OLD LADY NEEDS HELP WITH COMPUTER PRINTER PROBLEMS

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

I bought a Dell 4400 with a Lexmark X83 printer scanner combo. Today is day number 30 and I have had to call Dell or Lexmark 27 times. Every time I try to use the printer it will not work. They have me reinstall...lots of other things that I have no idea what I'm doing...it will work for 1 day then nothing. Lexmark says the drivers are fine..that it is a microsoft issue...microsoft wants to charge me $35.00 just to talk to them. Dells tech support says call Lexmark....I told them today to send me tags to send the stinking thing back but I really would like to keep it. Any suggestions.

Lexmark says windows xp goes into hibernation and then loses communication with the printer. WTH does that mean???

Please HELP.

 

[Heisenberg]

If the problem is because of hibernation then what's happening is that when the computer comes back out of hibernation it's not talking to the printer correctly. I had that problem with a sound card - no sound after the computer woke back up and I had to reboot. If the problem's from hibernation, rebooting should solve it. If that works, you can just disable hibernation entirely. Go to Control Panel>Power Options and set the "system hibernates" option to never. You might also want to disable "system standy" if you're still having a problem b/c the same kind of problem can happen with that too.

 

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

Bear with me hear but when I go to control panel, I see nothing that says power options.
Apperance and Themes, network and internet connections, add and remove programs, sounds speech and audio devices, performance and maintenance, oh...here it is. ok..done. now I'll wait until tomarrow and see if it still works. Thanks a bundle.

 

[edblor]

Right click on your empty desktop (minimize all open applications),

Goto "screen Saver",

Go to Power,

Under Settings,

make sure all settings are never to got sleep, never to goto Standby, never to turn off (Hard Disks, Monitors..anything)

Under Hibernate,

make sure the tick box is not ticked....in other words..not enabled!

G/L,

Edblor

 

[AKA]

edblor left out a step.

Right click on background and then select properties.


Or go back to control panel.. and on the left side click on "Switch to classic View" then you will be able to find the "Power Options" applet.

 

[GrumpyMan]

I'm surprised tech support couldn't tell her to do that. :Q

 

[HappyPuppy]

The truly sad part about her situation is that if Dell sold her the bundle they are totally responsible for making it work. Dell tech support for home users isn't what it used to be. They are concentrating their efforts more to the corporate side of the business now. If she keeps getting the runaround and can't get it to work even with help from TS, then she should pack it up and send it back for a full refund.

 

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

well...it's still printing today...so far so good. normally by now I would be back on the phone with the idiots. I told them yesterday to send me out call tags so I could send it back for a refund..but thought I would give it one more try. They said the call tags would be here by Friday so if it quits again it will go back. Yesterday was day 30. I was told if I wanted to send it back for a refund they had to know then. I guess I'll wait and see what tomarrow brings.
Thanks for all the help.
Maybe you should all be working for Dell. They could certainly use the help.

 

[SemperFi]

Did you check windows update?

There was a usb fix for certain componets not being recognized after sleep. This fixed my parents usb cable modem problem. Dell may have installed it already since it has been out a while. Just a thought.

Semper Fi

 

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

Well, I knew it was to good to be true. The stupid thing wouldn't work again today. Lexmark did get it going again though, but I don't think I should have to call them every time I need to print something. I asked about the usb fix and was told I shouldn't need that since my computer is new.
Anyone else with a miracle cure???

 

[nihil]

what kind of error (if any) is it giving you when you go to print?

another thing. what did lexmark tell you to do (if you remember) when they got it to work?

i can't believe those idiots can't get it right. :|

 

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

Well, today there was no message at all. Just wouldn't print. I went to file-print-the box came up and ask how many copies-then nothing. I can't really say everything they had me do today..it took about 45 minutes. I know I did end up reinstalling it ( which they've had me do about 20 times already). I told her about doing this:
Go to Control Panel>Power Options and set the "system hibernates" option to never. You might also want to disable "system standy" if you're still having a problem b/c the same kind of problem can happen with that too.
She had me disable something else also. I didn't get to it the same way as the above though and have no idea what it was. Maybe I should start taking notes.
She again told me it wasn't the printer because it will always print a test page. (She thinks Dell suxs too)

 

[NOTAHAPPYCAMPER]

Ok, It's doing it again. I wrote down part of the message...
The control program has not been able to establish bidirectional communication with your printer. This means you will not have automatic sensing of cartridge and error conditions.

Can someone fix this farking thing????

 

[nihil]

<< Ok, It's doing it again. I wrote down part of the message...
The control program has not been able to establish bidirectional communication with your printer. This means you will not have automatic sensing of cartridge and error conditions.

Can someone fix this farking thing???? >>



if i am correct this could be a indication that you have a bad cable. do you have a spare cable you could swap it out with?