add hardware wizard

[casual01]

am trying to install a new printer for a friend, hp 750 designjet. trying to install the software and when it's time to plug the printer into the pc, via usb, pc doesn't even try to recognize that anything was plugged in. cables are new and tried a couple, usb ports are enabled in bios and setup properly by window xp.

here's the wierd thing. if you go to add hardware wizard and try to detect the printer manually, the wizard comes up and says that it is already running/installing a device, and cannot install to devices at the same time. but, there isn't anything running or being installed. tried shutting completely down and back up, same thing.

how can i get rid of the hardware wizard and stop it from running. i pretty sure that's why the printer won't install.

any suggestions?

[reboot]

Have you put in the disk that came with the printer and run setup?
You're getting the message that it's already running/installing, have you waited for Windows to finish installing it?

[casual01]

yes, and the auto run feature wouldn't take off. i even tried to run setup from the run command and it wouldn't go.

i then proceeded to uninstall everything to do with the printer, rebooted, and then the hardware wizard stills says that it's trying to install a device. (what i have no clue though)

[reboot]

Probably trying to install the printer still. If it's USB, it's detected by Windows. Just let it run for awhile, and see if anything happens.
If nothing happens, unplug it, restart the computer, then run setup from the CD.
Part way through the setup you should be prompted when to plug it in.

[casual01]

did all that. let it sit for about an hour, nothing.
rebooted with printer hooked up and on, nothing.
tried to reinstall software after uninstalling, and setup will not run.

after trying each of these, i would go to add hardware wizard to see if windows would detect it manually, and everytime the wizard would say it is already running.

i just can't figure out how to stop the add hardware wizard or why it is even running. then i think i could get the printer installed ok.

[reboot]

Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, and end task on everything that looks like it shouldn't be running. It may be under the Services tab.
Try it again, but UNplug the printer, and restart before you run the setup.