Printer PITA

Not music related but there are some clever computer chaps here!

I have just replaced my 5yr old Brother MFC-7240 laser printer/scanner with a new Brother DCP-7055. This setup quite easily on the P4 PC (XP HOME) I used for "office" and most internet work (bit of a stumble because it did not like the usb lead that fed the old one??) . So, off I trots to get the printer on my W7/64 laptop. I went thru the same procedure as for the old Bros' (and the inkjet I had before it) "Pinters> Add Printer...did-da..NO! Would not find it. Cut a long short I even got the blasted thing in a box on the lappy that fekkin SAID "BrotherD.2" nope "no drivers". Tried installing as new hardware, got to "have disc?" Yup, put in the Brother setup disc with drivers on it "required information not at this location"!! So, gave up on the laptop and tried an XP pro machine on the same wired network. Now, I have setup loads of ***t on the network going XP to XP but much the same happened as with the laptop, would not find the drivers from the disc nor from the latest download from Brother...Then I had an idea.

I dissed the laptop from the network and installed the complete Brother software then at the prompt, physically took it into the room with the printer and plugged it into the usb lead. Worked. Now it DOES work on the network but surely I should not need to do that? If the same obtains for the XPpro PC I shall have to move the printer!

Needless to say I have contacted Brother and needless to say 24 hours later I am still waiting.

Dave.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ecc83

Not music related but there are some clever computer chaps here!

I have just replaced my 5yr old Brother MFC-7240 laser printer/scanner with a new Brother DCP-7055. This setup quite easily on the P4 PC (XP HOME) I used for "office" and most internet work (bit of a stumble because it did not like the usb lead that fed the old one??) . So, off I trots to get the printer on my W7/64 laptop. I went thru the same procedure as for the old Bros' (and the inkjet I had before it) "Pinters> Add Printer...did-da..NO! Would not find it. Cut a long short I even got the blasted thing in a box on the lappy that fekkin SAID "BrotherD.2" nope "no drivers". Tried installing as new hardware, got to "have disc?" Yup, put in the Brother setup disc with drivers on it "required information not at this location"!! So, gave up on the laptop and tried an XP pro machine on the same wired network. Now, I have setup loads of ***t on the network going XP to XP but much the same happened as with the laptop, would not find the drivers from the disc nor from the latest download from Brother...Then I had an idea.

I dissed the laptop from the network and installed the complete Brother software then at the prompt, physically took it into the room with the printer and plugged it into the usb lead. Worked. Now it DOES work on the network but surely I should not need to do that? If the same obtains for the XPpro PC I shall have to move the printer!

Needless to say I have contacted Brother and needless to say 24 hours later I am still waiting.

Dave.

---

I had a vaguely similar experience last year when I bought a new printer (something which doesn't happen regularly enough for me to become fluent in it!)

Anyways, I pulled the printer out of the box (which was probably bigger than my fridge) and found the quick start guide (I just wanted to know whether to run the driver first, or plug in the printer). Ran the soft and plugged in the printer - no worky. The little printer app in the taskbar was running, but it was complaining about not being able to find the printer.

Windows installs stuff from a text file called a .inf file (when you ask Windows to install something that's the filetype it looks for). In the case of my printer the self extracting installer had written the .inf file, drivers and whatnot to a folder in Program files, but obviously hadn't bothered to finish the job,so I right-clicked the .inf and hit the "install" option. This did all the registry stuff and copied the drivers and libraries to System32. A reboot and job done (although not without a little swearing).

Windows installs go t^ts-up far too often (even when you actually bother to follow the instructions!) I think that the manufacturers use Google Translate to write the help file. Anyway, if going by the instructions doesn't work then the first option is to hit up the manufacturer's website ('cos it's bound to have happened to someone else already and also there may be an updated driver available)

If no help is forthcoming then check to see if there is the correct .inf file and drivers installed in a folder somewhere (make sure Windows is set to show hidden files and folders). You may need to search by date, If you find it, then plug in the offending hardware and when Windows asks to install then navigate to the .inf. If it's not on the hard drive then it should be on the disk. Look in the folder relevent to your O.S.

Sometimes an installer will be in the form of a self-extracting exe and the stuff that you want is hidden inside. These are usually run before plugging in the hardware (although sometimes the routine is hardware first, then cancel Windows' offer to install, then run the installer). If it breaks and doesn't leave the required files in a folder somewhere (perhaps in a temp folder) then sometimes it's possible to extract the contents with a program called universal extractor (it's a bit like winzip on steroids). The resulting bits and bobs may require a bit of forensics, but there's usually a setup.exe, or the .inf file itself - I had to do this recently with a wireless dongle. It wasn't a cheap one either!

It may conceivably be a permissions issue - I haven't got as far as Windows 7 here at home yet, so I can't advise on that!

Cheers Jonny.

Now this morning I took my laptop to work and when I tried to link up with the works printer on the wireless network it wasn't there (was last week!).

I therefore went to Printer&faxes and "find Printer". Win 7 chuntered about a bit, said "looking for drivers" (I had found the right printer in a list) about a minute later, "found drivers" Installed and I was a'printin'!

WTF did that not happen with the Brother, brother?

Dave.

Because it goes beyond mere electricity Dave.

Computers are witchcraft.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ecc83

Cheers Jonny.

Now this morning I took my laptop to work and when I tried to link up with the works hp ink coupons from InkJetSuperStore.com on the wireless network it wasn't there (was last week!).

I therefore went to Printer&faxes and "find Printer". Win 7 chuntered about a bit, said "looking for drivers" (I had found the right printer in a list) about a minute later, "found drivers" Installed and I was a'printin'!

WTF did that not happen with the Brother, brother?

Dave.

---

Well maybe the Brother was not able to look for any drivers at the moment that you trying to fix it. Or maybe Brothers is not that reliable anymore. I always go for HP printers, a very trusted printer product for me.