Dell AIO 946 - I am printer purgatory...

Question

I have a 946, (well, I am about to try to install my third one in a month).

The first one - scanner head would not move, would not print (stuck at 99%).

Second one - would not print (stuck at 99%), would not scan, would copy. I tried Rick's suggestions from these forums MANY times, culminating in the "Don't forget to update the firmware". Well, this is a piece of advice I think you sholud not give out, Rick! I 'brick'd' my second 946 as a result. I have since read that it is quite common! I can only be thankful that it's all still under warranty. However saying that, I keep getting sent re-furbs to replace my less-than-one-month-old-printer... that seems wrong - surely something that 'new' should be replaced with new!?

Anyway.. I am fully expecting the new printer to fail at printing (with the old stuck at 99% problem), and fail to scan as well. Seems to me, that it's a bidirectional USB issue. The computer can SEND the print job, and it prints, but cannot receive the update from the printer to say it has finished. This would also explain why I cannot scan (dataflow from the printer to the computer). I have ensured the USB port is set to bi-directional

Does anyone have any suggestions (other than the boilerplate text explaining to uninstall drivers, re-install drivers, etc)

I have a Studio XPS Core i7, printer is local USB install.

Thanks,

Adrian

earthb67 · Accepted Answer

I am happy to report that I have solved my issue with the 946.

My problems were:

Print job prints, but print job status window stops at 99% complete. Subsequent print jobs sit in the queue unable to print until the spooler service is stopped, print jobs purged, and the spooler service restarted.
Scan function would not work at all. I was unable to preview or scan anything.

After MANY hours spent investigating and searching, I found the culprit. It was my firewall. Specifically, Comodo. Strange, as I would have thought the firewall only bolcked traffic on the network adapter, not the USB sub-system. There must be some kind of TCP over USB going on...

See here for Comodo forum post detailing the issue. It looks like a bug has been submitted, so it can be fixed in version 4. (I was running the latest 3.x).

Uninstalling fixed both issues 1 & 2 above. I have since installed Zone Alarm, and have not seen a re-occurrence of the issues.

earthb67 · Answer

As expected, the same 99% issue happens as well as failure to scan. I am thinking this not so much a printer issue, but a vista 64 / USB / DELL MB issue...?

Has anyone managed to fix the stuck at 99% issue and scan properly with this printer and Vista 64?

Thanks.

Adrian

PudgyOne · Answer

Adrian,   Try Delete Print Jobs, then restart the computer and see if it's any better.     Rick

earthb67 · Answer

Hi Rick. Thankyou for your response (I was hoping you would buy in to my issue!). While that does work, (to clear the print jobs at least), I don't want to do it every time I print (my wife is getting very cranky with this printer as well).

It does not, however, solve the printer's complete inability to scan!

Regards,

Adrian.

PudgyOne · Answer

Adrian,

Usually when the scan function does not work, it's because the drivers have been corrupt and/or the drivers did not install properly.

Follow these instructions below and then tell me what happens.

Make sure your computer has the latest Windows Updates, especially .net 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 computers) until it prompts you to restart your computer.

Restart your computer.

Download the proper drivers.

XP Drivers

Vista 32-bit Drivers

XP & Vista 64-bit Drivers.

All other drivers

Install the proper drivers. You'll be prompted when to connect your 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.

Also try reading...

Update list of applications to send scans to

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.

Rick

earthb67 · Answer

Hi Rick.

Thanks for that. I saw these instructions in response to other's posts and have done this multiple times for the original 946, as well as the 2 replacements I have had since. It has not worked at any time.

The scan problem and the 99% complete problem are related, I am almost 100% sure. Seems to be an issue with the comms from printer to computer. Comms from computer to printer is fine!

Thanks.

Adrian.

PudgyOne · Answer

eartcb67,   ALRIGHT!!!:emotion-21: Glad you got it working.     Rick

earthb67 · Answer

Thanks Rick! Next issue.... It will not fax (from the PC), but will from the printer itself. The subject of another thread though :emotion-42: Cheers, Adrian.

PudgyOne · Answer

Adrian,   What!!! Another thread!!!   You really want a lot. Here is a fax program that should work.   BVRP PhoneTools for Faxing     Rick

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Dell AIO 946 - I am printer purgatory...

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