660

Re: Printer Problems
 

I'll second Swoop101's comments, Epsons sometimes get funny about their drivers and, after working fine for ages suddenly go titsup for no good reason as I found with my Photo Stylus 750.

A replacement set of drivers sorted everything and it worked fine again.

Re: Printer Problems
 

Gah! Epson printers! Good printers but the software!!!My old 600 kept giving me a similar problem.

Also this week I had problems with my Epson scanner-software problem again!!

I can't deleted any of the gunk software without losing the twain software.I don't USE the software but if I get rid of PhotoImpression I lose the ability to scan into ANY other software because twain is missing. :rolleyes:

Pushy uppity software. :mad:

Incog.

Re: Printer Problems
 

You have permission to install and/or modify printers? Assuming XP is like NT with it's users and permissions...

Re: Printer Problems
 

Cheers,

Tried that and when running from the installlation disk we get the following -

The printer/driver could not be installed. Your windows system may be abnormal condition. Exit windows and try again or set up your windows again.

:Yikes: :confused:

Re: Printer Problems
 

Cheers,

See above for what happens.

:D

Re: Printer Problems
 

Not sure on that front any ideas on how to check ??

:D

Re: Printer Problems
 

Have done still same problem.

:confused:

Re: Printer Problems
 

Good call where can I check this.

:D

Re: Printer Problems
 

Printers are best installed when logged in as administrator, or whatever your superuser is called. I think you can give printer installation and configuration permissions to a user so that user can then install/remove/edit printers - you'll need to be logged in as administrator though. There'll be a thing in control panel to manage users. I say all this from my experience with NT. I'm guessing XP is the same :)

Re: Printer Problems
 

Start/Control Panel/Admin Tools/Computer Management; click "local users & groups" double click "users", right click the user you want to view, select "properties" click the tab "Member of"

Re: Printer Problems
 

Cheers mate.


Cheers again,

I have checked and he is a Member of Administrators.

There are only two in there Admin and a guest and it is logged as an Admin.

:)

Re: Printer Problems
 

The error message you gave is badly written, which may say something about the software itself ;) Have you tried using the latest drivers? The installation might be dependant on a particular version of a library and you've got a more modern version. Just a guess and not much you can do anyway. Shame the error message is so, er, useless. Does XP keep logs and if so, what do they say - maybe increase the verbosity and try installing the printer again. I know with my HP Deskjet drivers it takes a bit of luck to get the drivers to install :(

Re: Printer Problems
 

Update.

Have now fixed the problem with printing by doing the following.

Using windows key and pause break and then choosing the hardware tab and device manager.

Under ports com and LPT.

Right clicked ECP Printer Port (LPT1) and uninstall.

Then went into start/settings/control panel/add hardware.

Then it detected a new port and reinstalled it from the XP Default drivers.

Rebooted when asked and it then detected me Epson printer but then got an RPC Error.

Then went into start/run/msconfig/ and placed a tick in print spooler and restarted the PC.

God knows why it was ever unticked.

Boom shaka XP detected the Epson printer and installed it.

Problem sorted.

Mods/Admin please close this now or leave it for information.

:D

Re: Printer Problems
 

Glad you got it sorted mate :)

Re: Printer Problems
 

Sounds like it was a problem with port communications - unidirectional v bidirectional... I know my HP Deskjet won't play with parallel - has a fit and starts firing out pages with symbols on them. Does it without warning. It's a buffer issue methinks. A number of people have encountered it.