Printer stopped working

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I use a Compaq IJ1200 on my Windows XP Service Pack 2 computer. The drivers I
use are for Windows 2000, since Win XP doesn't have any IJ1200 drivers
compatible with it that enable the full features of my printer. The printer
is plugged in using a parallel cable and was working fine until recently.

One day, I forgot to turn the printer on before turning on my computer. I
got a "Problem communicating with printer" error as soon as I logged in. I
restarted the system, and the printer started to work, but it lost
bi-directional support.

This morning I changed the printer setting to Enable Printer Pooling, and
all of a sudden, my printer will not work on the LPT port anymore. It works
fine if I use a USB cable, but not if I use a parallel cable. I get an error
saying "Offline; Printing". Printer goes offline and comes online as usaul,
but i'm just not able to print.

I have tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the printer as well as using
system restore. Neither worked. Can anyone suggest a solution?
 
My computer came with only 4 USB ports, and I currently use all of them. So
can you figure out what is wrong here?
 
You could purchase a PCI USB card to give you more USB ports.... or a
powered hub.

Is the LPT port still seen correctly in the BIOS? In the Device Manager?
 
The port is set to Bi-Directional communications in BIOS and shows up as ECP
Communications Port (LPT) in Device Manager.
 
First (and cheapest) option to try is a new Parallel Port cable, aka IEEE
1284 cable.
 
wMay I jump in here with a similar (not exact problem)?

It seems to me XP tends to have problems with printing from a parallel port.
I have an older printer that has no USB connection and it as working fine
then all of sudden would not print. The printer itself is ok (I checked
with the self test and then hooked it up to someone else's printer in the
office and it works fine.) I tried a different cable, tried uninstalling the
printer and the port and re-installing. I am at my wits end - the only other
suggestion I got from tech support where I bought the computer (a new laptop)
is to re-install windows xp because the diagnostics I ran on the port itself
shows it is working.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
B_in_VT
 
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