Intermittent USB Printer Errors

Question

I recently purchased a Dimension 4600 (running Windows XP Home) to replace my aging XPS-T500 (which had also been running Windows XP Home). The migration to the new PC went smoothly, with one exception. I have two printers, a Hewlett-Packard 882c and a Canon S9000. On the old PC, they were both connected via USB 1.1 and didn't give me any problems (well, any problems I didn't cause, anyway ).

Installation of these two printers on the new machine went smoothly, and the Canon S9000 works fine. However, the HP 882c is giving me aggravating intermittent problems. About half the time when I attempt to print, say, a Word document, the 882c will get part way through the document, then Windows will throw up a generic message saying there was an error in printing (the error shows up in a pop-up window above the printer icon in the System Tray). The message doesn't give me any hints as to what caused the error; it does make a few suggestions about checking the connections, etc., which I've already tried without success.

The only significant thing that changed between the setup on the old PC and the one on the new PC is that my USB ports are now 2.0 (formerly 1.1). I tried to get an updated printer driver from the HP Web site, but the information there indicated that XP already has the most up-to-date drivers available. I've tried, several times, uninstalling and reinstalling the printer. The reinstall works fine, but the problem persists. Both printers are attached directly, to the USB ports on the back of the PC. I've also tried plugging the printer into other USB ports, including the ones on the front of the PC, but that didn't help. I suppose the cable connecting the 882c to the PC could be faulty, but it's been fine for the four years I've been using it and I have no reason to suspect it might have gone glitchy the same time I migrated to the new PC.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Could it somehow be related to the fact I now have USB 2.0? Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.

--Larry

fireberd · Answer

Older printers sometimes have issues with the upgraded USB ports. A 2.0 certified USB cable may help too. That printer was made back when USB on a Windows PC was in it's infancy and it could have issues with the newer ports. Try a different port on the PC, e.g the front panel port if you are using a rear port, etc. What happens if the HP printer is the only device attached to the USB ports?

The XP compatibility is also an issue with the built in drivers, which provide basic functionality but not 100% functionality that the regular HP Win9X/Me drivers do. Because of the (computer) age of many older peripherals some only have the basic functionality and many are not XP compatible at all and have to be dumped.

Another issue is the older PC. If it was upgraded from an older OS to Windows XP there seems to be some additional files that are carried over from the older Operating System that is not in the full Windows XP versions that come with PC's. I've run across this with some digital cameras, they have full support on older systems that have been upgraded to XP with a Retail upgrade version of XP, where the same camera only has limited support with new PC's that come with XP preloaded (it is able to transfer pictures via the Windows Explorer but not the camera and scanner wizard like the upgraded OS's).

Seventy · Answer

Larry - What I suggest is go to the particular printer start/printers and faxes and choose the particular printer and right click on it for the properties tab at the bottom of the list, then choose the Advanced tab... check the box that says print directly to the printer. This may resolve your intermittent printing problem. I would suggest you do this for both printers. If you are sharing those printers, this will not affect the sharing. If they are being shared, then go to the other PCs and repeat this again on each PC...

As to HP and Canon if the problems still persist, consider downloading the latest XP drivers from each and installing those. Keep in mind the drivers that are included in XP for (virtually all devices) are simply standard drivers - that is they will let you use the device and basic feature set, but they do not have advanced printing features or controls/options that you would usually have if you installed the drivers from the mfg instead. If there are no XP printer drivers for your printers, then obtain from the mfg, the windows 2000 drivers - these will often work just fine in most all cases. This is because XP is built from windows 2000. If you have other products, be it devices or such, often times using their Windows 2000 versions will work work in XP when there are no XP drivers, etc.

Hope this is of help.

Seventy · Answer

Firebird

Yes, quite aware that there are many devices out there that do not have XP specific drivers, but many do have windows 2000 drivers - of which the vast majority of those you can install their windows 2000 drivers on an XP system and the stuff works just fine, with the full feature set of the device in many cases. Just because it is an old product, and not have XP drivers, or digitally signed drivers mean it is a trip to the trash. Many XP users do not realize, that there is this may be a viable path for their devices and one that should be explored depending on their particular need. And to just clarify a bit, most of the device drivers (printers and such in particular) that are included with XP, are minimal driver-sets - so yes the customer can easily install the device within XP (automatically) and it will "work" but more often not, the user will not have access to the device's full feature set until they obtain the drivers etc from the particular manufacturer.

fireberd · Answer

There are no Windows XP drivers available on the HP site for this printer. Like a lot of older printers the only drivers are the built in Windows XP drivers. Here is the instructions from the HP site for installing it in XP, if you haven't already followed the instructions during install.

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml;jsessionid=AJX0QMNYPF22HQFIKSBENZQ?reg=na&cc=us&docName=bpd09005&lc=en

But, as I stated in my earlier post, this is an older printer and it is not fully 100% Windows XP compatible. That is why HP has not issued Windows XP drivers on their web site. Not to be a wise guy, but his printer is at the end of it's life cycle (which is short for computer peripherals). A new $50 printer at Wal-Mart will have better specs.

larryc · Answer

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I agree with Fireberd's statement that, given the age of the printer and the low price of printers with better specs and XP-compatible drivers and software, it wasn't worth my time and effort to troubleshoot the problem any further. I don't normally just throw money at an issue like this, but in this case it made sense. I bought a new printer (an HP 3650) this weekend. It works great for my purposes. Problem solved.

--Larry

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Intermittent USB Printer Errors

Was this post helpful?