Hi

I have an Epson 1290 Printer currently connected to the parallel connection using the LPT1 Port. It was installed incorrectly and doesn't provide all the Epson software facilities and I would like to reinstall it using a USB connection.

How do I "clear" the LPT1 Port of this Printer so I may reinstall it as a USB Device?

Advice welcome.

:confused:

Check in control panel for under add remove programs and or the start menu for the uninstall program
If you can find it.

You will need to power down the system.
Remove the printer ( Unplug it) from the LPT1 port.
Then use the add remove program from Epson.
if you can't find the epson removel program
You may want to check the epson site for one.
if all else fails you can go to the start menu , then settings , then printers
Then click on the epson printer listed and right click it
Then use the delete

Then reboot.
You should then follow the install process from epson.
In many cases the software must be rinstalled or at least part way.
Then the printer should be connected and powered up at the correct point during this stall

It depends on the printer and software as to where and when it needs to be turned on.

This is a long story and the problem is one of a colleague's, not mine. I have tried to get help from Epson but their suggestions drew a blank.

My colleague originally had Windows 98 and an Epson 1200 Printer connected to the Parallel connection. He then had Windows 98 uninstalled and Windows XP Pro installed without removing the old Windows 98 Printer Software - he just plugged it in to the parellel port and it continued to work (presumably using the Windows XP Generic Driver).

He then purchased an Epson 1290 Printer and again, foolishly, just unplugged the old 1200 without removing the software and plugged in the new 1290 using the existing parallel cable. The 1290 also works but the full software facilities are not all available and I have been unable to uninstall the old software for him and start again using the correct installation procedures.

The window in Start > Printers and Faxes shows three printers; an Epson1200ECP/2, an Epson 1200 and the Epson 1290. If I look at the Properties of each of these three printers, under the Ports tab, in every case the three printers are listed against the LTP Port (all three printers are on the same line against this one port).

The Control Panel >Add or Remove Programmes shows two relevant entries -Epson Printer Software and Epson Status Monitor 2. Iif I click on Printer Software to remove it I get the message "Setup cannot allocate working memory. Close all applications, exit Windows and try again". If I try and uninstall the Epson Status Monitor 2 I get a message "To install Epson Status Monitor 2 you need Windows 95, NT3.51 or NT4.0". If I try and install the current 1290s Drivers/Status Monitor over the top of these I get the same message "Setup cannot allocate working memory. Close all applications, exit Windows and try again".

I also had a look in C:\Windows\System 32\spool\drivers\w32x86 and found a collection of drivers which appeared to relate to the new 1290 and his attempts to install the Epson 1290 software.

I have a feeling that the entries in Control Panel>Add and Remove Programmes might well be orphaned entries but that doesn't explain the messages - if they were orphaned entries I would expect a message saying the uninstaller couldn't be found or something similar. I also don't know why I cannot install the current software over the top of the old as I believe he could have one printer running from the parallel connection and another from a USB connection.

I would like to remove all these printers from the LPT1 Port, remove if possible the old software and reinstall the new 1290 software properly from scratch.

Any further comments or advice would be welcome.

if they were orphaned entries I would expect a message saying the uninstaller couldn't be found or something similar

Correct. Usually it will be a .log file. That log file contains the file list and registry entries set during installation so the uninstall routine knows what to remove or reset.

The error messages seem to point to memory or virtual memory problems. I would try booting into Safe Mode and uninstall that way, from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, and delete the printers (ALL printers) from the Printers section as well. Then reboot and try to install the correct printer. Rick's installation instructions should work fine, but you'll have to decipher his typos... :D Remember to keep the USB cable to the printer UNPLUGGED until the installation tells you to plug it in, most USB printers are connected during the software installation, not before.

To boot into Safe Mode tap the F8 key while booting, every 1-2 seconds. Once you see the boot menu look for Safe Mode. Some newer machines boot fast enough it may take a couple of tries to hit the timing right and get a boot menu. The Epson Status Monitor should have its own uninstall routine, if it's listed in the Start Menu, look for that. It might also have a uninstall exe file, use Windows Explorer and look in Program Files for it, no telling what the filename will be, but usually uninstall.exe or unwise.exe.

Thanks for the response. I did try and uninstall in Safe Mode but the same error messages came up as before. Epson did suggest that I disable all Startup items in msconfig and then try uninstalling the old software items - I haven't yet tried this.

One thing that might be relevant, despite him being able to run memory and virtual memory intensive programmes (eg Photoshop CS and ProShow Gold etc) when I look at Task Manager>Performance it always shows the CPU Usage as 100%.

check with Epson if they have any software clean up utility, if yes you can run that before u install the s/w again