Help with a printer/ external cdr burner problem...

[warehouse678]

OK here's the deal, and it's killing me. I recently helped out my buddy who has an HP LaserJet 2300d printer that was daisy chained through an external HP cd burner and then into the computer. So the printer cable from the printer goes into the burner, and then from the burner, another parallel cable goes out into the computer. Now he was having problems with printing as of recently since he upgraded to XP. He can not print .pdf files.

So I disconnected the chain and did a direct connect from printer to computer. It was still giving the same problem but now .doc files are screwed up and the only thing that will print is the test page.

I made sure to try different drivers, I used a PS, PCL6 and PCL5 all failed to print and I feel screwed it up more.

Does anyone have any idea as what to do? I was thinking maybe delete the cd burners software because that might be causing the conflict, and just reinstalling the print drivers.

If anyone can help it would be of great help. Also, if you need me to clarify anymore I'd more than happy to because I know it seems confusing typed out. Thanks so much.

Joe

 

[psyke]

I'm confused... Why was he running the printer cable through the CD Burner?

Is such a connection possible?...Surprising to me that you even COULD get the printer to work through this configuration..

So it goes, Parallel Cable from computer ---> Cd Burner ---> Parallel Cable to Printer?

Is this correct? or am i reading this wrong?

Why not just run the parallel cable direct from the printer to the computer?

Still kinda, confusing.. But if its not printing certain documents, disconnect the printer entirely, delete all printer drivers, restart a couple of times.

And reinstall the printer driver, sounds like a corrupt driver to me.

 

[Nodsu]

By default Windows XP does not allocate an interrupt to a parallel port. Your printer/burner/drivers may want it though. See to it in Device Manager. In BIOS make sure you have set the printer port to either Bi-Directional or EPP/ECP.

 

[warehouse678]

I'm confused... Why was he running the printer cable through the CD Burner?

Is such a connection possible?...Surprising to me that you even COULD get the printer to work through this configuration..

So it goes, Parallel Cable from computer ---> Cd Burner ---> Parallel Cable to Printer?

Is this correct? or am i reading this wrong?

Why not just run the parallel cable direct from the printer to the computer?

Still kinda, confusing.. But if its not printing certain documents, disconnect the printer entirely, delete all printer drivers, restart a couple of times.

And reinstall the printer driver, sounds like a corrupt driver to me.

Don't worry it is confusing, and I asked him why the hell did he have it set up this way to begin with. It goes, Parallel Cable from computer ---> Cd Burner ---> Parallel Cable to Printer, so you were reading it right. I tried deleting and reinstalling all of the drivers, and even tried deleting the cd burner software because that might have somehow corrupted something. Still no luck.

 

[warehouse678]

By default Windows XP does not allocate an interrupt to a parallel port. Your printer/burner/drivers may want it though. See to it in Device Manager. In BIOS make sure you have set the printer port to either Bi-Directional or EPP/ECP.

I tried that and it fixed the problem for only a minute. I was able to reinstall the printer and print a test page and from .txt and .doc files. The thing is though when I went to go print off a .pdf file it would not print and then I tried doing a .doc file after that and it wouldn't print that file anymore Thanks for all of the advice guys, it is helping me out.

Joe

 

[patio]

I would suggest to him that he invest in a new enclosure for that burner that uses a different interface than parralel...

patio.