I just installed an HPLaserjet 1300 on a Windows 2000Pro PC via USB. The printer ran fine for a day or so. Then I had to share it over the network to 3 other PCs (2Win2K Pro; 1 Win98). The next time they booted up SMARTDisk gave them an error message and said the hard drive was possibly corrupt. I continued with the boot, but Win 2K Pro would not boot all the way. I tried a safe boot, but that did not work. I disconnected the printer, ran a repair via Win 2K Pro CD, but still got nothing, and the SMART Disk error still remains. I installed the printer onto the Win98 PC so the office would have a printer (this is an office in TN; I am in GA), but the same thing happened with that PC (printer worked fine until it was shared). I disconnected the printer from that PC, let the Scan disk run it's course, and the PC booted fine, but I'm leary to try to install the printer again.

Does anyone have any insight into this or is it just a freak coincidence? I'm stumped! :confused: Also, the printer was bought through Quill if that helps anyone.

Thanks in advance!

This does not sound very much like a printer printer problem....sounds a heck of a lot like malware.

Run, don't walk and get a good AV scanner and Anti trojan scanner...links in my sig.

It seems that the act of sharing the printer with the remote connection may very well be the problem. Some sort of malware may have infected the network!

We use McAfee Virus Scan. It is constantly monitoring the system. Would you suggest a differen AV product? Also, there is another printer in that office. It is only an HP Deskjet, but it is also shared over the network with no problem. I said they needed a printer b/c the deskjet is too slow to handle the amount of invoices they run. Just wanted to make sure I covered my ground on this.

Yes, I would try a different AV. There are enough malware around that attack the big name AVs that they may not be as reliable as they once were.

I completely forgot to post a follow-up to this. We did find 3 viruses on our network. They were: JOKE_150ALERTS; JS/FORTNIGHT.EXE; and BUGBEAR. The JS/Fortnight was the most prominent one. By the way we used Housecall to scan. As far as the printer goes, I have not attempted to network it again yet as I have been busy cleaning the viruses from our systems.