My OS is Win XP Home edition. I have two printers connected to it. One is my old printer (HP Deskjet 694C) which is connected via a parallel cable to LPT1. My newer printer HP Deskjet 3820 is connected via USB cable. The only reason I still have my old printer connected is because I still have some ink left in the cartridge, so I decided to use it for printing that isn't too important--it still does a fairly decent job of printing. Here's my problem: I have a scanner (Epson Perfection 1650)connected to my computer via a USB cable. I have my new printer (the 3820) set as my default printer. When I go to the Copy Utility in my scanner, I get a message that says, "The copy utility is having difficulty communicating with the currently selected printer. Please check that the printer has been installed correctly." The printer is installed correctly. I even tried un-installing and reinstalling. That didn't work. Here's the only way I can get it working. If I set my old printer as the default printer, I can go to my scanner, click on "Copy" and it will list both of my printers. I can then choose either printer to print and it works fine. Now--I'm about ready to disconnect my old printer and get rid of it. So, I deleted the software for the old and disconnected the cable. But, now without my old printer, the copy utility in my scanner won't work. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what is going on. Thank you.

Frank, I wondering if the problem isn't with the scanner and not the printer software. You might want to try reinstalling the scanner software and see if it will then pick up on the printer correctly...

I'll give that a try. Should I first un-install the scanner, and then re-install? Or just install over top of what I have?

I think I'd have a look in SAFEMODE...

I think it's always a good idea to clean the slate and then reinstall...installing over the top could provide Ghost Drivers and compound the issue...

You might want to try reinstalling the scanner software and see if it will then pick up on the printer correctly... I did that but it still doesn't work. I've scratched my head until I got splinters in my fingernails on this.

Did you have a look in SAFEMODE to make sure that there were not duplicate entries?

I am wondering what happens if you set the old printer as default? Just wondering if there might be a problem with the USB drivers.

David

Did you have a look in SAFEMODE to make sure that there were not duplicate entries? How do you do that?
I am wondering what happens if you set the old printer as default? Just wondering if there might be a problem with the USB drivers. If I set the old printer as default it works OK. But that's the problem--I want to get rid of the old printer. So, I removed it and then my copy utility wouldn't work. I have to have the old one installed so that the copy utility will work. I'm going to play around with it this evening and see what I can come up with. Right now I better go watch some TV with my wife. She thinks I'm neglecting her. I wonder why she keeps referring to my computer as my mistress?????

To enter safe mode, tap the F8 key as the machine boots. At the menu choose "safe mode". then check in control panel>device manager for "ghost" devices.

David

David--Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I can't find anything from Device Manager that said anything about Ghost devices. Anyway, I'm ready to give up on this thing. I even uninstall both of my printers along with the scanner. I then reinstalled my new printer and then the scanner. That didn't solve my problem. So, I reinstalled my old printer and it works OK as long as my old printer is there and is set as the default printer. So, I'm just going to keep my old printer installed. When I want to use the copy utility in my scanner, I'll just set my old printer as the default printer. If this is the biggest problem I run into, I won't complain.
The problem is probable something unique with my setup and no doubt pretty hard to solve. Thanks anyway for all your feedback. I'm going to go watch a baseball game now on TV.
If anyone else would come up with an idea, I'll try anything---after the ball game is over.:)

Just to clarify a bit. A "ghost driver" is an extra version of the driver that is installed, but only visible under Safe Mode. Sometimes when you install a new driver, it doesn't remove the old one, but it also isn't visible in Normal Mode and can cause conflicts.....

Hehe...Ghost drivers are name given to duplicate entries drivers. These will show up in SAFEMODE but not in normal Windoze. If you find you have them you need to highlight and REMOVE all entries reboot and let Windoze find and then reinstall the drivers...

What happens is folks sometimes will REMOVE only one of the entries thinking that things will be alright...only to find upon reboot that they still have two entries....that's why they're called Ghost Drivers...they just keep hanging around...;)

Hehe...Ghost drivers are name given to duplicate entries drivers. These will show up in SAFEMODE but not in normal Windoze. I'll be darn. Just yesterday I told my grandchildren that I knew everything. Now I found something that I didn't know. Oh well--I don't think they believed me anyway.
I'll retry in Safe Mode and see what I come up with.

Just to clarify a bit. A "ghost driver" is an extra version of the driver that is installed, but only visible under Safe Mode. Sometimes when you install a new driver, it doesn't remove the old one, but it also isn't visible in Normal Mode and can cause conflicts..... Ok--here's what I did. If I go into Device Manager in Normal Mode and click on the printer icon, it will show my 3820 printer (the new one). When I click on properties, it tells me that the device is working properly--or some such words. However, when I boot into Safe Mode and do the same thing, it shows the printer icon with a yellow exclamation mark on top of it. If I click Properties, it tells me that it can't give me the status under Safe Mode. So, under safe mode should I click on Remove This Device?

I'd probably remove it and reinstall. Could be a good time to check and see if there are any updated drivers....