XP printer driver woes
Bill Jillians
I just upgraded to XP after putting it off for a year. I wish I had put
it off for longer. After grappling with the modem for the best part of
a day I finally got it working.
Now I have turned my attention to getting the printer working and that
is proving to be even worse (but at least I can now share my problems on
the Internet). I have two printers, an ancient Fujitsu RX7100 which is
compatible with a HP laserjet plus in Windows 98 and with a laserjet II
on other popular software. I tried the drivers in XP Professional (SP1)
with each of Laserjet, Laserjet Plus and Laserjet II. For each one the
line feed was interpreted as a page feed by the printer and reams of
paper came out with one line printed on each. No joy there.
I tried the HP website for a driver. Nothing beyond ME and no
indication of any problems with the XP driver on the disk noted.
My other printer is an Epson Stylus Photo 830U for which I have the
drivers on a disk. It needs USB and I don't have USB provided on the
computer. What I have is a PCI to USB card (an OPTI 82C861). And guess
what ... XP doesn't have a driver that works it. I have been to Totally
Drivers and they have drivers up to ME which claim to work with XP but
which people have written very unflattering comments about its ability
to work with XP. I haven't tried the driver jet (its an 8 minute
download on my dial up system that there is a good chance won't work
anyway.).
I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to take
a well earned break from this problem for a while.
Bill
--
Bill Jillians
Paul Heslop
> I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
> better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
> present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to take
> a well earned break from this problem for a while.
>
> Bill
> --
> Bill Jillians
Don't have any answers but you have my sympathies. When i first moved
to XP a couple of years back it was hell. I lost a scanner, my printer
was virtually useless and a couple of bits which came with the new XP
installed computer were basically rubbish, but new rubbish. I guess
the first thing I would consider would be to buy a newer usb card,
should be reasonable priced compared to some of the other stuff, then
you can work your way up slowly.
It does get easier over time but if you're skint or love your old
stuff then it hurts.
--
Paul (Dear Sir, I have a complaint)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/
ato...@hotmail.com
On 16-Nov-2005, Charlie+ <cha...@xxx.net> wrote:
> >I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
> >better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
> >present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to take
> >a well earned break from this problem for a while.
XP2 doesn't make any difference, the MS$ drivers are still a complete mess,
both for the LaserJet II and Epson printers, you would have thought that with
all the complaints MS$ would have fixed them with SP2. So much for the
fat cats at Redmond.
The galling thing is that the Win98 drivers worked fairly well, well were
useable. Obviously MS don't actually test their drivers on the hardware
they are for, and certainly don't use them, or they would fix them.
m...@privacy.net
writes
Have you tried NT or Win2K drivers? IIRC I'm using Win2K drivers under
XP, because Canon/EFI didn't update the drivers.
--
Timothy
André Coutanche
<snip the all too familiar tale of woe!>
> I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
> better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
> present.
*****
Alas, I have no specific insight to offer. But, as a general point,
while installing SP2 may well be no help in solving the problem (and
others have confirmed this), may I ask whether you intend *ever* to
install SP2? Because if you are going to sometime (i.e. you are going
to stick with XP, warts and all), then you might as well do it now, it
seems to me, and then solve the printer problems. Otherwise the SP2
install may break whatever you've managed to fix :-( .
André Coutanche
Arthur Entlich
Look for Win 2000 drivers, they often will work, if available, with XP.
Some printers and other peripherals do indeed become obsolete due to
lack of drivers for newer operating systems.
Art
Arthur Entlich
systems. They do test them to certain specifications, but they are
provided by the manufacturers, or from the suppliers to those manufacturers.
Art
ato...@hotmail.com
On 16-Nov-2005, Arthur Entlich <e-prin...@mvps.org> wrote:
> MS doesn't write the drivers they provide in box with their operating
> systems. They do test them to certain specifications, but they are
> provided by the manufacturers, or from the suppliers to those manufacturers.
That only explains why the Linux drivers work and the MS$ ones don't.
Jim
<ato...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:D72dnc651eM...@pipex.net...
equivalent one for Windows XP also work well. MS does not provide drivers
for printers because every printer has its own little quirks.
Jim
Bill Jillians
unable to contain our credulity we realized that André Coutanche
<and...@andrec.plus.com> said this:
The problem is XP in its infinite wisdom decided to install itself on a
2Gb partition when I had 5Gb available on the drive I assumed it would
install on. Bad, bad XP, it never even asked me. Now I have only 200Mb
left in space on that drive so I rather doubt I can install SP2 without
a complete reinstall of XP on another drive.
I think this systems life span now can be measured in days anyway, if I
can't get the printer drivers. I'm quite keen on upgrading to something
from this century the more I think about it. Provided it all works and
I loose no functionality.
--
Bill Jillians
Roger Hamlett
"Arthur Entlich" <e-prin...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:ueHef.518989$tl2.23499@pd7tw3no...
> MS doesn't write the drivers they provide in box with their operating
> systems. They do test them to certain specifications, but they are
> provided by the manufacturers, or from the suppliers to those
> manufacturers.
>
> Art
of their business is writing drivers for other companies. Many have now
got rid of their own development teams, and farm this work back to MS. HP
started doing this a few years ago, and the drivers for newer printers are
MS written, while the code base, and development team who wrote the
drivers for their older kit, have long gone. Unfortunately, these drivers
are only tested on the 'current' kit, not on older models.
> ato...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> On 16-Nov-2005, Charlie+ <cha...@xxx.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
>>>>better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
>>>>present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to
>>>>take
>>>>a well earned break from this problem for a while.
>>
>>
>> XP2 doesn't make any difference, the MS$ drivers are still a complete
>> mess,
>> both for the LaserJet II and Epson printers, you would have thought
>> that with
>> all the complaints MS$ would have fixed them with SP2. So much for the
>> fat cats at Redmond.
First, try SP2. I has a lot of extra USB drivers, and might make your USB
card work. You might then try drivers for other printers like some of the
Panasonic laser units, which themselves 'talk' a HPGL subset, and will
often work with other printers.
>> The galling thing is that the Win98 drivers worked fairly well, well
>> were
>> useable. Obviously MS don't actually test their drivers on the hardware
>> they are for, and certainly don't use them, or they would fix them.
Best Wishes
Arthur Entlich
What types of drivers are you referring to?
I do know that numerous manufacturers of peripherals farm out their
driver work, but I don't believe MS is doing it for them.
Art
Bill Jillians
our credulity we realized that Paul Heslop
<paul....@blueyonder.co.uk> said this:
>Bill Jillians wrote:
>
>> I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
>> better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
>> present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to take
>> a well earned break from this problem for a while.
>>
>> Bill
>> --
>> Bill Jillians
>
>Don't have any answers but you have my sympathies. When i first moved
>to XP a couple of years back it was hell. I lost a scanner, my printer
>was virtually useless and a couple of bits which came with the new XP
>installed computer were basically rubbish, but new rubbish. I guess
>the first thing I would consider would be to buy a newer usb card,
>should be reasonable priced compared to some of the other stuff, then
>you can work your way up slowly.
Oh joy ... just tried the scanner ... that doesn't work properly now.
Looks like I need to find some more nonexistent drivers for something
else.
>
>It does get easier over time but if you're skint or love your old
>stuff then it hurts.
>
--
Bill Jillians
Paul Heslop
mean EVENTUALLY. You may be luckier as I got in their almost
immediately when people were crying into their open tower systems.
Roger Hamlett
> Well, this is news to me. Where did you get this information from?
> What types of drivers are you referring to?
About 18 months ago, we wanted to 'embed' a HP driver, into a system. It
needed some custom modifications, so we contacted HP (we were talking a
serious number of total sales, and a lot of money). After a few weeks of
batting backwards and forwards, we got agreement, that the unit could be
used the way we wanted, and that a custom driver would be sourced. We then
said 'what would you charge to modify your existing driver this way'.
There was a pause, then they came back "can't be done". "Why not". Answer
was "we don't write the drivers anymore, MS do it for us, and you will
have to talk to them". We did, and following some more negotiations, they
generated the custom driver. It was sourced via 'HP', with HP logos, but
we paid MS, and dealt with their development team. Talking to them, it was
suprising how many companies were doing the same...
> I do know that numerous manufacturers of peripherals farm out their
> driver work, but I don't believe MS is doing it for them.
>
> Art
Best Wishes
Arthur Entlich
Thanks for the info.
Art
Bill Jillians
I may be able to limp through for the time being. Bought a cheap Epson
colour printer in a boot sale for 4 quid. Installed the drivers and it
works albeit that I need a new cartridge so that should get me though
the next few weeks.
I have a combines printer scanner that I was selling that I had
forgotten about so when the new system gets set up I will probably use
that. Seeing as the old stuff works with Win98SE and I have the drivers
I'll probably sell it off cheap when I sell a second hand system.
On a different note ... if I may pick your brains, if a recent Celeron
computer doesn't display ANYTHING on the screen is the likelihood the
motherboard is gone. There are 3 possibilities it seems, memory,
processor or motherboard. I tried swapping the memory and that didn't
change anything. I haven't got a replacement Celeron processor so I
just wondered if the processor was broken would there be absolutely
nothing from the motherboard during book up process. If I can get this
system working it is sufficiently powerful for me to use it for my
upgrade.
--
Bill Jillians
Paul Heslop
> On a different note ... if I may pick your brains, if a recent Celeron
> computer doesn't display ANYTHING on the screen is the likelihood the
> motherboard is gone. There are 3 possibilities it seems, memory,
> processor or motherboard. I tried swapping the memory and that didn't
> change anything. I haven't got a replacement Celeron processor so I
> just wondered if the processor was broken would there be absolutely
> nothing from the motherboard during book up process. If I can get this
> system working it is sufficiently powerful for me to use it for my
> upgrade.
>
> --
> Bill Jillians
Well, as far as I know you would get beeps if something was happening
and that can help experts tell you what the problem is. If there are
no beeps and a dead screen then there's obviously a pretty big
problem. It sounds like the motherboard to be honest, but can you hear
the power coming on at all?
When my machines have died on me they've all gone in pretty
spectacular ways (loud rattles, pinging noises from inside and once an
explosion!) so it's been pretty easy to tell what was going on.
I'm no expert though so I hope someone can give you a nudge in the
right direction.
Simon Elliott
> On a different note ... if I may pick your brains, if a recent Celeron
> computer doesn't display ANYTHING on the screen is the likelihood the
> motherboard is gone. There are 3 possibilities it seems, memory,
> processor or motherboard.
... Power Supply?
--
Simon Elliott
Paul Heslop
That's why I asked if he can hear the power coming on :O))
ato...@hotmail.com
On 22-Nov-2005, Paul Heslop <paul....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> > > On a different note ... if I may pick your brains, if a recent Celeron
> > > computer doesn't display ANYTHING on the screen is the likelihood the
> > > motherboard is gone. There are 3 possibilities it seems, memory,
> > > processor or motherboard.
> >
> > ... Power Supply?
Graphics card? Something has come unplugged/loose,
reseat everything?
Simon Elliott
> Simon Elliott wrote:
>
>>
>>... Power Supply?
>>
>>--
>>
>>Simon Elliott
>
>
> That's why I asked if he can hear the power coming on :O))
>
Sorry, misunderstood what you meant by that.
--
Simon
Paul Heslop
that's where we usually get the pinging noises though, isn't it?
Paul Heslop
A common thing, that, people misunderstanding me :O))
Arthur Entlich
Art
Arthur Entlich
to speed?
Is there any beeping? If so how many?
Is the monitor plugged in correctly, or the video cable?
Art
Bill Jillians
contain our credulity we realized that Simon Elliott
<si...@deleteelliott.clara.co.uk> said this:
No .. it powers up. But there is nothing on the screen to indicate the
BIOS is responding and there are no beeps from the Post to indicate what
the problem might be.
It has to be either the processor or the motherboard as I've put some
good memory in and that doesn't fix it.
--
Bill Jillians
Bill Jillians
credulity we realized that Arthur Entlich <e-prin...@mvps.org> said
this:
>Is the video on the mainboard or a separate card?
>
>Art
>
--
Bill Jillians
Bill Jillians
>Are the hard drives slipping up to speed?
>
>Is there any beeping? If so how many?
>
>Is the monitor plugged in correctly, or the video cable?
>
>Art
>
>
>Simon Elliott wrote:
>
>> Bill Jillians wrote:
>>
>>> On a different note ... if I may pick your brains, if a recent
>>>Celeron computer doesn't display ANYTHING on the screen is the
>>>likelihood the motherboard is gone. There are 3 possibilities it
>>>seems, memory, processor or motherboard.
>> ... Power Supply?
>>
--
Bill Jillians
Arthur Entlich
raster the whole time, correct?
It may be a failed video connector on the computer, or a failed on-board
video chip or other component.
Can you remove the case and listen if the drives seem to be accessing
data (sometimes you can hear the heads moving around). If so, that
might indicate the computer has passed through boot checks and is at
least loading some of the boot data and files. That would again point
to lack of a video signal.
Most low level errors usually post error signals (or course, that's
assuming you have a working sound source...)
Art
Bill Jillians wrote:
> Quietly we read <yWYgf.578171$oW2.163295@pd7tw1no>, unable to contain
> our credulity we realized that Arthur Entlich <e-prin...@mvps.org>
> said this:
>
>> Can the person hear: the fan in the PS?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Are the hard drives slipping up to speed?
>
That was supposed to read "spinning" not slipping ...
Mercury
http://www.opti-inc.com/html/support.html
"Bill Jillians" <"\"Bill Jillians\""@virgin.SPAM_NO_THANKS.net.SPAM_OFF>
wrote in message news:wQxiVmBc$ieD...@virgin.net...
> Hello there, thank you for reading this.
>
> I just upgraded to XP after putting it off for a year. I wish I had put
> it off for longer. After grappling with the modem for the best part of a
> day I finally got it working.
>
> Now I have turned my attention to getting the printer working and that is
> proving to be even worse (but at least I can now share my problems on the
> Internet). I have two printers, an ancient Fujitsu RX7100 which is
> compatible with a HP laserjet plus in Windows 98 and with a laserjet II on
> other popular software. I tried the drivers in XP Professional (SP1) with
> each of Laserjet, Laserjet Plus and Laserjet II. For each one the line
> feed was interpreted as a page feed by the printer and reams of paper came
> out with one line printed on each. No joy there.
> I tried the HP website for a driver. Nothing beyond ME and no indication
> of any problems with the XP driver on the disk noted.
>
> My other printer is an Epson Stylus Photo 830U for which I have the
> drivers on a disk. It needs USB and I don't have USB provided on the
> computer. What I have is a PCI to USB card (an OPTI 82C861). And guess
> what ... XP doesn't have a driver that works it. I have been to Totally
> Drivers and they have drivers up to ME which claim to work with XP but
> which people have written very unflattering comments about its ability to
> work with XP. I haven't tried the driver jet (its an 8 minute download on
> my dial up system that there is a good chance won't work anyway.).
>
ato...@hotmail.com
On 28-Nov-2005, "Mercury" <m...@spam.com> wrote:
> > I just thought I would write my problems down in case somebody has a
> > better idea than "download service pack 2" which I am loath to do at
> > present. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm going to take a
> > well earned break from this problem for a while.
I have similar problems with similar LaserJet and Epson drivers and
WinXP.
The Apple Laserwriter II NT (HP LaserJet 11D equiv) and Epson 640
were fine under Win 98 and Win Me.
Neither works correctly under WinXP, with or without SP2.
Obviously the guys at Redmond don't know anything about, or
use the printers, they write drivers for.
Fortunately a PII 350 with Linux drives both printers.
Mercury
to HP etc to provide drivers.
<ato...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:EJqdnftlqqu...@pipex.net...
pl...@csus_abcdefghij.edu
an unsigned driver?
["Followup-To:" header set to comp.periphs.printers.]
Mercury
into things than should be read.
<plew@csus_abcdefghij.edu> wrote in message
news:slrndonc0...@crane.li-po.edu...
ato...@hotmail.com
On 29-Nov-2005, plew@csus_abcdefghij.edu wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" header set to comp.periphs.printers.]
> On 2005-11-28, Mercury <m...@spam.com> wrote:
> > MS does not write drivers for 3rd party hardware vendors products. It is up
> > to HP etc to provide drivers.
> >
So the mfrs couldn't care less about drivers for legacy hardware,
let them die along with Win98 and the fat cats of Redmond are
quite happy to blame the mfrs when the drivers are crap.
Which is why MS is facing increasing pressure from open
source.
Noel Paton
Noel Paton
> using
> an unsigned driver?
>
D&mn! forgot to reinsert the removed cross-post!
to quote from the Help files in XP....
<quote>
Windows device drivers and operating system files have been digitally signed
by Microsoft to ensure their quality. A Microsoft digital signature is your
assurance that a particular file has met a certain level of testing, and
that the file has not been altered or overwritten by another program's
installation process.
Depending on how your administrator has configured your computer, Windows
either ignores device drivers that are not digitally signed, displays a
warning when it detects device drivers that are not digitally signed (the
default behaviour), or prevents you from installing device drivers without
digital signatures.
</quote>
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)
Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm
Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
Arthur Entlich
believe me...
So, what are you gonna do...
Art
Arthur Entlich
aspects of the MS OS and that it works with standard MS applications.
They don't write the drivers, but they do troubleshoot them if they
break MS software.
The driver being signed also means it will operate in a certain manner
in the OS in regard to installation and OS awareness, and that it can be
included in an out of box version of the OS.
Art
Arthur Entlich
make the drivers or to directly support them.
However, I think it might make sense to suggest that MS consider
obligating the manufacturers to supporting certain peripherals for X
years if they are going to be considered "Windows authorized" or "Vista
Authorized" peripherals.
The major fault however, is with the manufacturers, who love seeing
their equipment become obsolete. However, in the case of printers, some
are begining to understand that they make no money on printer sales
anyway, and the longer the printer is in service, the more they *MAY*
make on consumables, however, the big problem is the cost of writing new
drivers.
Now, having absolved MS, I will say this... there such be a way to patch
drivers so they can operate under new operating systems with a "bridge"
software in some manner. I'm not a coder, but it seems to me, even if
it slows the peripheral down somewhat, that there has to be a way to
insert a translator between the old driver and the new OS, and have them
able to understand the calls made by the other an that, it seems falls
back into MS's court.
Art