Dell 946 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)

If you unplug the printer from the wall and remove the power brick for 60 seconds, this will reset any error messages the printer has. I would then plug everything back in.

Power on the printer. 

Open the printer(with the power on) and take out the Dell Series 5 black cartridge and then reseat it. I would then take out the color Dell Series 5 ink cartridge and reseat it. Now close the printer and it will print an alignment page.

Any error messages?

black cartridge = black side(left side)          color cartridge = color side(right side)

photo cartridge = black side(left side)          color cartridge = color side(right side)

Dell Series 5 ink cartridges have a sensor in them that cannot be reset. Article on refilling Dell ink cartridges .

Dell Series 5 ink cartridges can be purchased at Staples, Walmart or Dell's Website.

It's possible to get a Dell Series 5 ink cartridge with a bad sensor. I would that these back to the place of purchase for a replacement or a refund.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Everything is now sorted from your instructions. I think one problem was that I had a folder marked 'Dell download manager' and the utility didn't seem to remove and I just ended up with an empty folder. I removed it manually, though I don't know what difference that should make??? Anyway, I restarted the laptop with everything disconnected then followed the links again...... and hey presto I'm in business.

Thanks for you help.

Graham

Graham,

Yes, the Dell Download Manager has been a slight problem for many. How to by-pass the Dell Download Manager is the best way to take care of it.

Glad you got everything working. :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.

Take care,

Rick

Rick,

Thank you so much! My 946 works perfectly now! Had a spot of trouble at first as the Dell Drivers Downloads kept coming up empty (error message: There are no files to download. Please go to drivers and downloads to select file). I finally decide to do the whole thing in Internet Explorer as opposed to Firefox and it all went like a dream. You have made me very happy today!!

NancyJean

tried this step by step to set up my AIO 946 on my new laptop running Win 7 and nothing works

 andycmcdonel,

Did you try running Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print jobs in the queue?

Disconnect the printer.

Download and run the patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer. Download the Vista 32-bit drivers for Windows 7 32-bit or the Vista 64-bit drivers for Windows 7 64-bit and install the drivers in the Vista Compatibility mode You'll get a message, the printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on)

Rick

hi,

I have a dutch windows 7 and couldn't get it to work.

file missing/not found error.

there are several 'english' directories in the driver directory

\r145441\drivers\win_xp2k\common\english
\r145441\drivers\win_xp2k\x64\english
\r145441\drivers\win_xp2k\i386\english

I made a copy of the english directoy and renamed it into 'dutch'

then the install went o.k

 Danego,

Glad you got it working! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.

Take care,

Rick

tried and was actually able to run setup as administrator and put into vista sp2 mode, but still says enable bidirectional support and i still cannot. i check the box and it doesnt stay checked....what a conundrum

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately it did not work out for me. Even though I installed the driver in the compatibility mode windows 7 does not recognize the driver. Is there anything else I can do?

Blumentopf,

Operating system in English or another language?

What virus program and firewall are you using?

The newest procedure is...

First run Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print job in the queue.

Disconnect the printer.

Download and run the patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer. Make sure the printer is removed. Manual Printer Driver Removal

Download the Vista 32-bit drivers for Windows 7 32-bit or the Vista 64-bit drivers for Windows 7 64-bit. Install the Vista drivers in the Vista Compatibility mode You'll get a message, the printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on).

Links to the patch/drivers can be found at...

Dell 946 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)

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Rick

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Thanks for your answer Rick.

The operating system is in german.

I use the virus porgramm "Avira Free Antivirus" and the Windows Firewall.

I followed the procedure you described, but I always get the answer: Driver not installed.

Blumentopf,

Post edited to reflect the proper language of German. My notes had Chinese. :emotion-10:

Rick

Blumentopf,

You can try these drivers, then may or may not work. Dell All-in-One Printer 946, v.G9a, A01

If they do not work, then follow the procedure below. It will install the printer, but in English but we'll trick the computer to think you have the German drivers.

First run Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print jobs from the queue.

Disconnect the printer.

Download and run the patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer. Make sure the printer was removed. Manual Printer Driver Removal

Download the Vista 64-bit drivers. Install the Vista drivers in the Vista Compatibility mode You may or may not get a message to connect the printer.

Hit the Windows key and the R keys at the same time. Type...

C:\Program Files\Dell 946\Drivers

You should see an English folder there. Right click, new, create folder. Name the new folder German. Copy all the files in the English folder and paste them to the German folder.

Double click on the Vista 64-bit drivers and install again. There should be a message, then printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on.

Links to the patch/drivers can be found at...

Dell 946 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)

The printer will work in English instead of German.

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Try reading...

How to Configure an Avira Firewall

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Rick