WinXP doesn’t see printer (WinXP)

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I have an HP Officejet d155xi printer which works fine on my old PC running Win2K but when I plug it into my new PC running WinXP – nothing! The OS can’t/won’t see it. I’ve tried everything I can think of (uninstalling/reinstalling HP software, checking for new drivers, checking cable etc). If I manually install printer nothing either. Cannot even send a test print from DOS. The USB ports work fine with other devices (such as MP3 player). When I plug in the printer to the USB port the PC beeps in acknowledgement but does nothing else. I get no error messages at any stage – the PC simply refuses to acknowledge the printer.

Any ideas??

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Have you tried the ‘Add Hardware Wizard’?

‘Control Panel’ > ‘Printers and Other Hardware’ > ‘Add Hardware’ (top left-hand side)

or

‘Control Panel’ > ‘Printers and Other Hardware’ > ‘Add a printer’ (under ‘pick a task…’)

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You might also want to check the drivers for the printer. I had a similar problem with a Umax 3400 USB scanner. The system wouldn’t recognize it no matter what I tried. I finally had to manually install a set of NON-digitally signed USB drivers for the device and “viola” there is was and worked fine.

Bob

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I’m wondering if it’s a problem with Plug-n-Play. As the printer works fine with my old PC, I thought I’d wire them up so I installed another network card (already use one for broadband connection) and nothing. PC doesn’t see the new network card. According to “services” PlugnPlay is working fine. Except that if you plug in something it don’t play! I’m stumped.

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Well, talking about services. There is to my knowledge one issue that can result in these symptoms. There is a service called “Print Spooler”, and if it’s not running Windows XP will not see your printer.

If you, for example, have added a printer and it is working properly, stopping the mentioned service will result in that XP doesn’t see any printer (and thus no printer in “Printer folder) and asks you to add one when you try to print etc. If the service then is started the printer will reappear.

Check if “Print Spooler” is running (using Run: services.msc or adm. tool), see “Status”. Normally this service is configured as “auto”, it starts with the computer or on first call. If it is not in “auto mode”, just double-click on the service and change start method on first tab.

In case of a previously working printer not responding, restarting this service may help.

(I have no printer connected to my XP machine, but then there is MS Excel … “preview” doesn’t work as it does with MS Word etc, so I have to install a non existing printer, sigh.)

Regards,

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