Printing problems with Abit BP6....HELP

[cklock]

Hello all,
Thanks for taking the time to help me out!
I recently obtained an HP DeskJet 610 CL. I hooked it up to my computer, and I could not get anything to print to it. I am running Win 98 and have 256 MB Ram, Celeron 800, GeForce2 MX400, and so on. I was able to use the button on the printer itself to get it to print a test page. At first I assumed it must the printer is functioning incorrectly, but I was able to successfully hook it up to another PC in my house. When I did this, every thing went very smoothly. Win 98 recognized it as a PNP device as soon as I booted, I installed the software by pointing the wizard at the install disk, I rebooted and the printer works great.
When, I attempted to re-hook it up to my computer with the BP6 MB, It does not recognize it as a PNP device, as a matter of fact if I go to "ADD NEW HARDWARE" in the control panel, and use the "search for non pnp devices", windows doesn't find it? I checked the device manager to see if there sere any conflicts or unkonwn devices, and as far as I can tell every thing is AOK with the settings. The paralell port states that it is working correctly and so on....
Has anyone had a similar problem, I have looked in the bios for possible settings that may be incorrect, but was unable to find any. I have checked HP's website for known compatibility issues, as well as Abit's website.....nothing.....Could it be as simple as a hardware problem with my paralell port. I checked to ensure that the paralell port is EPP/ECP compliant, along witht the printer....I dont know what else to do!!!!


HELP

Thanks,
cklock😕

 

[Buz2b]

Did you try a different cable? Is the one you have overly long? When you tried to install it, did you do so upon boot when Windows "saw" it? Or did windows not even see it upon boot. Actually, many HP printers don't want you to install from the Windows detection, instead opting for canceling that, then installing the software with the printer turned on and hooked up. Have to ask, was the printer turned on when you tried to install? Is there another printer you can "borrow" to see if it works on yours? That would be a very useful test to run.
If you haven't, you could try to just hook it up and turn it on. Then install the software and see if the setup program finds it. That's one way that HP installs some of their printers.

 

[cklock]

Buz2b,
Thanks for replying! Yes I did try two different cables, one long, one short. Both cables work fine on my other pc. When I hook up the printer to my machine, it is not recognized at all, and yes I did have it on. I have tried installing the software/drivers and no luck there either. I really do not think it is an issue with the printer itself, as I had no problems installing it on a different machine. I am starting to wonder if there is a setting in my bios that I may have overlooked, or some how disabled my paralell port???? I am lost.....

 

[Buz2b]

A couple of things: First, there is an online site dedicated to the BP6 board here. They seem to have a good knowledge base you might be able to draw from. Next, go into the BIOS to the Integrated Peripherals section. In there you can move over to the Onboard Parallel Port. There are 4 things you can set there, but just keep it simple. If you don't see a problem with IRQ conflicts in Device Manager, leave the first (IRQ setting) alone. The next is setting the mode. Try it at the Normal/Default (SPP) setting first. If it is already there, then try ECP + EPP. Actually, do you know what kind of port the printer you have needs? Anyway, after selecting those items, leave the last two settings alone for now. Don't mess with them unless you need to based on conflicts or error messages. See if any of this helps. Also, check for bent pins on all items involved. Again, I would also strongly suggest that you try another printer (if possible) on the system just to help narrow things down.