Unable to map card reader on LAN

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jonathan Finney
  • Start date Start date
J

Jonathan Finney

I have 3 PCs on a Win2K PTP network. All machines are virtually identical
with a few differences in the installed software. The OS and Office apps on
all PCs are regularly updated.

There are two printers also connected to the network (not locally to any
PC), one of which is an HP PSC 2100 all-in-one device with a card reader.

Despite many problems with the HP Director software, I now have a fully
functional installation on all machines except one on which everything works
OK (printing, scanning, faxing, etc.) except that the card reader is showing
as disconnected from this machine which means I can't transfer pictures to
this machine (which is, of course, the one I want use for the transfer).

When installing the HP Director software, the installation maps drive letter
Z: to the card reader to enable the device and program to communicate. The
problem is that on one PC, the mapping fails as Windows, for some unknown
reason, prompts me for a password. As no password has ever been specified,
there is no way to get past this point and I have to cancel and ask Windows
not to log on to this drive in future (otherwise the same thing happens
again).

I suspected that the software installation was the culprit, but I have spent
many hours trying to sort this out with the top engineers at HP UK who say
the only solution now is to reinstall the OS(!!)

One of the ironic things is that the first installation of the HP Director
software was on this machine and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, there
were many problems with the installation on the other machines that were
subsequently resolved by installing a newer version of the software, but PC0
has always failed to allow the card reader to be mapped. I have, of course,
tried many complete installations including a couple of attempts after
manually uninstalling everything (this is a tedious job that takes several
hours!).

The reason for posting this here is that I'm now convinced it's a Windows
problem (which I could prove by reinstalling from scratch!) and I was hoping
for some advice or pointers.

I have tried mapping the drive manually, but I get an error message saying
the network path \\NPICF2C5F\memory_card could not be found. I am able to
map other drive letters to the card reader on the other PCs using this
procedure, so I now consider that this is a Windows problem that affects
only this machine.

Can anybody help or suggest what could be causing this problem?
 
in message
:I have 3 PCs on a Win2K PTP network. All machines are virtually identical
: with a few differences in the installed software. The OS and Office apps
on
: all PCs are regularly updated.
:
: There are two printers also connected to the network (not locally to any
: PC), one of which is an HP PSC 2100 all-in-one device with a card reader.
:
: Despite many problems with the HP Director software, I now have a fully
: functional installation on all machines except one on which everything
works
: OK (printing, scanning, faxing, etc.) except that the card reader is
showing
: as disconnected from this machine which means I can't transfer pictures to
: this machine (which is, of course, the one I want use for the transfer).
:
: When installing the HP Director software, the installation maps drive
letter
: Z: to the card reader to enable the device and program to communicate.
The
: problem is that on one PC, the mapping fails as Windows, for some unknown
: reason, prompts me for a password. As no password has ever been
specified,
: there is no way to get past this point and I have to cancel and ask
Windows
: not to log on to this drive in future (otherwise the same thing happens
: again).
:
: I suspected that the software installation was the culprit, but I have
spent
: many hours trying to sort this out with the top engineers at HP UK who say
: the only solution now is to reinstall the OS(!!)
:
: One of the ironic things is that the first installation of the HP Director
: software was on this machine and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately,
there
: were many problems with the installation on the other machines that were
: subsequently resolved by installing a newer version of the software, but
PC0
: has always failed to allow the card reader to be mapped. I have, of
course,
: tried many complete installations including a couple of attempts after
: manually uninstalling everything (this is a tedious job that takes several
: hours!).
:
: The reason for posting this here is that I'm now convinced it's a Windows
: problem (which I could prove by reinstalling from scratch!) and I was
hoping
: for some advice or pointers.
:
: I have tried mapping the drive manually, but I get an error message saying
: the network path \\NPICF2C5F\memory_card could not be found. I am able to
: map other drive letters to the card reader on the other PCs using this
: procedure, so I now consider that this is a Windows problem that affects
: only this machine.
:
: Can anybody help or suggest what could be causing this problem?

I can only respond in general terms, not having experienced your current
setup.

If there is a UNC \\server\share you are trying to connect to but cannot and
all other systems can, on a peer-peer network, then it points to a
configuration issue and possibly an authentication issue.

I guess the first question would be can this specific computer connect to
this device except for using the card reader?
Also, PSC 2100 is a series, not a model. Which one do you have?
Also, I do not see any mention of a card reader with this product. Is it
3rd party?

--
Roland Hall
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