Weird printer connection problem
 

Hi guys. I've just installed a Lexmark X85 all in one printer on this PC. I did the installation in our admin account and then switched to our eldest's user account in order to print his homework - some pictures of ethnic masks. This worked fine so I logged out of his account, went back to our admin account and tried to print a jpg. I got an error message of some sort so tried again and again the file failed to print. Both documents appeared in the print queue so I deleted them then clicked on the printer icon in the task bar and got a message telling me that the printer isn't connected and to try unplugging the USB lead, turn printer on/off, restart PC etc. I did this but still it appears that the printer isn't connected to the PC. I switched back to the user account to try printing there and it works fine :confused: Can anyone suggest what's wrong.

Cheers

---------- Post added at 11:02 ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 ----------

Just an update. Since posting I've gone back into the user account and tried printing the same files and am now getting the same connection error message.... :confused:

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

Did you log out of the user account or just use Account switching? Just that if both accounts are active then perhaps they're fighting for the control software..

Just a thought

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

Lexmark has some strange way of starting the printer... I suggest removing the printer from the list and doing a CD install again.

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

Thanks guys I think I did log out when swapping but since posting I've uninstalled the software and will try again. I'll try to print something via the admin account straightaway just to see what happens.

Incidentally, during the instalation process, Spybot did alert me to 3-4 registry changes. Rather than accept these during the installation, I left these until after the process was complete and did so. Could this have caused a problem? Should I have agreed to the registry changes as they were flagged up?

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

Software changes the registry for a reason...not allowing changes might mean that software and/or hardware can't start up properly

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

I did allow the changes just not immediately Spybot asked me to as the install process was still going and i didn't want to interrupt it. The Spybot alert boxes were still there after the install finished so I just accepted them one by one at that point.

Anyway I've just reinstalled and accepted each registry change as soon as the the Spybot alert appeared whilst the install was proceeding. I'm not sure if this was the issue but I've printed a jpg and a text document no problem so very happy about that so far....

I've noticed that when I'm trying to print a text document from within Star Office, the print option box opens and the defaults choice is fax as opposed to my printer. Also the default setting for printing seems to be colour as opposed to B&W. I'm not sure if this is down to the Star software or the Lexmark so can I alter these defaults so I don't have to change them each time I want to print a text document in that way?

Cheers :tu:

---------- Post added at 12:48 ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 ----------

Update:

Odd eh - but logging out/in seems to be the root of the problem. If I restart the PC the printer works fine but as soon as I log into another account the Scan & Copy icon in the taskbar gets a little red circle with a white x inside it and the connection problem appears....

Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers as always!!

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

Some models require the loading of 2 or 3 processses (you should see them in task manager/processes starting "lex....."). If they are there when you first log on, check they are still there when in another account.... and that they have permissions set for all users...

Re: Weird printer connection problem
 

The thing is as I've been experimenting I've discovered that even if I just log out of the admin account momentarily and then back in again the printer stops working. Would trying to find new drivers be a good idea. The X85's not a new machine. I've found the current driver on the Lexmark website but it says to remove any old drivers before installing the new one. Does this mean uninstalling the Lexmark programme I loaded via the original CD or just removing the driver currently being used? How do I do this?

Update

I've just found the printer in 'device manager' listed under imaging devices. If I right click on it an option to update the driver is offered should I just do this?


Sorry to be a thick git! ;)


OK seem to have fixed it - uninstalled the software then downloaded a new driver from the Lexmark website. Now everything seems fine. :)

Thanks for the help everyone. ;)