repeatedly installing printer
Robert Minter
printer so it is necessary to use the 'built in' driver that comes with XP
Home. I have installed the printer and it works fine. However, if I turn on
my PC but leave the printer turned off I find that when I turn on the
printer XP 'finds' it as 'new' hardware and tries to install the printer
again. This happens whenever I leave the printer turned off (as I usually
do) and then turn it on when I need it to print something. Is this right?
Surley XP is capable of noticing that the printer is already installed and
does not need to be installed again. I notice that the printer is not listed
in Device Manager. Is this the way with XP and printers? Or should the
printer be listed in Device Manager? Any idea why it might not be? Thanks
for any help with these questions.
Bob
(Please reply to group)
Bruce Sanderson
parallel port.
See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B298370.
Unfortunately, there is no known "fix" that always works. Although Windows
XP knows that the printer is already installed, another part of Windows XP
that looks for "new" hardware during startup doesn't know that for some
strange reason.
Printers do not normally appear in Device Manager, just the parallel, serial
or USB port it is connected to. The usual way to add printers is via the
Add Printer Wizard in the Printers and Faxes folder.
Here's some things to try that may or may not help:
1. when the Add New Hardware wizard appears, go through the complete process
rather than cancelling it. You may find that after you do this several
times, the problem no longer happens.
2. In the printer is connencted to a parallel port, change the port settings
(Device Manager, Ports, right click Parallel Port, select Properties, Port
Settings) - for example select the "Use any interrupt assigned to the port"
or "Enablee legacy Plug and Play detection.
3. in the computer BIOS settings, change the parallel port type from EPP to
ECP or vice versa
It may help to have the printer powered on before booting the computer.
--
Bruce Sanderson MVP
It's perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
"Robert Minter" <avoi...@spam.com> wrote in message
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Robert Minter
Bob
"Bruce Sanderson" <Bruce.S...@junk.junk> wrote in message
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> This is a common problem with printers, particularly older models on a
> parallel port.........(snip)
Kevin Mitchell
The "Found New Hardward Wizard" comes up every boot, as has been addressed,
but it says:
"Cannot install this hardware: HP Deskjet 1220C Printer. An error occurred
during the installation of the device. The required section was not found in
the INF"
Because the Wizard automatically comes up with this error, my only option is
to "Finish" -- so I cannot follow the advice in the MS Knowledge Base
Article 298370.
Will the advice you have given apply to this problem -- or, do I need to
find the INF file and change it?
Thank you
Kevin
Bruce Sanderson
I would expect this kind of error if, for example you did an "upgrade
install" of Windows XP over Windows 9x and did not delete the printer before
doing the upgrade. Then you would have a Windows 9x printer inf file and
not a Windows XP one.
You might want to :
1. clean up the drivers as described at
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm
2. download the newer HP 1220c driver for XP from
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/eng/software_drivers.htm
3. add the printer again, using the Have Disk button and navigating to where
you expanded the downloaded driver
--
Bruce Sanderson MVP
It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
"Kevin Mitchell" <TKevinM...@attbi.com> wrote in message
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Kevin Mitchell
At the time I first wrote, I could print to the 1220c OK.
I have tried your 3 suggestions below, but it did not work. Here's what I
did:
1. Cleaned drivers (including the registry suggestions and deleting all the
printer .inf files I could find.
2. Downloaded the newer drivers. It was the same one I had been reinstalling
and in the same way you mentioned in your step #3 below.
3. Installed the new driver.
Still the same problem. In fact, as soon as I clean everything up in step #1
and restart the computer, it is still finding the printer with the same
error message I mentioned in my first post: "Cannot install this hardware:
HP Deskjet 1220C Printer. An error occurred during the installation of the
device. The required section was not found in the INF." Am I wrong in
assuming I should be able to get rid of the error before doing your step
three (so I don't uncessarily go through step 3)?
Bruce: thank you for your help.
-Do you have any more suggestions?
-Would it help to go back to a saved restore point (though the problem has
been there for about three weeks now)?
-Would I have to reintall Windows XP?
Again, thank you!
Kevin
"Bruce Sanderson" <bsan...@junk.junk> wrote in message
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Kevin Mitchell
I did all three of the steps outlined below. It still does not work; it
still comes up with the message:
"Cannot install this hardware: HP Deskjet 1220C Printer. An error occurred
during the installation of the device. The required section was not found in
the INF"
I even tried to delete extra HP inf files that might have caused the
problem.
Thank you!
Kevin
"Bruce Sanderson" <bsan...@junk.junk> wrote in message
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Kevin Mitchell
The problems persists. I was and am still able to print just fine. It's just
annoying to always have to click cancel or Finish to abort the installation
attempt.
I tried each of your suggestions below (1-2-3). I searched for and deleted
hp1220c related .inf files. as part of step one.
Can you recommend some "next steps"? (Reinstall XP? Run repair. Go back
three weeks or so to a restore point?)
Thank you!
Kevin
Bruce Sanderson
here's some more possible ideas.
1. look on %systemroot%\inf (e.g. c:\windows\inf) for files with names
starting with oem with one or two digits after them (e.g. oem12.inf). You
may find you have quite a few. Look inside each such inf file using Notepad
and see if any of them relate specifically to the HP 1220C printer. Delete
any of these that you find, including the corresponding .pnf file (if there
is one). Be careful not to delete any of the .inf or .pnf files for other
devices. Restart XP
2. disconnect the printer from the computer, restart XP, clean out the
drivers as per previous notes, restart XP, use the Add Printer wizard to add
the 1220C printer on a parallel port (LPT1), restart, shutdown, connect and
power on the printer, restart
We have a couple of offices with HP 1220C printers that don't appear to be
having this problem, but then, the printers are actually connected to the
network via Jet Direct (external LAN adapters) and are installed as "network
printers" shared from an NT 4 Print Server computer, so that configuration
is different from yours.
Re-installing XP is an option, but there is no guarantee that will fix your
problem, particularly if you do an "upgrade install" as opposed to a "clean
install" (i.e. reformat the partition).
--
Bruce Sanderson MVP
It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
"Kevin Mitchell" <tkevinm...@comcast.net> wrote in message
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Kevin Mitchell
Your step 1, finding and deleting the oem##.inf and oem##.pnf solved the
problem. As soon as I deleted them and restarted, the Windows XP version of
the driver was instantly there -- i.e., I guess that is what had been trying
to complete its installation. Then I was able to also install the HP version
of the driver (which has more functionality).
Bruce: thank you very much for your help.
Kevin
"Bruce Sanderson" <bsan...@junk.junk> wrote in message
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