Network & Shared Printing Problems

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G

Guest

I have two printers, one is connected to the standard printer port on my
router and the other is connected directly to a Win98 computer. I could
print to both from my main HP Pavilion computer that was runing Win XP. I
have now upgraded the HP computer to Vista Premium Home Edition and cannot
print to either.

I'll first discuss the printer connected to the router. As previously
stated it connects to the printer port on the router through a standard
printer cable (not USB). When I upgraded to Vista I deleted all of my
printers prior to installing the upgrade. I re-installed the "print server"
software that came with my router. This driver was Win 2000 compatible (the
router is an older router). After installing the print server driver the
instructions say to add the printer as a "local printer" and to select the
port that you defined when you installed the print server software. I
selected the correct port from the list shown during the printer add process,
completed the process, and the printer was added to my available printer
list. However, whenever I print to the printer nothing happens. The
document goes into the print quene but is never printed. Looking at the
document in the quene shows the status as "Error Printing".

My second printer is connected to a Win 98 computer. I am networked with
that computer and can send/receive documents between the two computers. I
can see the printer connected to the Win 98 computer in my Network window on
the HP but when I attempt to add the printer I get the following error:

"Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation could not be completed
(error 0x00000866).

Any suggestions on resolving these would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'll do the 98se printer first. Although it's not officially supported to
connect Vista to a printer on a 9x system, you can set it up as a local one,
then change the printer address to \\98sePC\98sePrinter where 98sePC is the
shared name of the PC with Win98se on it and 98sePrinter is the shared name
of the printer on the PC with Win98se.

As for the one on the print server, can you not find it by it's TCP/IP
address which its presumably getting from the router? It should be at
\\123.123.123.123 (where the 123s are the TCP/IP address that it's getting
from the router. You should be able to logon to the router to see what
address it's giving to the printer if you're unsure.

It would be more helpful in future if you can let us know exactly which make
and model of printer you're trying to connect to. Obviously each MUST have
Vista drivers available... either built in to Vista (called in-box drivers)
or from the printer manufacturer's website. If drivers are not available,
then Vista won't be able to print to them.
 
Thanks for the quick response.

Both of the printers are older printers. The one connected to the router is
a Lexmark 4019 and I think it is using in-box drivers. However the printer
server software loaded was Win2000 compatible. I didn't think that mattered
however since the port name showed up in the list when I added the printer.

The printer directly connected to the Win98 computer is a HP OfficeJet 500.
I've looked on HP's site and Vista drivers don't exist for this printer and
wouldn't be developed because of it's age.

I will try substituting the IP address in place of the port name used and
see if it makes a difference.
 
For the HP OfficeJet 500, try the Generic IBM Graphics 9 pin driver from
the Vista DVD.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007
 
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