Laserjet 4 Aspire Laptop Issues

[maddawg]

Hello All,

I have a HP Laserjet 4 that has parallel port OR serial port ONLY (old printer) which I am trying to hook up to my laptop with USB. I got an adapter that converts the parallel to USB, but the printer doesn't respond. I also tried a full cable that converts it to eliminate what I thought was a bad adapter, but still no luck.......I then tried the serial connection and it still does not respond........

Is there a port/setting that has to be added/changed???
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.....
Acer Aspire 5000 laptop with WinXP Home

 

[FlyingPenguin]

I don't think that's a serial connector. I believe that's a proprietary Apple Mac connector.

Irregardless the way to go is the parallel port. Assuming the printer works (have you tried it with a desktop computer with a parallel port?) then it's probably the adapter you bought. In my experience some of them do not work as advertised.

I've had the best luck with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812156005

Hope this helps...

 

[maddawg]

The printer does work properlly thru the parallel port on a computer with one available. I have tried both the adapter and also a Belkin cable I pruchased that is similar to the one in the link above. Should this automatically detect when plugged into USB???