Network Printer AIO942 Communication Problem

Question

I am running Vista on a XPS M1710. I want to access a Dell AIO942 printer attached to my desktop/server, running Windows XP. Here's what I have tried so far: 1. Downloaded Vista driver from Dell website 2. Installed the 942 as a local printer on my laptop. Everything works fine. 3. Unplugged printer from local port and put it back on desktop. Everything works on desktop. 4. Tried to install printer as network printer. The printer is found and listed. The installation appears to succeed, but when I print a test page, I get a communication error. 5. Deleted printer. 6. Tried to install using standard Add Printer option. The printer is listed, but when I try to connect, I get a message with error 0x0000000d. 7. I am using Windows Firewall. File and Printer Sharing is checked. 8. I can access the desktop and move files. 9. I have tried removing everything and starting from scratch, with the same results. I have read of other people with similar problems, and I have tried following their suggestions, such as manually changing the port. This doesn't work either. I would appreciate any suggestions.

neoscona · Answer

Oh, yes. I did turn off both firewalls before trying this.

neoscona · Answer

I tried what you suggested. Specifically:
1. I deleted the printer from the Printer Control Panel.
2. I uninstalled the Dell 942 software from the Programs Control Panel.
3. I downloaded R151557.exe from the Dell Support web site. (Just in case the previous download was corrupt.)
4. I ran R151557.exe. This extracted the files and started setup. I specified a network printer.
5. The printer was not shown on the screen. I tried Refresh, but it was still not shown. I used manual add. The printer shows up on the Network screen, so I am sure it is there and shared.
6. Setup proceeded and appeared to complete successfully.
7. I tried to print a test page with the same communication problem as before.

Note: There is a small HP Photo printer attached to the same host machine. I was able to install that printer successfully as a networked printer and print a photo on it from my laptop. This indicates that the problem is somehow specific to the DellAIO942 printer. The printer works fine from the host machine. I am able to transfer files to the host machine and print them from there, so this is not an emergency, but it is annoying.

mlholm · Answer

Hi Bill - So glad to find a real human being to look at this problem. I too have tried every combination and permutation to install the Dell provided drivers for my Dell AIO920 printer since being blessed with Vista32 on my new Dell Inspiron 640m. The printer works fine with WINDOWSxp, but does not work with Vista32. Dell reminds me that the printer is out of warranty, but the printer isn't the problem. The Inspiron640m is in warranty, but it's not the problem. Vista32 isn't the problem. The problem is the Dell provided drivers. I've been the whole route personally, and have had a Dell Tech take control of my computer and do every step as it should be done. He got the same result I did. The Dell All In One Center is not available, and the printer is unable to communicate with the computer. Clean install, reinstall, printer connected, printer not connected, it doesn't matter.  The printer driver doesn't work. This seems to be the case for all the 900 series AIO printers. Check my 5/5/07 post about this problem. It's probably a simple fix, but I doubt anyone realizes the drivers they provided don't work....Mike

neoscona · Answer

Those instructions don't seem to apply to my situation. There is no lexbces service running and no lexbces.exe file to delete. Since those parts of the recipe did not apply, I did not proceed with the rest.

neoscona · Answer

You had me worried for a bit. I did go back and try renaming the folder in spooler/drivers and repeated the installation, but with the same results. I am leaving on vacation tomorrow morning. I will check this thread when I return.

neoscona · Answer

I am back and ready to try anything that may solve the problem. A quick perusal of the boards shows that I am not the only one having this problem, though my details are slightly different than anyone else.

neoscona · Answer

Things have gotten worse. Now, I cannot get the printer to work locally on my laptop. I tried following your plan, but couldn't manage the 'clean Vista' part of the plan. The installation appeared to go all right, at least from the Wizard's point of view. However, when I tried to print a test page, I got the dreaded communication error. I tried all the troubleshooting tricks, but nothing worked. I guess I need to try to clean everything off the laptop before trying again. This is really frustrating. I wish the installation program were smarter.

neoscona · Answer

OK. I was very careful to follow the instructions exactly. I was able to install the printer as a local printer. Everything worked OK. Unplugged the printer from the laptop and plugged it back into the desktop. Then I tried your suggestion: I browsed the network and located the desktop, then the printer. I clicked on the icon and got the expected message 'Connecting to...' This failed with error 0x00000009. (Not a very informative error message, but I understood that it couldn't communicate.) Because I thrive on punishment, I tried installing the printer using Add Printer from the Control Panel. Same result. Just for completeness, I ran the setup program again and specified a network printer. This got to the point of trying to print the test page and failed with the same problem. I give up. Since the HP printer works, maybe I'll buy the printer from them next time.

Yeffers · Answer

Did you do the Vista to XP patch on the XP computer? That would still cause your problem, I believe. I am about to try this scenario, and will let you know if it works for me. Dell 2400 XPPro Desktop Dell Latitude D610 Laptop Dell A940 AIO Printer

aniko27 · Answer

Bill,   Gina directed me this way - I am attempting to print to an AIO 960 shared off an Dell XP Pro workstation from my new Dell VISTA laptop (not an upgrade from XP).  I have tried numerous things, such as removing the Lex drivers, etc. to no avail.  I have followed your steps in your message and get to the point: when prompted I told Vista to install the printer as a network printer, allowing it to find the driver.  It is as this point that a message pops up that Windows cannot communicate with the printer. Operation could not be completed (error 0x000003e3).    I use McAfee's firewall and have tried it with it completely disabled on both machines in case that was the problem. Windows firewall is not running.   One step I did not do is change my workgroup.  Everything else I followed to the letter.  I can print to it when connected directly to the printer (via USB) and have had no trouble connecting from my XP Pro old laptop to the same share.   Any suggestions?

neoscona · Answer

Yes, I applied the patch.

neoscona · Answer

Not sure what printer firmware you are referring to. I have the latest version of the driver installed, at least I think so. Can you give me more specific instructions, please?

neoscona · Answer

No. LEXBCE Service is not running on Vista.

Yeffers · Answer

Bill,

I ended up screwing up the printer driver on the XP machine, so had to uninstall and remove the registry settings on the XP box. Then reinstalled the XP driver for the A940 on the XP Box. Did the same for the Vista Laptop.

Now, should we install the newer Vista Driver on the XP box? It does have an option to install the printer as a local or network (Host or Client) printer. I have tried that and installing the printer on the Vista laptop from the navigated to printer folder on the XP box with User Account Control both on and off, with McAfee bot on and off, and every mutation.

My laptop is dual boot Vista/XP and I can print from the XP installation with no problem. So it is definitely either Vista or the Dell Driver.

Yeffers · Answer

I found a solution on another company's message board which linked to a M$ board that worked for me. Basically I installed the VISTA driver package on BOTH the XP and Vista machines as a local printer and made sure that it worked on both. I then left the printer on the XP box as a shared printer. I went to the Vista machine and added a second local printer port (LPT2) as \'XP Machine'\'Printer share name'. This allows me to print over the network, but not use the All in One Center, so far, but I normally don't use it that much.

Windows General

Network Printer AIO942 Communication Problem

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