grrrrr help me jebus

pitdog

hi wondered if anybody has any smarts about why my printer wont work, i am down to my last handful of hair !!!!!!
heres the deal .. bought a printer in asda for much cheapness ( lexmark 730 series), got it home set up as required via usb all went fine then every time i try to print i get a printer unable to communicate message ( all be it in an amusing steven hawkings style voice) the noveltys fast wearing off , im fairly sure its a usb problem but thats as far as my knowledge goes ! , any help would be much appreciated.

startrekker

Have you tried going into the control panel and printer properties and making sure that your new printer is set to the default printer. Also if you already had a printer installed before , did you uninstall the software for that one first?

pitdog

yeah its pretty much a blank canvas as far as printers etc concerned, my friend says i might have to re-format but i really dont wanna go there, it seems to be a general problem wen i connect a usb device ??????

Rex_Mundi

I've got an old Lexmark running on one of my computers. It works lovely, but I remember setting it up was a trial! It was one of the most difficult things getting the drivers to work properly.

First, check your firewall is not blocking access to your printer.

If you installed the drivers from the disc that came with the printer. Go to the Lexmark site, and make sure that you have the latest set of drivers for your printer. I ended up trying 3 or 4 different drivers before I before I got my printer running fine.

I vowed I'd never buy another Lexmark because of the driver hassle, and the price of their ink!

Holeypockets

Just to eliminate this, is the usb cable ok? Is the usb hub ok? Try connecting the printer to your pc without going through the hub.

pitdog

thanks you guys, ive been suspicious about my usb jobbies ( techie term ) since i got service pack 2, just uninstalled it and without doing anything else its workin great .... no doubt this will cause me probs at a later date but im sure you guys will help me out he he !!!!!

Rex_Mundi

pitdog wrote:

thanks you guys, ive been suspicious about my usb jobbies ( techie term ) since i got service pack 2, just uninstalled it and without doing anything else its workin great .... no doubt this will cause me probs at a later date but im sure you guys will help me out he he !!!!!

Service pack 2 included a LOT of security updates for XP. Uninstalling it is a really really really bad idea! You'd be better off having SP2, then trying to work out your USB problems. This could save you a lot more hassle in the future. Running without SP2 leaves your computer vulnerable.

pitdog

ooooops my bad, my impulsiveness is my achilles heel..... im off to get service pack 2 again !!!!!!!! ... no doubt ill be back !!!
extreme computing ...... its the future !!!!!!!!!