Printer Driver Question

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Carol Dowell - 16 Apr 2008 22:57 GMT

For several years I have been using a HP Officejet G55 on my Windows 98/SE.
Now I also have a Vista computer. I had to install the drivers on the 98 for
the printer, and it works just fine on the Vista. But now I can't use the
printer on the 98.
I have downloaded some files from HP to fix the uninall problem I've been
having with the 98, but haven't tried it yet. Did the Vista do something to
the printer to make it unusable on the 98?
I always thought the drivers were installed to the computer, but now I'm
wondering if there is something the Vista put into the printer as well.

Thank you.
Carol

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Jeff Richards - 17 Apr 2008 10:32 GMT

I assume that you have created a network to connect the Vista PC to the
existing W98 PC and its printer, and that you haven't changed anything to do
with the printer, such as its connection to the W98 PC.

If that's so, then you should start by removing the printer device from your
W98 system and re-installing it.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> For several years I have been using a HP Officejet G55 on my Windows
> 98/SE. Now I also have a Vista computer. I had to install the drivers on
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Thank you.
> Carol

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Carol Dowell - 21 Apr 2008 20:54 GMT

The two computers are not connected. The first time I tried using the
printer on the 98 after using it on the Vista, I got a message telling me
the printer program had to be reinstalled. I had problems getting it
uninstalled so that I can reinstall it. I haven't tried the fix-it files I
got from HP yet.
I didn't understand why the printer no longer worked on the 98 after using
it on the Vista. I unplugged the printer from the 98 and plugged it in to
the Vista. The 98 hadn't even been turned on until I was going to print
something from it. Is there something in the printer the 98 doesn't
understand, and is it no longer usable on the 98?
Carol

>I assume that you have created a network to connect the Vista PC to the
>existing W98 PC and its printer, and that you haven't changed anything to
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>> Thank you.
>> Carol

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Cari (MS-MVP) - 22 Apr 2008 01:56 GMT

The 98 PC shouldn't have forgotten about the printer..... unless you
connected it to a different USB port than it was connected to before. If
it's a different port, then it will need to be reinstalled as if it's a new
device.

Signature

Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

> The two computers are not connected. The first time I tried using the
> printer on the 98 after using it on the Vista, I got a message telling me
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
>>> Thank you.
>>> Carol

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Carol Dowell - 22 Apr 2008 18:22 GMT

I think I may have connected it to the wrong USB and then remembered that I
shouldn't have done that. But by then I was having problems getting the
printer uninstalled, so I couldn't try it in the correct USB. My external
hard drive works in both USB's, and I forgot that the printer didn't.
I'll try the fix-it from HP and see what happens. The more I think about it,
it seems likely that that was what caused the original problem.
Thanks.
Carol

> The 98 PC shouldn't have forgotten about the printer..... unless you
> connected it to a different USB port than it was connected to before. If
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>>>> Thank you.
>>>> Carol

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Jeff Richards - 22 Apr 2008 11:56 GMT

That shouldn't happen, but removing the printer and re-installing it is
still a worthwhile exercise.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> The two computers are not connected. The first time I tried using the
> printer on the 98 after using it on the Vista, I got a message telling me
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> understand, and is it no longer usable on the 98?
> Carol

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Carol Dowell - 22 Apr 2008 18:29 GMT

I had to get some files from HP because the computer will no longer let me
uninstall the printer. It doesn't show up in the printer folder or in the
add/remove programs. I was curious to know if getting it all reinstalled
would be worth it, if the printer wouldn't work on the 98. Right now I can't
even install a generic printer, but that's only because I have to dig out my
Windows 98 installation CD. I'll try the HP first.
Carol

> That shouldn't happen, but removing the printer and re-installing it is
> still a worthwhile exercise.
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>> understand, and is it no longer usable on the 98?
>> Carol

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Cari (MS-MVP) - 24 Apr 2008 03:21 GMT

It will always happen if the printer does not contain a hard coded unique ID
and is by design... you may have two models of the same printer that you
wish to configure differently.

Signature

Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

> That shouldn't happen, but removing the printer and re-installing it is
> still a worthwhile exercise.

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Jeff Richards - 24 Apr 2008 09:10 GMT

That would explain multiple printers, which, in this case, would not have
been a problem. It doesn't explain a printer disappearing just because it
was unplugged.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> It will always happen if the printer does not contain a hard coded unique
> ID and is by design... you may have two models of the same printer that
> you wish to configure differently.
>> That shouldn't happen, but removing the printer and re-installing it is
>> still a worthwhile exercise.

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Carol Dowell - 25 Apr 2008 14:50 GMT

I got it working again! I think my original problem was that I simply
plugged it into the wrong USB. I've done that before, but then when I tried
to print a Word document or something, it just sat there, then I realized
that I had to change the plug.
This time was different because I actually tried to run the printer program,
to do some scanning. I got a messaged telling me that the program was no
longer operational and I had to reinstall it. Since this was the first time
I had used the printer since using it on the Vista, I associated it with
some kind of problem from the Vista.
I can scan just fine on the Vista, if I want to do pictures, but 99% of the
stuff I scan is text, and I can't do that on the Vista. Or play my favorite
game, which is DOS.
Thanks for you help!
Carol

> For several years I have been using a HP Officejet G55 on my Windows
> 98/SE. Now I also have a Vista computer. I had to install the drivers on
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Thank you.
> Carol

Reply to this Message

Jeff Richards - 25 Apr 2008 22:22 GMT

Thank for letting us know that you got it working again.

Your problem with scanning text must be that although you can get the text
page scanned as an image you cannot get the image recognised as text that
you can paste into your word processor.

If you have Offie 2007 installed you can do this. Choose Microsoft Office /
Microsoft Office Tools / Microsoft Office Document Scanning. Select your
scanner and then Scan. Then either Tools / Send Text to Word, or Tools /
Recognise Text using OCR, select and copy the text and paste it where you
want to use it.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

>I got it working again! I think my original problem was that I simply
>plugged it into the wrong USB. I've done that before, but then when I tried
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Thanks for you help!
> Carol

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Carol Dowell - 27 Apr 2008 03:33 GMT

Thanks for letting me know about this. I do have Office 2007. And I may have
discovered it someday on my own, but I'm very glad that I know it sooner
than later.
Carol

> Thank for letting us know that you got it working again.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>> Thanks for you help!
>> Carol

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