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XP Pro SP3

I have a HP 6L printer that has worked for years.

About 6 months ago I bought a new computer with no printer port and got a usb to printer post adapter. It has worked well since.

Today, I tried to print a document and it would not work.

I invoked the printer troubleshooter and followed ALL instructions, numerous times. This involved re-booting both the comp. and the printer numerous times.

As I re-booted, the printer keeps booting up as being "off-line". One message said that there may be a problem with my printer port. I followed the instructions to install the port manually. I received the message that the port was installed. Still no difference.

The printer self-test works.

Can anyone advise me?

Thanks.

EDIT, July 29.

Well after many attempts at reinstalling the printer, I ran Microsoft Security Essentials on deep scan. I have been using Malwarebytes for thorough scans. MSE for a few dangerous files and removed them. This seems to have solved the problem; I'm again connected. I also had another problem with dropped WIFI and suddenly that seems to be working properly. Cross reference: https://superuser.com/posts/132753/edit

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3 Answers 3

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I have had a few weird problems with desktop HP printers that are similar. The only way I have gotten windows to detect the printers again in my situations was to uninstall the printer driver, reboot and install the driver from scratch and then the printer works.

One in particular is more flaky than its counterparts, it is an older model and I am just assuming there is some sort of damage with the unit itself since it supposedly worked better years before, but has stayed on the same XP system.

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Well, Pournelle's Law says it's always cables, so I'd start with that.

It's not clear from your description, but I'm assuming the printer has a parallel port, and you installed a usb->parallel port adapter. So, if my assumption is correct, the path is computer -> usb cable -> parallel port adapter -> maybe a parallel cable -> printer.

So, to debug, start at the computer. Verify that the USB port is working - plug in a usb key or exernal HDD and see if that work. Next, I'd try a different usb cable.

You may find an answer in this thread too - apparently it's a common problem. Verify the port that XP thinks the printer is connected to. It may help to disconnect the printer, power cycle the printer, then plug it back in so that XP has a chance to recognize it as a "new" device.

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  • Well, I bought a new cable, but that didn't work. So I tried the instructions Chris supplied and re-installed the printer. Now it works. Thanks to all.
    – Xavierjazz
    Jul 1, 2010 at 12:56
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I have seen the USB to Parallel devices just fail. We used to sell a bunch of these when clients had older printers they needed to keep going. The device seems OK in the Device Manager, but it does not work. In every case, swapping with a new one fixed the issue but if it was out of warranty, we had an unhappy client. Any chance yours is under warrnty? In many cases we wnt to a ethernet print server to solve this. This one worked well but not much help in many small networks. PrintServer

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