Help! HP LaserJet 1200 not installing on my desktop

[KutterMax]

I've been trying to fix my printer problem for sometime now and have been unsuccessful. Here is what is happening.

I have a desktop PC running Windows XP Pro that was previously working fine with my HP LaserJet 1200. I then bought a SMC Router with a USB print server. I tried get the printer to work with this but was unsuccessful. I decided to hook the printer up to the desktop (this was quite a few months back so I don't remember exactly what I did). Somewhere along the line I removed the printer in the "Add/Remove" Printer control panel.

Now I hook up the printer via USB and I get the Windows connect sound but the driver doesn't install. I tried manually installing the driver but somehow the printer is still not being seen. It doesn't give me the option to select USB in the ports options either.

I also tried connecting the printer with the parallel cable - still no success. When I print, it acts as if the printer is not connecting.

The printer works fine when I hook it up to my laptop, so that's not the problem.

I did something when I "removed" the printer using the add/remove printer control panel. I just can't figure out how to "undo" what I caused.

I'd really appreciate some help.

 

[eydolic]

Don't use the auto-installer that Windows comes up with. Go in and manually install a generic laserjet driver to USB001 from the "manually select" option in "add/remove printers" and then go back and replace the driver with the correct factory one.

 

[KutterMax]

Originally posted by: eydolic
Don't use the auto-installer that Windows comes up with. Go in and manually install a generic laserjet driver to USB001 from the "manually select" option in "add/remove printers" and then go back and replace the driver with the correct factory one.

Thanks for the response.

Couple of things. First, I tried hooking up the printer to the parallel port and manually installing the driver to LPT1. Everything seems to go fine but when you print the test page it fails. Basically it doesn't seem to "see" the printer. It acts as if the printer is not connected. I tried both using a Generic driver and using the HP 1200 driver.

I then hook up the printer via USB. If I try and automatically find the printer, it is not found. If I try and manually install the driver, I am not given a USB option in the ports menu.

I know the printer works fine and I can definitely install the driver for the LPT1 port. Something else is causing the breakdown between the two and this is where I'm stuck....

 

[KutterMax]

ttt

 

[eydolic]

Make sure that the Spool(Spooler, I can't remember what it is called and don't have time to look it up) service is on automatic.

 

[KutterMax]

I check the Print Spooler by going to Start->Run->services.msc

It was set to automatic. Out of interest I switched to manual, but it made no difference so I switched back to automatic. Still not working....

This is starting to look like I may need to do a reinstall of Windows.....