My sister-in-law and niece both have laptops and share a HP 4L laserjet printer.
One laptop(Dell 233)it times out and the other(Dell ???)it can't find the printer port.
I un-installed the printer and downloaded the driver from the HP support site and installed on both laptops. It didn't cure the problem on either.
In device manager there are no conflicts.
I took the printer home and tried it on my own system and it works OK with the downloaded driver.
On the Dell ???, this laptop is used to connecting to a network (at work)via a docking station, and has various options in the "Print to the following port" drop down box. How do l setup or re-assign a local LPT port?
On the Dell 233, is there a memory or spooling problem causing the time-outs and how do l check this?
I didn't bring the printer cable home, does it sound like a cable problem?
The page l tried printing was one page of black text only
Thanks
Fran

Hmmmm..... First when the printer was installed did you choose "local" for the laptop that is actually connected to the printer and "network" for the one that is accessing it from the network?

Or I am I reading this wrong and both computers swap the printer?

If that's the case I would first check what "mode" the port is in and make sure that mode is compatiable with your printer. ( you can check the port's mode from the laptops BIOS)


Also try using the laptop without the docking station. Some stations have a problem assighing ports correctly and the laptops BIOS may have additional "docking" settings.

To change a port open your printer's icon and choose "properties" then open the "ports" page.


Good Luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Ghost, sorry l didn't make my post very clear.
The 2 laptops swap between the printer, they have no network at home, the docking station is at work.

The Dell 233 is connected to the printer most of the time, but it is this computer that time's out and windows asks you to retry the print job.
I think it has been like this for some time, the laptop did seem a little sluggish, would a lack of memory cause it to time out? I did adjust the timeout settings, but if l waited any longer it would be quicker with a typewriter and carbon paper. When l installed the new driver, it was to a local printer.

I tried connecting the other laptop to the printer to see if it was a printer problem, but l think this laptop has a port problem and should be easy enough to change ( as you outlined).
By mode do you mean SPP,ECP and EPP, l can't imagine why they would changed this in the bios, but l suppose stranger things have happened.

Thanks

PS. What's the weather like on your planet Unimatrix Zero-one? Here in Ireland, it rains that hard that it would pierce Kevlar. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

Yikess....It's cold and raining here too, but at least I can take a little comfort that it's raining worst somewhere else http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif


Yes, by mode I do mean the SPP,EPP and ECP settings. The timeouts your getting can be caused when the printer can't keep up with the computer. Changing the port mode could help that out. (SPP being the slowest speed, ECP and EEP are about the same speed wise but EPP doesn't use a DMA channel.) Some HP printer tools are setup to be used in "bidirectional" mode, which translates to SPP. So if you switch to another mode other than SPP you will lose some functionality but gain some speed. ( you can check the BIOS for SPP and your printers properties for any "bidirectional" settings and turn them off.)

Just to let you know....It's been my experince that memory on the computer isn't important for printing, but the amount of printer memory can effect print jobs and the speed with which they print out.

Hope this helps http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Ghost_Hacker (edited 01-29-2002).]

Thanks again for the guidance, Ghost.
I'll check out the printer modes in the Bios. If l remember correctly, there was a slider to determine how aggressively you could use the printers memory on one of the tabs in the printer properties box.

Cheers

Fran