Problem with XP connecting USB laptop to Parallel Printer
Thread Starter
TightYorksherMan
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,573
Likes: 1
From: Peak District
Problem with XP connecting USB laptop to Parallel Printer
I have connected a Parallel printer to a USB laptop using a conversion cable.
Problem - the computer will not recognise the printer as a HP Laserjet 2100TN so had to manually set up the driver, not a problem, not assigning the port is where I am struggleing. The laptop has 3 USB ports - which is which!
If it helps, when I try printing out a test page the balloon sometimes comes up a) out of paper b) unable to print - there is plenty of paper!
Problem - the computer will not recognise the printer as a HP Laserjet 2100TN so had to manually set up the driver, not a problem, not assigning the port is where I am struggleing. The laptop has 3 USB ports - which is which!
If it helps, when I try printing out a test page the balloon sometimes comes up a) out of paper b) unable to print - there is plenty of paper!
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 0
From: fairly close to the colonial capitol
The printer driver is looking for a parallel port - so something about the driver/software for the conversion cable should tell the driver VIA emulation that there is a parallel port available.
Looks like the answer should be in the CD that came with the conversion cable. USB is USB to Windows - it doesn't care which physical USB port is connected and will auto-find any devices.
One thing about Windows (any flavor) and USB is every thing gets mucked up when you plug new USB hardware in before running the installation CD - Always run the software first with USB stuff. If you think this is an issue - goto your Control Panel > System then Click Hardware Tab and then Device Manager button to view the ports that Windows knows about. IF there is a problem with one - it will show as either an Exclamation point or a Red X.
good luck !
Looks like the answer should be in the CD that came with the conversion cable. USB is USB to Windows - it doesn't care which physical USB port is connected and will auto-find any devices.
One thing about Windows (any flavor) and USB is every thing gets mucked up when you plug new USB hardware in before running the installation CD - Always run the software first with USB stuff. If you think this is an issue - goto your Control Panel > System then Click Hardware Tab and then Device Manager button to view the ports that Windows knows about. IF there is a problem with one - it will show as either an Exclamation point or a Red X.
good luck !
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,630
Likes: 0
From: 39N 77W
Last week I connected an old HP720C(?) inkjet printer (parallel port) to an XP SP2 system's USB port.
I put the HP installation disk in the CD drive. Without much thought I plugged the conversion cable into the XP system. Nice ding-dong sound of new device recognized. After a while I plugged the cable into the printer and turned it on. It was not recognized. I unplugged the conversion cable at this juncture. Failure.
For a second try I turned everything off.
Then turned on the XP system.
Connected the conversion cable to the printer and turned on the printer.
Plugged the conversion cable into an XP USB port.
Bingo, the printer was recognized and the driver installed. The HP CD was still in the drive but I didn't notice whether XP looked at it.
Success.
I didn't have to do any manual setup. The printer is now recognised whenever I plug it into that USB port.
I put the HP installation disk in the CD drive. Without much thought I plugged the conversion cable into the XP system. Nice ding-dong sound of new device recognized. After a while I plugged the cable into the printer and turned it on. It was not recognized. I unplugged the conversion cable at this juncture. Failure.
For a second try I turned everything off.
Then turned on the XP system.
Connected the conversion cable to the printer and turned on the printer.
Plugged the conversion cable into an XP USB port.
Bingo, the printer was recognized and the driver installed. The HP CD was still in the drive but I didn't notice whether XP looked at it.
Success.
I didn't have to do any manual setup. The printer is now recognised whenever I plug it into that USB port.
