NHW cannot install this hardware

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jerry Riedel
  • Start date Start date
J

Jerry Riedel

Forgive me if this has been posted and answered but the
newsgroup search function appears to be having a real bad
day (bugs and server acting up, on top of the bad design).

Tried to install Lexmark X1100 all-in-one on XP Home SP1.
Lexmark's installation instructions advise to cancel the
first two instances of the New Hardware Wizard (NHW)and
then run their setup program. On this machine, the program
abends and then the NHW reappears, saying "New Hardware
Wizard cannot install this hardware. The system cannot
find the file specified." The only choice presented is to
click the Finish button, as the rest are greyed out.

After clicking Finish, the process repeats indefinitely,
until you unplug the USB cable. Lexmark tech support was
no help, nor was their latest driver, installed after
running their uninstall and manually deleting every
relevant key from the registry. They advised that it was
something wrong with the USB drivers, even though an
Okidata installs/works fine on the same USB ports.

Postings on other forums indicate that the problem is not
confined to Lexmark, and appears to occur even when the
setup program does not abend. In some cases, an new driver
helps, in others, the problem is cured by reinstalling XP.

My question is: is this a known XP issue? And is there a
way to disable PNP/NHW, temporarily or otherwise?
 
In case you weren't aware, Lexmark instructs the user to
connect the printer first, click cancel on the two
instances of NHW that pop up, and then install the
software. This seems to work with most, but not all XP
machines (we are a dealer).

In one case, I was able to get through the install by
connecting the printer after starting the software install
(install won't complete if it does not detect the
printer). However, after rebooting the machine, the
problem came back.

As I mentioned, I not only did a total uninstall, I also
deleted all registry keys having to do with "Lexmark" and
the printer model. Some of the keys could not be deleted
until after changing permissions on the keys. Note that
these keys were left in the registry after the complete
uninstall.
 
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