Thank you both for replying and I'm sorry I didn't provide sufficient
info. I'm really shooting in the dark a bit and was hoping someone
else had some similar experience that could help me.
The new printer is an Epson Photo R300 - USB only. The other is an old
Brother Laser printer that he'd really like to keep and be able to use
as well as the Epson. Quite understandably, I think you'd agree.
The Epson software loads, but doesn't seem to recognise the printer
properly. In device Manager there is an exclamation mark against the
printer, or perhaps it's port. I get the message that EPUSBCI.DLL
can't be found.
I've tried having the printer as the only thing using a USB port (i.e.
dispensing with the Hub)and with the brother printer powered down.
On reflection I suppose it's worth removing the Brother, both
logically and physically and then trying unloading/reloading the
software - with a reboot in between and, as usual, using Ctl/Alt/Del
to close all progs except Explorer before loading the Epson s/ware.
If that doesn't work, I could try having only the Hub plugged into the
USB port, the Epson plugged into that and no other USB devices
connected. From the Microsoft site there is a suggestion to delete the
port in Device Manager, but I find it difficult to clearly identify a
port to delete.
By the way, a fairly new HP scanner plugged into the Hub or direct
into a USB port seems to work just fine.
One thing I wonder is whether there's some quirk in Win 98, or Epson
s/ware, that won't allow what I'm trying to do.
I'd be grateful of comments on the above and any other things I might
sensibly try. I have wondered about trying to lose the friend
William