Question Two LPT-1 ports showing in Win7Pro pc: neither works!

[JDDD]

Hi!

I have two LPT-1 ports showing under Device Manager of my Win7Pro pc.



Any printer I plug into the (motherboard's) LPT-1 port does not work.

Whats going on?

What to do?

Thanks!

 

[corkyg]

Did you install the printer with drivers, or simply plug it in?

 

[JDDD]

Hi!

(BTW: I'm doing all this in an ACER Veriton VM4630G-i7477X with 32GB RAM and Windows 7 Pro.)

Installed with drivers.

The MB has its factory LPT port.

And I installed an LPT PCIe card because . . .

I have two (2) old Okidata 810's and one Okidata 800 that only run from LPT's. This card expanded my LPT's to three, just what I needed.

For the longest time, the Oki-800 on LPT-1 was working perfectly. For years.

Some years ago, it stopped.

The printer would work if attached to LPT-2 or -3.

LPT-1 seemed dead.

I had moved into more modern equipment, with a networked printer (Lexmark OptraImage T616n with four 500-sheet and one 2,000 sheet drawer,
networked and with a twinax adapter card to communicate with my AS/400) so when LPT-1 went down, it wasn't a pressing issue.

As time went on I could not print various jobs to the Oki's more and more. Just don't have enough memory or whatever (even with their memory expansion cards).

Then the Oki-800, my first ever laser printer from 1986, finally said "enough" and . . . died.

After a period of mourning and recovery, I pressed on.

I decided to get another Lexmark as a spare. So now I had two of them. One in production and the other just there "in case".

Then I decided that instead of having the spare Lexmark sitting in its box, to put it to good use and replace the dead Oki-800 that was on LPT-1.

The Oki-810's are attached to LPT-2 and LPT-3 and they work albeit for very simple print jobs. Don't ask them to deal with a pdf!

I set up the (spare) Lexmark onto LPT-1: won't print.

Put it onto LPT-2 or -3 and it works.

So I decided to dig into why LPT-1 isn't working.

Digging around the 'net I got a tip to try uninstalling both LPT-1's, rebooting and seeing what happens:

Here's what happened:

https://imgur.com/L671e47

https://s18.directupload.net/images/190511/zu6mbvvu.jpg

Ok, now I've got just one LPT-1 but there's an LPT-4 that was never there before!

Until I get back to the office (I remoted in and did the uninstall's) I won't know if the Lexmark works or not.

But what to do about LPT-4?

If I point the Lexmark to LPT-1, and it doesn't work, but it does work when pointed to LPT-4, can I uninstall LPT-1, reboot,
rename LPT-4 to LPT-1 and re-point the Lexmark to LPT-1?

Or have I made an even bigger mess than before?

What to do?

Thanks!

 

[Paperdoc]

I suspect Windows has become totally confused about what hardware is present, and where. In that situation I would try to wipe out any knowledge Windows has about these devices, then start from that "clean" state and re-install each device one at a time. This sequence, all done at the computer:
1. You may want to download the computer User Manual from this place if you don't have it.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/ID/content/support-product/4920;-;

I got the one for Windows 8.1, and all it really helped with was to tell us how to get into BIOS Setup. To do that, as the computer first starts up, hold down the F2 key until the Setup opening screen appears. For now, hold off on doing that.

2. Check to make sure you have the device driver for that SIIG card.

3. Go into Windows Device Manager where you have four LPTn ports. For each, RIGHT-click on it and choose to Delete or Remove this device and its device driver. IF there is a separate entry for the card itself, also remove that. Back out of Device Manger, shut down, disconnect the power cord, and open the case.

4. Physically remove the SIIG LPT port card from its slot. Close up, re-connect power, and turn on, going directly into BIOS Setup by holding down the F2 key. (Don't let it do a normal boot up.) In there look for the area to configure the mobo peripheral devices and ports, to find the LPT1 port. NOTE any settings it has for its memory address and Interrupt number. Now try to Disable this port so it no longer "exists". Back out and remember to SAVE and EXIT to save your change. This will reboot your computer, and Windows will learn that it has NO LPT ports. When it's finished, shut down.

5. Turn on, going directly into BIOS Setup again by holding down the F2 key. (Don't let it do a normal boot up.) In there go back to the LPT1 port and Enable it. Check that its address and Interrupt settings are as before. Escape out and remember to Save and Exit again to save these settings. The machine should boot up, letting Windows discover the "newly added" LPT1 port, which also should have it load the correct device driver for it. If this has worked that port should operate properly now and let you print through it. If so, you may celebrate quietly.

6. So if that worked, you need to get the others ports working. Shut down and disconnect power. Open the case and physically re-install the SIIG card and any connections to it. You MIGHT need NOT to connect any printers to it on its rear ports until the driver has been installed, or it might not matter. Check carefully what the manual for that card says about details of the installation sequence. Close the case, re-connect power, and boot up. Windows should discover that "newly-added" SIIG card and try to install its correct device driver(s). If necessary, you may have to provide the CD disk or the hard disk location where the driver(s) is stored. IF you have to respond to any configuration questions about the memory address or Interrupt settings for each port on this card, they should be different from what already was assigned to the LPT1 port. When that whole process is complete, shut down.

7. Re-connect printers to the SIIG card 's two LPT ports. Boot up. Check in Device Manager that the three printer port are there and show no yellow warning triangles.Test each of your printers. I hope the all work.