No Parallel Port

[Geekwanabe]

I am trying to help an 81 year old college student upgrade her computer. I bought her a printer and went to install it but found there was no parallel port to connect it to. The computer is an generic 486 that has been upgraded to a 200 mghz MMX machine. It has two pci slots, so I was wondering if they make an expansion card with a parallel port. Any suggestions on how to get a printer hooked up to this old, upgraded machine. (Speaking of the computer, not my feisty 81 year old friend :-))

Any help would be appreciated.

[bassvax]

There really is no parallel port? Could it be hidden behind the I/O shield? Or did you mean it was not listed in the device manager? If that is the case go into the bios settings and see if you can enable it there.

I believe though you meant there is no physical port...There are cards for adding ports of all types available...I would suggest that if your friend is running at least Win 98 (I know Win 95b supports USB also..but) getting a card to add USB ports this would provide better throughput and make things a tad bit easier I would think.

Edit: The USB idea is provided the printer is USB capable http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif
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[This message has been edited by bassvax (edited 09-09-2001).]

[Geekwanabe]

You are correct that there was no physical port, however I have found a cable with a parallel port connected and a friend showed me where to connect it on the motherboard. The printer now works, however, a new development, I got a scanner, a Microtek Slimscan C3, no USB. I connected the printer and the scanner together and the printer works fine through the scanner, but the system won't recognize the scanner. (newest drivers, ASPI updated etc.) Any suggestions??

Thanks for the insights.

[Reid]

Check your BIOS and try setting your parallel port to EPP or ECP. You may also need a IEEE-1284 (http://www.pccables.com/cables/printer_cables.html) parallel port cable. They are designed for high-speed, bi-directional communication.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[Whyzman]

Did you check the documentation regarding the order of installation? It's been a while (I have a similar set-up) but I seem to remember there was a specific order like Scanner then Printer driver loads. Just a thought!

May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman