usb to parallel

  • Thread starter Thread starter greentoenail
  • Start date Start date
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greentoenail

A friend of mine has a new laptop, the laptop has no parallel connections on
it. The printer has no usb connections on it. We purchased a usb to
parallel adapter plugged it in, and it worked fine, at first. The problem
occurs when trying to print after not printing for a while, the printer just
refuses to print. When we restart the computer, the printer works again.
After restarting, the printer prints all the documents left in the print
spooler, and then functions correctly for another while. Restarting all the
time is becoming rather annoying.

If anyone has encountered this problem, and knows a solution, or has some
good ideas, we would be very thankful.
 
If anyone has encountered this problem, and knows a solution, or has some
good ideas, we would be very thankful.
Click to expand...

I've had this problem and I think it happens if the printer has sleep
mode but the usb adapter doesn't wake the printer properly. Usually
unplugging and replugging the USB cable works for me.
 
greentoenail said:
A friend of mine has a new laptop, the laptop has no parallel connections
on it. The printer has no usb connections on it. We purchased a usb to
parallel adapter plugged it in, and it worked fine, at first. The problem
occurs when trying to print after not printing for a while, the printer
just refuses to print. When we restart the computer, the printer works
again. After restarting, the printer prints all the documents left in the
print spooler, and then functions correctly for another while. Restarting
all the time is becoming rather annoying.

If anyone has encountered this problem, and knows a solution, or has some
good ideas, we would be very thankful.
Click to expand...
I've had a similar problem with a Canon ip5000 printer connected via USB to
a PC with xp pro. I've been on all the xp newsgroups and on the MS site
trying to find the answer and also went through a one hour routine with
Canon tech support. I finally disabled the spooler for this printer while
leaving the spooler enabled for an HP laser that is installed via parallel
cable. Now the printer works just fine, except that I have to wait until
the entire print job is done before the computer is accessable to do even a
single key stroke. When I removed the ip5000 and replace it with a canon
i960 it works fine with the spooler enabled. The ip5000 works just fine
with my wife's computer which is also a PC with xp pro installed. I believe
that some upgrade that occurred in XP pro on my computer is at fault.

To disable the spooler click start/settings/printers and faxes/right click
the icon of the printer in question/click properties/advanced/print directly
to printer/apply/OK. See if it works.

I also read that you might rename spooler.exe and reinstall that file from
your XP disk as it may be a corrupted file that is to blame. I didn't
bother with that fix as I prefer using the i960 and my wife is happy with
the ip5000.
 
After doing some additional research on the printer, it's a HP Laserjet 6p,
I found that the printer doesn't have a sleep mode. I unplugged the
printer, plugged it back in, it still didn't work. Then I turned the
printer off, unplugged it, turned the printer on, and plugged it back in, no
luck. I then investigated Start>Run>devmgmt.msc>Universal Serial Bus
controllers>USB Root Hub>Properties>Power Management tab>cleared the "Allow
the computer to turn off this device to save power" check box. In the power
tab of the USB Root Hub properties, I clicked Refresh, restarted the print
queu, and out comes the paper. Thinking this would fix the problem for
good, I left, went home, and recieved word of the problem persisting. This
person doesn't know much about computers other than "Printer broke, Why
printer no work?" The steps listed above are far to much for this user. If
it's possible, I would like to find a solution that doesn't require user
intervention.
 
greentoenail said:
After doing some additional research on the printer, it's a HP Laserjet
6p, I found that the printer doesn't have a sleep mode. I unplugged the
printer, plugged it back in, it still didn't work. Then I turned the
printer off, unplugged it, turned the printer on, and plugged it back in,
no luck. I then investigated Start>Run>devmgmt.msc>Universal Serial Bus
controllers>USB Root Hub>Properties>Power Management tab>cleared the
"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" check box. In
the power tab of the USB Root Hub properties, I clicked Refresh, restarted
the print queu, and out comes the paper. Thinking this would fix the
problem for good, I left, went home, and recieved word of the problem
persisting. This person doesn't know much about computers other than
"Printer broke, Why printer no work?" The steps listed above are far to
much for this user. If it's possible, I would like to find a solution
that doesn't require user intervention.
Click to expand...

If disabling the spooler works, no more intervention will be necessary. If
your friend is not very computer savvy he/she may not be concerned with the
downside of printing directly to the printer instead of printing to the
spooler to release the computer for further use before the print job is
complete. If you don't have access to the computer you can easily guide
your friend by phone through the steps that I outlined for you. It is
easily reversed if it doesn't work. Go through the same steps except that
you check spool print documents and check start printing immediately.
 
A friend of mine has a new laptop, the laptop has no parallel connections on
it. The printer has no usb connections on it. We purchased a usb to
parallel adapter plugged it in, and it worked fine, at first. The problem
occurs when trying to print after not printing for a while, the printer just
refuses to print. When we restart the computer, the printer works again.
After restarting, the printer prints all the documents left in the print
spooler, and then functions correctly for another while. Restarting all the
time is becoming rather annoying.

If anyone has encountered this problem, and knows a solution, or has some
good ideas, we would be very thankful.
Click to expand...

There are a few other things you can try, but the cost, unless you
already have the equipment, is probably not worth it - you may be
better off simiply getting a new printer.

The specific converter cable you have may be incompatible, I've seen
cases where one converter works, while another one won't at all, I
don't know whether this has to do with the drivers or the wiring. You
could try finding a different brand - check to see if the printer
company itself specifically has one.

Another way to do it is, if the person has a network, would be to put
the printer on a print server and see if it works that way. I believe
you don't need to have a hub or switch or router, you can direct
connect in ad-hoc mode, though I've never tried this myself. I think
you need a crossover cable to do this.

The parallel port seems to be completely dissappearing, I think even
desktop systems are starting to omit it, and the only consumer level
printer that still uses the connection is the C88.

--

http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.
 
I disabled the spooler, the problem is still there, as far as throwing more
money at the problem by way of another adapter, we looked into some
different areas, another usb to parallel adapter doesn't seem like such a
fine idea any more, and a port replicator costs nearly half as much as a new
printer. I think she may end up using a new multi-purpose machine, with a
scanner/copier/fax integrated into it. I don't know when I'm going to get
another chance to poke around with the settings, I might try restarting the
spooler, if that works, I'll make a batch file for her, other than that, a
new printer might be the aspirin to this headache. This person doesn't have
a network to share it with, just the one laptop. I wasn't expecting all
these replies so soon, thank you all for the input, I'll keep checking back
in the next few days, untill then school seems to be keeping me relatively
strapped for time, if I find the answer, I'll be sure to post it.
 
greentoenail said:
I disabled the spooler, the problem is still there, as far as throwing more
money at the problem by way of another adapter, we looked into some
different areas, another usb to parallel adapter doesn't seem like such a
fine idea any more, and a port replicator costs nearly half as much as a
new printer. I think she may end up using a new multi-purpose machine,
with a scanner/copier/fax integrated into it. I don't know when I'm going
to get another chance to poke around with the settings, I might try
restarting the spooler,
service

if that works, I'll make a batch file for her, other than that, a new
printer might be the aspirin to this headache. This person doesn't have a
network to share it with, just the one laptop. I wasn't expecting all
these replies so soon, thank you all for the input, I'll keep checking
back in the next few days, untill then school seems to be keeping me
relatively strapped for time, if I find the answer, I'll be sure to post
it.
Click to expand...
 
I disabled the spooler, the problem is still there, as far as throwing more
money at the problem by way of another adapter, we looked into some
different areas, another usb to parallel adapter doesn't seem like such a
fine idea any more, and a port replicator costs nearly half as much as a new
printer. I think she may end up using a new multi-purpose machine, with a
scanner/copier/fax integrated into it. I don't know when I'm going to get
another chance to poke around with the settings, I might try restarting the
spooler, if that works, I'll make a batch file for her, other than that, a
new printer might be the aspirin to this headache. This person doesn't have
a network to share it with, just the one laptop. I wasn't expecting all
these replies so soon, thank you all for the input, I'll keep checking back
in the next few days, untill then school seems to be keeping me relatively
strapped for time, if I find the answer, I'll be sure to post it.
Click to expand...

That seems to be the biggets problem, the adapter is so expensive that
it's not worth getting... I believe Wal-Mart used to have them for a
slightly more reasonable price ($20-$25), but the one in my area
discontinued them.

Depending on how old the printer is, getting a new one might be a
better choice (I had a Canon BJC-4300 that worked well, but since the
ink carts were much smaller back then, and the replacable printhead
was the cost of the whole printer, I had to finally give up on it
after 7 years), but if it's one of the last generation of parallel
models, the printer might be worth keeping. As far as all in ones go,
most of the cheaper models these days have ink tanks that are so small
that you'll spend the cost of a printer five times over within a year.
I find it dissapointing that the first HP model that takes both the
large black and color tanks is $350. I think even the comparable
Brother model has bigger ink tanks than the $89 HP.

--

http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.
 
I bought a BAFO BF-1284 USB-to-Parallel printer cable. "Fully compatible
with all parallel printers." I bought it on the web from Byterunner
$13.89 including shipping. It got lost in transit, and the seller
duplicated the shipment immediately at his expense. Nice folks to deal with!

The adaptor cable works perfectly with my Okidata LED printer, including
bi-directional communication. The computer sees the adaptor's software
as LPT2, so there's no "gotcha" with another printer or device on LPT1
(good thinking!).

I have only one minor complaint, which wouldn't affect 90% of users: the
adaptor circuitry is built into the Centronics connector. Now, what I'd
really like to do is to run this adaptor into a printer switch box.
Unfortunately, all the switchboxes I've ever seen have 25-pin connectors
on them; with lots of searching, I did find one female-female Centronics
gender changer ($10 on-line someplace), which might make this work.
There's lots of male-male ones out there, but I need the opposite.

I'm gonna think about this some more. Meanwhile, as advertised, the
thing works perfectly for my situation.

One more thing: I'm using a Windows Millenium system.

Richard
 
If the computer is a desktop, it may be possible to install a USB 1.1
adapter card, via a PCI slot, and run the printer on USB. They have
become cheaper since USB 2.0 is out now.
 
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