Help: Window XP Cannot Add Printer

  • Thread starter Thread starter J. Foster
  • Start date Start date
J

J. Foster

Hi,

I am trying to add a printer to Windows XP and I get a message saying,
"Cannot Add Printer."

I had a printer attached to my computer before that didn't print
anything, not even a test page. So now I have brought my HP 720 that
I know worked on my old Windows 98 computer. When I plug it in and
restart Windows XP I can hear the printer warming up when my computer
starts, so I know the computer detects it. But in the printer control
panel, Windows won't let me add it. And I tried installing the HP
software from disk and it wouldn't let me add it either.

I went through the whole "diagnose problem" thing in windows and came
back around to the start without success.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
Right click on My Computer and select Properties. On the Hardware tab,
click on Device Manager. Find the line Ports (Com and LPT) ports and click
on the + to expand the tree.

Double click on the ECP Printer Port line.

Click on Port Settings. .

This is an OLD printer. It's a Legacy Device... so ensure you have a check
mark in the line Enable Legacy Plug and Play Detection.

Does XP now find the printer?

Cari
www.coribright.com
 
Cari MS-MVP said:
Right click on My Computer and select Properties. On the Hardware tab,
click on Device Manager. Find the line Ports (Com and LPT) ports and click
on the + to expand the tree.

Double click on the ECP Printer Port line.

Click on Port Settings. .

This is an OLD printer. It's a Legacy Device... so ensure you have a check
mark in the line Enable Legacy Plug and Play Detection.

Does XP now find the printer?
Click to expand...

Cari,

I selected legacy plug & play as you suggested.

The answer about XP is yes and no, it "sees the printer" but won't let
me add it or print a test page. And unfortunately I am in exactly the
same situation as before, so LP&P does not seem to have had any
effect, one way or another. I'll try to explain because I didn't do a
good job the first time:

I see the printer port in the device manager, where you suggested, and
when I restart my computer I have a little icon in the system tray
telling me I have new hardware detected. This was the case before and
after checkmarking the LP&P box. (In XP, the system tray is the right
term for the collection of icons in the bottom right, where the clock
is, right?)

The problem, and wierd thing, is this: when I run the HP software to
install my printer it says it failed to add the printer. And when I
go into:

Start -> Control Panel -> Printers & Other Devices

and I try to manually "Add New Printer" I get a message saying,
"Cannot Add Printer." (A popup message, with a red circle and an "X"
through it.)

Now comes the wierd part. Before, I noticed that my old printer still
shows up in the "Add Printers" window. But sometimes I don't see
anything at all. No printer icons in there.

Do you think it was a mistake to try to use this HP software? It was
for Windows 98/Me, but I thought XP should be compatible with the
earlier versions of Windows. All my other programs from Win/Me work
fine on XP.

Am I making sense or just muddling my explanation?

Thanks,

Jzf
 
Printer drivers written for Windows9x/ME will NOT work in XP. Drivers
written for Windows 2000 usually work in XP.

I think right now you should uninstall everything related to the printer and
start again...

Follow the instructions at:
http://www.coribright.com/windows/Article One.htm

After the reboot, use the Add Printer Wizard and connect the printer when it
tellsl you to. XP should now 'see' the printer and install the correct
drivers.

Cari
www.coribright.com
 
Cari MS-MVP said:
Printer drivers written for Windows9x/ME will NOT work in XP. Drivers
written for Windows 2000 usually work in XP.

I think right now you should uninstall everything related to the printer and
start again...

Follow the instructions at:
http://www.coribright.com/windows/Article One.htm

After the reboot, use the Add Printer Wizard and connect the printer when it
tellsl you to. XP should now 'see' the printer and install the correct
drivers.

Cari
www.coribright.com
Click to expand...

Cari,

Uninstalling everything and _not_ installing the HP cdrom has worked.

At the HP website it says that the HP 720 drivers are included in
Windows XP so they don't have any newer drivers there. But the
printer installed and those drivers were there, without installing the
cd.

I guess it was a mistake to try to install the old 98/Me software from
that CD.

I only had this printer for maybe 4 or 5 years, and it's always been a
great printer. I used it at my office. It still works like new, even
after hundreds of full colour mapquest maps and digital photographs
printed during the first few years of its life. I still consider it
to be "new". Especially for the price I paid, I don't consider it to
be old :-) When it is 10 years old, then I'll think of it maybe as
being slightly used, or perhaps middle aged :-)

The sad thing about this is that I recently discovered I can almost
buy a new inkjet printer these days for about the same price as the
colour cartridges of my hp720, and I wondered if I was just being a
sentimental fool for getting a new 720 cartridge instead of a new
printer. It just seemed like such a waste to buy a whole new printer.
:-(

Maybe I will try taking my "old" printer to the office where I have
Win2K and see if it works there. I promise to check their website for
up-to-date drivers and not try to install the "old" cd software. If
it doesn't work there either, I know someone who still runs 98, and
the next printer I buy will be based on the purchase price of
replacement cartridges.

Thanks for all your help.

Jzf
 
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