Who would have thought a printer would be so hard?

[hyrum]

I have had an unbelievable time setting my new printer up! It's just a regular printer, I bought the printer cable it needed, I installed the drivers as it requested!

Now, when I try to print the test page it keeps saying that the computer can't send the message to the printer! Says check the cables, make sure the print cartridge is in right etc etc.

All seems ok except one thing which might be it (and brace with me as I am clueless when it comes to hardware). Under device manager and Other Devices, there is a listing for PCI Serial Serial Controller with an exclamation mark on it.

Now under LPT1, it says it's working fine, any clues?

I am running Windows 98 on an AMD 1.4 with 256ram. The printer is an HP Apollo 2250 (www.myapollo.com)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Jeff

 

[khtm]

Stupid question...Is the printer turned on?

 

[hyrum]

hehe yes. Actually, it starts up just fine and the lights are as they should be. But as soon as I send the test page, it pulls the first page in and stops, then the lights flash!

 

[ZZZZZZ]

What mode is your LPT set to work in compared to what the printer is compatable with? (EPP, ECP, EPP+ECP, Standard)

 

[copyfixer]

Go into your printer properties and look at details. It should be set for bi directional parallel port (ecp). I don't think your parallel port is set up for this.

 

[hyrum]

It says: LPT: (ECP Printer Port)

Is it enabled automatically or do I have to change a setting somewhere?

 

[ZZZZZZ]

It is configured for Bi-Directional already. What mode does the printer suggest you use?

 

[ZZZZZZ]

Forgot to ask, is you printer cable IEEE1284 compliant? (Should say on the packaging , may say on the cable)

 

[hyrum]

It says Bi-Tronics, ECP, or bi-directional

 

[hyrum]

Yes, I went out and bought this cable since my last one wasn't working (which it probably was now!)

 

[hyrum]

Ok, I thought well it's a long shot but...lets clean the contacts on the cartridges and BINGO! Damn silly little things

 

[ZZZZZZ]

Hey, Glad to see you got it working