Printer connection problem
 

Hi guys. I'll try to cut a long story short and apologise in advance for the lack of technical information regarding a problem my MIL is having with her PC.

She has an ACER PC running XP with a Lexmark USB printer and some months ago the printer apparently started to play up, refusing to print and showing as offline when it shouldn't have been. I seem to recall that, on one occasion some months ago, this happened again and my eldest and I had a fiddle with the connections and the printer started working again, however this was shortlived and for some weeks now she has been unable to get it to work at all.

Rather than try to find out what might be wrong with her printer I took her over a working Lexmark X85 last week and tried to install it. After being prompted to connect the USB lead during the installation process, the process didn't seem to finalise properly and although the Lexmark scan & copy control icon appeared on the desktop, the PC still indicated a connection problem when we tried to print something.

I thought her old USB printer lead might be at fault so today we replaced that with a brand new one and uninstalled/reinstalled the X85 software. Once again, this did not seem to complete properly but seemed to hang a short time after we were asked to connect the printer to the PC.

At this point I decided to uninstall it again and try reconnecting her old printer. The software for this was still installed on the PC yet the printer once again showed up as offline via the control panel, despite being powered up and apparently properly connected via the new USB cable. When we tried to print something we once again got the 'connection problem' dialogue box.

As you'll probably have gathered, my knowledge of computers is very basic and I can't think of anything else to try now. I think we've ruled out a physical connection problem and I'm wondering if, during all the fiddling about, someone's inadvertently changed a setting somewhere which has caused this problem. At one point during the above confused process a message similar to 'printer spooler service not available or not running' appeared but I've no idea what that means. The only other thing I can think of is that she might have updated some software which has caused the printer connection issues. :confused:

I haven't got much hair left as it is so I'd be mighty grateful for any feedback/advice on what to do next (apart from give up that is :)).

Cheers as always!

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Try uninstalling the software for the original printer and the x85. Then try installing the X85 again. It could possibly be some conflict between both installations.

Re: Printer connection problem
 

have you got anything else you could plug into the usb port to check that is working?

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Harmitage - I was reluctant to uninstall the original Lexmark software as MIL doesn't have the original discs. Having said that the same 'communication error' problem existed before I installed the second Lexmark. :confused:

Valerie - we tried several of the computer's USB ports but didn't try other devices in them.

Re: Printer connection problem
 

You can download the drivers for your mum in law's printer from the Lexmark website, so you don't need the original disks.

http://downloads.lexmark.com/perl/do...=227:5:0:0:0:0

You have eliminated the cable as a possible issue, so trying other devices in the USB ports may be an idea, as it may be a problem with the ports - you could try updating the chipset software from the computer/motherboard manufacturers website if that is the case...

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Buy her a nice epson or canon with cheap pattern cartridges it will save the stress and will save money in the long run. Lexmarks are the most expensive to run printers on the market


Might be worth uninstalling your USB root hubs in device manager and allow windows to reinstall them

Re: Printer connection problem
 

I know what you're saying about Lexmarks and ink cartridges but she rarely uses the printer and then only for the occasional short letter. I can refill the cartridges so that keeps the cost down.

Since I'm not very confident about this sort of thing I think I'll first try uninstalling her original Lexmark driver and reinstalling from their website.
If that doesn't work I'll come back here for more help on root hubs and the like.... ;) :tu:

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Have you tried another device yet? IE a flash drive or something?

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Not yet Zing - will have to take a trip over to see her before I can do that. While I'm there are there any simple checks/tests I can run to show what might be wrong if it turns out the USB ports are OK?

Cheers.

Re: Printer connection problem
 

Problem solved!! :)

I went over to MIL's again today and tried again to install the X85 driver from the Lexmark site. As a precaution I used another of the USB ports and the installtion proceeded exactly as before to the point where I was asked to connect the printer's USB cable. After that, the installation proceeded as before and seemed to hang, with no more progress/instruction/dialogue boxes displayed on screen at all. The hour glass was flickering on/off peridodically but there seemed to be no progress whatsoever :confused: As previously I left it ticking away for about 15 mins and then, fearing the thing had stalled once again, I closed the Lexmark download site and a 'setup' box suddenly appeared in the task bar. I clicked on that and the remaining sequence of installation/setup boxes appeared on the desktop as normal and the process was completed successfully. :)

I still don't know (or care) why the original printer which is still installed is still showing as offline when it shouldn't be but think the X85 installation problem was down to a failure to display some of the final setup dialogue boxes on the sreen and hence we were unable to select the final options and complete the process. Why this happened on MIL's PC and not mine when I did exactly the same X85 installation on my PC a few weeks ago defeats me but who cares! If it works don't fix it I say.... :)

Thanks for the help everyone!

Re: Printer connection problem
 

I would attempt to reinstall the original printer with drivers from Lexmark on a different USB port...I doubt its a problem with the printer. Also listen for the windows noise for connecting a usb device "da-ding!" :)

Re: Printer connection problem
 

I too don't think it's the printer. I reckon something else was/is up but since the X85 is now working fine and is better than the printer it replaced I think we'll call it quits.

Cheers anyway :tu: