HP printer problem in XP

[KHT]

I`m having problems getting a HP-812c printer to work on an XP home system. I thought I read somewhere that there is an issue with XP and HP printers but damn if i can find where I read that.

It`s a new Dell system with XP installed. The printer has worked flawlessly on a homemade W98 machine but even when XP detects and installs the driver there appears to be no communication between PC and printer after installation. I`ve checked the HP site and the latest drivers are on the XP system. The 812c is listed as compatible and I`ve even tried several of the other listed drivers with no success. (I know of one office setting where we have to load the Laserjet 4L drivers to run the LaserJet 6L printers)

I`m hoping someone may have some info or similar problems they`ve encountered that may help.

Thanks

[BFD Deadeye]

Are you using the USB or parallel connection for the printer? I had a similar experience in ME with the USB connection. I had to download a special "uninstaller" from HP.

[Jenni]

HP printers are fabulous--when they work right. But all of them seem to have driver issues of one sort or another with certain programs. The Laserjet 6L is a perfect example. Worked fine with every program except Pagemaker 5.0. In Pagemaker 5.0, the first page (or set of pages) printed just fine. Every page after that was offset down and to the left by a good 3 inches. Which was ok when printing a business card layout, but not ok when printing an 8.5 x 11 letterhead or brochure. Turns out that Pagemaker 5.0 didn't support the "host-based" printer driver, and you had to install the PCL printer driver. Once I read through Adobe's whole site and found this out, it was simple to solve. But finding it was a real pain.

If XP is like W2K, you might need to assign an IRQ to the parallel port, if that is the way you are using the printer.

[doubledragon5]

You say Hp states drivers for your printer come already installed with XP? I don't trust much of the drivers Microsoft uses on its XP operating system, your best bet would be to go back to Hp and install drivers for your printer that are provided from Hp direct, I would also stick with the USB over paraell for faster communication and printing of your documents. Also if you have Easy cd reator installed from dell I have a dell dimension 8200 some portions of the program will create loss of communication from the pc to the printer Check with Hp on which part it is I think they told me take five,so I would uninstall it if you have it and pick cutom install and leave out the take five portion of the software. Good Luck

[KHT]

Thanks for the replies. I`ve e-mailed some instructions to try to completely uninstall the printers and re-install but haven`t heard back since. The printer is using a parallel port not USB. Also, HP doesn`t offer any driver downloads, it simply states the drivers come with XP.

It seems as if XP is no better or no worse than any of the other Microsoft products so far. It`s a matter of identifying and learning the quirks and how to get around them that will make the difference.

It would be nice if software vendors and such would tailor their developements to the industry and not the stock market. I don`t want a new product just one that works. Is that to much to ask?

Feel free to post any other suggestions. And again, thanks.