Lexmark X73 printer and USB problems

[Bud8]

I was installing my printer on my new system. After I installed it, I rebooted my system{Windows XP} by the shutdown/restart mode and it wouldn't start up until I pulled the USB cable from the tower. A local cumputer guy told me to go to the Lexmark web page and download the latest driver and install it which I did. After I installed the updated driver for my Lexmark printer it still didn't work on startup. As a matter of fact, I had to pull my digital camera USB cable too to get the system to start up. Everything works fine but I would like to know what might be causing this problem. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated...now where did I put those aspirins!
Thanks!

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to TechSpot

Is that printer directly connected to the PC or to a USB-hub?
It might not get enough power if on a hub.

 

[Bud8]

Thanks for the response realblackstuff. Yes...it's hooked up directly to the PC. I just got back from buying a USB hub. I thought I might give that a try. The printer used to be hooked up to Windows 98SE and now I have it on Windows XP. I don't know if that matters or not.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Looks like your USB-subsystem is corrupt.
Go into Control Panel\System\Device Manager and uninstall anything you find under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers".
When you then reboot, Windows will install USB afresh (you may need your Windows CD).
Then plug in all your USB-items one by one to have them install again as well.
Did you install WinXP drivers for that printer or the old W98-drivers?
Look on the Lexmark website to get the latest printerdrivers for your model.
If the printer is USB2 and your PC-port is USB1.1, that may also cause a problem.

As to the hub, I hope you bought an active (powered) USB2 hub with its own powersupply, otherwise you will get erratic behaviour from the USB-gear that you hook up to it.
Get more info on hubs here: www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20030909

 

[Bud8]

Hi RBS, I went to Control Panel\System\Device Manager and right clicked it and there was nothing there. The USB hub I bought is powered by it's own power supply. It still doesn't reboot until I pull the USB cable but it came close to rebooting this time. I used the drivers supplied by Lexmark when I installed the printer to XP. It's something I can live with but I would like to know what the cause is. I appreciate your time in answering my question and if you come up with another idea I'd be glad to hear it. Keep in mind that I don't know much about computers like everyone else on here.
Thanks again!

 

[RealBlackStuff]

In Device Manager just CLICK on the +sign in front of the USB. You should see a list of
USB Root Hub, USB 2.0 Root Hub, [chipset] USB Universal Host controller etc.
Show us what you got there. They are the ones to uninstall, then reboot, Windows installs the USB again, then get your mobo-CD out to install its USB-drivers. Updtae the last from the internet if available.