Printer problem

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 2 Dec 2000 3:27 pm

I have a copaq Armada 4220T laptop with an HP
Deskjet 712C printer, I have been using it about a year now with no problems. I added an
HP Scanjet 3400C and now print jobs will sometimes take much longer, or just hang up
altogether, and sometimes quit in the middle
of a print job. Anyone know what the problem might be?

John Drury
NTSGA #0003

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 2 Dec 2000 8:44 pm

Looks like a IRQ problem.

1) go to control
2) click on system hardware
3) see which hardware is trying to use the same interrupe

I bet it will be the printer and the scanner !!

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 3 Dec 2000 6:56 am

Are you daisychanining the printer and scanner. e.g. using the parallel port and going from the parallel port to the scanner and then from the scanner to the printer?

In most cases this is a worst case scenario as many printers (and in particular HP) do not like the extra length or some control signals are not lost in the chain and in many cases they do not work at all.

The better way, if you have a USB port (and the scanner or printer has a USB interface) is to run one of the devices from the USB port and one from the parallel (printer) port.

In a non notebook PC, I recommend to all my clients to install a second parallel port card if they have two parallel port devices.

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 3 Dec 2000 8:02 am

Jack,

It is hooked up the way you described. The laptop nor printer has USB, only the scanner does. Would a different cable help?
I remember when I got the printer I was advised to buy the highest quality cable that I could get and by it self it works fine. The HP scanner came with a cable but I don't know how good it is.How can you tell a good one from a bad one? Should I replace it with a more expensive cable? What do you look for in a cable?

John Drury
NTSGA #0003

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 3 Dec 2000 12:00 pm

John, the problem is that the printers usually have problems working through the scanner port. There is line driver/receiver problems, some control signals do not get regenerated correctly or not at all. Consequently when connected as you have it, in most cases the printer will not work, or if it works it's not very well. I don't know why manufacturers still want to sell systems that work that way.

You can try short (as short as possible) IEEE 1284 cables and see if it works, but I seriously doubt it. Most people that I know in your situation wind up using one device or the other connected directly to the PC printer port. e.g. If they have to print they connect the printer (or normally have the printer connected) and then if they need to use the scanner they will connect that device.

If you are trying to use the scanner/printer as a photocopier, you will have to just scan the document into the pc and after you have the document in the pc then switch cables and print it. You may have to scan the document in, save it (e.g. save it as a graphic document) and then print the document.

Laptops get a little more complicated without a USB port. It's not like a regular PC that you can just install an add on board.

If you have an open serial (comm) port on the laptop you may be able to get an adapter that will convert the serial port to USB. I don't know if that type of converter is made but if it is, and you have the serial port, then that would fix your problem. Worth checking into.

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 3 Dec 2000 12:50 pm

Jack,

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll just tough it out until next December, that is when the new laptop is coming to replace this one. I saw a new Dell the other day that one of the employees had and it had USB, plus a scad of memory and a much higher clock speed. At that time I will get a new printer with USB
and I should be good to go from there.
Thanks again for the info.

John Drury
NTSGA #0003

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 3 Dec 2000 8:10 pm

John-- Most scanners have 'automatic' software that monitors the computer port. You might try disabling the scanner software's automatic operation. (You STILL have the scanner connected and usable.)If/when you wish to use the scanner, you can start the software manually. Check HP's site at the following URL to see if this solution suits your needs. --Everett

http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/get_doc.pl?SNI=hpscanjet320506&LC=scanners&Tfile=bps03357

John Gretzinger · Post by **John Gretzinger** » 4 Dec 2000 11:12 am

One other thing I have seen work occasionally - make sure the scanner is turned on. Some "pass through" ports don't unless there is power to the passed through device.

Good luck,

jdg

------------------
MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 5 Dec 2000 5:29 am

Everett - Forgot to mention I am running Windows 95.

Thanks

John Drury
NTSGA #0003

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 5 Dec 2000 5:32 am

John Gretzinger - This scanner does not have an on/off switch.

Thanks

John Drury
NTSGA #0003

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 5 Dec 2000 8:42 am

John Drury ....

Quote:
"Everett - Forgot to mention I am running Windows 95."

That may be a major part of your problem....
Win95 may NOT support all the USB stuff.

Have your System Services Dept to install Win98 SE in your machine. Ihat should fix a lot of problems for you.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 5 Dec 2000 9:05 am

Simple solution (I hope) - get a ~$20.00 A/B switchbox and switch back and forth between scanner and printer as needed.

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 5 Dec 2000 12:30 pm

John--
The reminder to have your scanner turned on is a good one. Also, the A/B box MIGHT work if the scanner's 'auto-start' program is smart enough NOT to load if the scanner is not detected.

Now, back to HP's help page to which I'd directed you: Your scanner uses the same 'driver' for BOTH Win95 and Win98 so the instructions on the HP site would still apply. Except for one thing, that is: I don't believe you would have the 'MSCONFIG' utility they mention.

They were suggesting that as a way to prevent the loading (at system boot-up) of the scanner software. Most such 'auto-start' programs can be disabled by unchecking a 'properties' item or by removing an item from your 'start-up' folder.

Bottom line is that you probably can do what the HP page said, in a slightly different way. If you need help, drop me an email.

Tom Diemer · Post by **Tom Diemer** » 5 Dec 2000 4:08 pm

John, you might try setting your printer port in the computer's bios, to ECP. Some printer / scanner combo's don't work with it set to SPP, or Normal (standard par mode). ECP usually requires a IEEE cable also, so the DMA control lines are there.

ECP uses a DMA channel in addition to the IRQ, sometimes needed by the newer printer drivers, and becomes even more critical when daisy-chained with a scanner.

Your options should be SPP (sometimes called Normal), ECP, and EPP.

You might have to consult your manual on how to enter the BIOS utility,, Usually is DELETE right after powerup ( on AMI and Award bios's) or F1 or F2 on Phoenix Bios's. And some older bios versions used CTRL/ALT/ECP.. If you need help finding out how, drop me a note. I work in computers and have some means of finding most of them.

Anyway, fiddling with these settings usually will resolve the kind of problems you are having.

Good luck

Tom