Dell A940 on Vista 64, Please Help

Dan,

What is the model number of your Studio? Also you're trying to install Vista 32-bit drivers on a 64-bit system and this will not work. Please follow the instructions below and let me know what happens.

First, let's make sure your computer has the latest Windows Updates, especially .ne framework, needed to run many applications and the latest Java.

Disconnect your printer.

Download and run this patch to completely remove the printer from your computer. Run the patch, a MUST on Vista machines, until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer.

Download the proper drivers.

XP Drivers

Vista 32-bit Drivers

 Vista 64-bit Drivers

All other drivers

Now install the proper Drivers. You'll be prompted when to connect the printer(powered on)

As for scanning, if you have the disk that came with the printer, then insert the Printer disk and stop it from running. Go to My Computer and double click on it. Look for the drive with the Dell disk in it. Right click on it, left click explore. Look for the OCR Folder. In the OCR Folder, there is an Abbyy Folder. right click on setup.exe, that's in the Abbyy Folder and left click run as administrator. This will install the OCR program.

Or

Try this FREE OCR Program.

Scanning

Scanning using USB connection, open the Dell All-In-One Center, click on scanning and copying and scan from there.

Scanning wirelessly, use the scan buttons on the printer.

What happens now? 

Rick

Rick you did the trick.  Works perfectly now.  This is my first vista machine and I'm still a little fuzzy on working in the 64bit environment.  I thought that if it was a driver for the 32 bit, the computer would be able to do something like emulate it like it does with software.  The odd thing is that when I looked for the correct driver through the dell site on my own there wasn't one for 64, weird.  I don't know, but thanks for your help.  And if you ever head over to the PA Ren Faire look me up and I owe you a pint of ale or some soup in a bread bowl.  Take care.

danh62103,

You know, I've never been to the PA REN Faire! I have seen the people marching in the Ephrata Parade, which I try to go to each year.

Little hints...

Update list of applications to send scans to I do this. I use Open Office(Like Microsoft Office, but FREE) for my ,many applications. You just have to remember to click save as and change it to a .doc or .xls file to be able to open it at work.

Click start, in search, type Internet. You will see two versions on Internet Explorer. If you use the Internet Explorer that is 64-bit, you won't be able to see Videos very well. You want to use the Internet Explore that doe NOT have 64-bit after it, this will be the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer.

Could you mark the verify answer(s) that helped you solve your problem, so if someone else searches the forums, they can see what you did to fix your problem(s).

Take care,

Rick

Rick,

You've been a huge help and if I could possibly bother you again I've got another little snag.  The printer was working fine on this desktop ... unitl I tried to network it to my laptop which is a 600m running xp sp3.  I enabled sharing through the desktop and checked on the button that said additional drivers.  It had x64 and x86 checked and said they were installed so I left it alone.  There was also another check box that said render print job on client computers and I wasn't sure what it was so I left it unchecked.  Now, on my laptop I went to add a printer and it was able to find the a940 networked through the desktop.  I added it and it showed up under available printers in all my applications.  The problem is when I try to print, it sends the print job to the desktop ... and that's it.  The job shows up as pending on the desktop, but never prints and it can't be canceled no matter how I try.  Because that print job is never canceled, any jobs that I try run from the desktop get queued and never print either.  I had no choice (that I know of) but to uninstall everything from both computers and start fresh and the same thing happened after I went through the process again.  I'm so close to being finished setting up my new computer and these few little hangups are just causing me grief.  Any thoughts?

Dan

Dan,

I never networked a printer, believe it or not. I actually never networked my home computers. The children don't want to share files and folders with dad, go figure! :emotion-5: Networking can be somewhat simple but I do know for file sharing, you need to have an identical account on each computer(Example: You need a danh62103 account on each computer and identical passwords)

Here's the advise I can give you. I have a 964 connected to a Dell Wireless Printer Adapter 3300, so no host computer is needed.

Sharing a printer through a wireless network

The computer works fine with the desktop. Leave it alone. The printer needs to set to be shared.

On the Laptop, run the patch, restart the computer. Now use the downloaded drivers XP drivers from above. Choose network, choose the printer is connected to a host computer. If you do not see this option, then click add printer.

If this fails, then try the FREE features in Network Magic

Rick

Hmm, well thanks again for all your help.  I'm just going to let it go for now to save my sanity.  Do you think that getting a new printer that connects wirelessly would solve these problems.  The way I see it, if each PC connects on its own to the printer, maybe the difference in OS and drivers wouldn't matter.  It seems as if the problem now has to do with the fact that the printer is connected to a Vista machine with drivers and firewalls and the laptop is an xp machine trying to go through that with its own driver and firewall issues which is making it hard.  Any thoughts?

Rick

Thanks for the info, as well as on other threads where I noticed your thoughtful comtribitions.

I also have a Dell A940 , have lost the install Cd and have downloaded the software and drivers I found here

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd&ServiceTag=&SystemID=PRN_ALL_A940&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

BUT - I also can't use the scan function and keep getting this message

Normal 0

an OCR application is provided on your CD in the OCR Directory.

Select OK to cancel this operation, install your OCR software and try the scan again.

I looked at the link you offered for ScanWiz, but that seems to be a 30 day free trial that ends and then wants you to buy their service. .

Is there a permanent solution to facilitating the scan function that is free?

THANKS ahead of time!

Bob

Bob,

Links sometimes get old or outdated here.

Did you try Simple OCR it should work nicely with your printer.

Rick

THANKS rick!

I downloaded that and it seems to work so far!

as with most scanners, it works best if you save as a jpg or in this case tif photo file, otherwise you need to convert a lot

good enuff for my needs. THANKS AGAIN

Bob

Bob,

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

If you want to scan an image, I usually use IrfanView Use the Dell All-In-One Center and Update list of applications to send scans to

Use Simple OCR to scan Documents.

Take care,

Rick