Can't print to hp laserjet 4550

hi

i have a workgroup network at home and have 2 printers, 1 hplasjer 3100 and 1color laserjet 4550; they were both working fine until i moved the color 4550 upstairs b/c of the noise; and now i cant print from it at all! i tried diff.parallel cables, different pc's but nothing; i tried deleting that driver and then reinstall it but no luck

after i uninstall the printer drier and reboot, it does sense the new printer, and after gong through the setup from the cd, it wont even print a test page; but at the printer console, it says ready and i can print the status page, information specs, etc.... but it just doesnt seem to receive anything from the printers

the 4550 is connected to all the pc's )(1 at a time of course) via the parallel cable (and i hve checked in bios that the parallel port is enabled); all the pc's are in win2k pro and in a workgroup, and yes the pc's hosting the printer are on b/c i have to make that work before i can share the printer to other pc's

it's the darnest thing b/c this is not the frist time i have done this; i installed te drivers from the cd and it installed pcl6, pcl5e, ps fonts; i tried adding a local port (not lpt1) but when i print with that new port, it just vanishes; when it's on lpt1, the error message comes on that there's an error printing (normally happening when the printer first warms up)

plese help!

thanks

 

When you set up the printer as "shared" from one computer on the network, Windows installs a basic set of drivers on those network PCs that will share that printer. Now it would seem that the sharing computers cannot set the printer as a "host" printer.

It would seem to be a driver conflict, although if you are installing the HP software as well, it could be that installing the software is setting the new host printer drivers in a conflict with the "network" drivers.

I cannot say I am an expert. I have reset drivers for my network printers in Win 98 by basically removing all the printers drivers and software and starting over.

There was a problem at work with two Win XP workstations that shared one printer (although there were other printers previously). When that setup broke down, I found it was really stuck and I do not have administrator privilages and so could investigate very well. I completely uninstalled the printer on the original host and installed it on the second. It is working well like that, but will not work at all attached the original host.

HP will have a website for the printer, check through the troubleshooter. See if there may be a "removal tool" for the drivers.
mmmm...after removal of drivers and software, try turning off "share printers" and only re-enable it when you get back to that stage.

Try uninstalling the LPT port in Device Manager, it will be automatically reinstalled when you reboot.

Matt
PS all the printers I spoke about were HPs.

 

hi Matt
thanks for responding

i do believe that it 's related to the 4550 printer b/c i have moved the hp 3100 around all the time (b/c of its lightweight) so i have the hp3100 setup as a local print driver as well as shared network resource driver and never had any problem; when i print, i just browse to the appropriate location of the pc that it's attached to and then voila; in fact, i have installed the 4550 as a local print driver on more than 1 pc downstairs before and never had this problem

i dont know of any util that removes print drivers; i just do it manually, delete heheh; i notice that this time around when i install the software that came with cd, it installed pcl 5c, pcl6, and ps (i forgot the number); i dont recall having more than one automatically installed like that bfeore

 

If you think the printer has a fault, try printing a "self-test" page. You will find out how in the manual or in the troubleshooting list at the HP website. If you are using the same cable, see if it possible to try another.

If the test page works, I would try setting it up on a computer that has never had it set up on before. If that does not work then it would be time to take to the HP printer repairer.

Run through all the cleaning methods. Also, they can be very touchy if the ink cartridges are not installed correctly or they have dirty electrical contacts.

Matt

 

well, printing a self test from a pc wont get a response at all but at the printer lcd control panel, it does respond to my selecting choices (i.e. print supplies status, usage, etc....), so i think it 's more on the port or the connection

btw, i just bought an hp laserjet 3800n and i'm getting confused; this model is supposed to print up to 22 ppm and the connectivity choices are usb and ethernet; i dont have a usb2 cable handy but i do have cat6 ethernet cables available; but the manual says to ensure the network cable is hp compliant; i never knew of such a term; do u have any idea on this, Matt? also, between usb 2 and ethernet interface, which one would be faster or it'd be a moot point b/c the fastest it will print is 22 ppm? u wont believe how many sites use different terminology or even diff. information; so confusing! according to some sites, the 3800n comes with a usb 2 cable (which it did not)

 

AFAIK, yes, moot point.

I have a 3820 (that I have not set up yet). It did not come with any cables...which means the same problem you have.

HP printers do (or did) have a special setup as a standalone "network access" printer (not run from one computer, but having it's own IP address)...and sorry, it's been a while since I have worked on these so I forget the terminology. If the manual talks about setting up an interface to give the printer an IP address, then you may well need to purchase the equipment to do that (it may be called EtherJet).

My suggestion is to grab a USB cable if you are going to use it connected through one computer. Only a dollar or three and you should find them at a department store [definitely at an electronics store].

The problem printer...if HP printer repairers are like the ones we have here, you should be able to phone the nearest repairer, give them a rundown on the problem and see what they suggest. HP support at their website should at least give you a reply to any query (although it may just be to take it to a repairer, but then again, they may be able to lead you to the answer straight away).

Matt

 

One other thing you might check is your firewall. I just about went crazy trying to figure out why I could not print to my laser print (connected to my router) an finally figured out that I had to let the firewall know that it was a trusted ip.

May not be the same problem but it worked for me.

Bob Sole