HP Printer: found new hardware wizard always appears

[hiker056]

Previously discussed in: thread779-1503179

Whenever i reboot my Windows XP, i always get an error window from the 'found new hardware wizard'.

Error appears:
=============
There is a problem installing this hardware

HP Photosmart C6200 series

Specified port is unknown.
==============

The recommendations in the previous thread didn't resolve the problem.

Recently i found that i get the error even if i'm not connected to my network (i.e. both wireless and LAN connections are down so i'm not connected to anything).

 

[linney]

Is the printer port IP Address in the same IP Address and Subnet range as the rest of your LAN? Has any other machine on your LAN got a duplicate Address to the printer?

 

[DTSMAN]

Remove, reboot, reinstall.

Bo

Remember,
If the women don't find you handsome,
they should at least find you handy.
(Red Green)

http://www.redgreen.com

 

[hiker056]

I assume you mean the HP driver. Been there, done that.

 

[goombawaho]

Correction to the above ^^^^^^^^
Remove, CLEAN REGISTRY with CCleaner, reboot, DELETE any printer ports created manually, reinstall.

 

[hiker056]

When i try to remove everything HP from add/remove programs i just see one entry "HP PSC & OfficeJet 4.2".

I try to uninstall and get "ICE Uninstaller has encountered a problem and needs to close".

Looking for a reliable way to uninstall everything manually. I'd think i could find something on HP.com.

 

[goombawaho]

Try the uninstaller in CCleaner. If that doesn't work, we may have to delete the items out of the registry manually.

 

[cdogg]

Looking for a reliable way to uninstall everything manually. I'd think i could find something on HP.com.

There's no way for us to point out every registry key and system file that you would need to manually delete. So attempting a manual uninstall will be shoddy at best.

One more thing I can think of is to create a new administrator account in Windows. Sign onto that and see if the same issue still occurs. If not, you can delete/recreate the other account. After more than a year with this problem, however, the quickest, surefire solution for you is going to be a clean install of Windows. It will be the best 3-4 hours you've spent on this issue!

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

It usually works if you delete the main registry keys under HKLM SOFTWARE and then delete the folder in Program Files and also use something like Autoruns to identify all components that are trying to run when the PC boots.

It does require a little more savvy and work to identify everything, but short of a "master blaster uninstaller/removal tool" directly from HP, I don't know what you're going to do.

This way (autoruns) you can uncheck any remaining items so you effectively uninstalled all traces of the application without actually uninstalling.

 

[goombawaho]

I guess I'm disagreeing with this statement and what else would YOU recommend.

"There's no way for us to point out every registry key and system file that you would need to manually delete. So attempting a manual uninstall will be shoddy at best."

Follow these instructions to use Autoruns and if you're not sure that something is related to HP, be cautious about turning it off.

1. Download and extract the Autoruns program by Sysinternals to C:\Autoruns (or wherever)



2. Navigate to the C:\Autoruns folder you created in Step 1 and double-click on autoruns.exe.
3. When the program starts, click on the Options menu and enable the following options by clicking on them. This will place a checkmark next to each of these options.
Include empty locations
Verify Code Signatures
Hide Signed Microsoft Entries
4. Then press the F5 key on your keyboard to refresh the startups list using these new settings.
5. Start unchecking things that run from an C:\program files\HP folder OR that are from HP in the "Publisher" column.

 

[goombawaho]

REBOOT and see what happens. Sorry for three posts in a row.

 

[hiker056]

I tried CCleaner a few times. It's a good tool, but apparantly didn't clean everything out for HP.

 

[goombawaho]

CCleaner just cleans out temp files and it also tries to help you run the uninstaller for a given program. And it can clean your registry.

You'll have to look and see if you want to/can follow my advice above using autoruns, or give up or reload windows.

Or call a professional.

 

[DTracy]

Revo" works pretty well for me, if you can find a copy.

Regards,
David.

 

[cdogg]

It usually works if you delete the main registry keys under HKLM SOFTWARE and then delete the folder in Program Files and also use something like Autoruns to identify all components that are trying to run when the PC boots.

Although it is possible to remove items from the obvious locations, this is far short of a guarantee of removing the entire application (other locations like HKLM\Hardware and \System come to mind in which the entries installed by an app aren't always obvious by the key name and entry). In fact, you could end up creating orphaned pointers throughout the registry which in some rare cases can also lead to corruption. If you're prepared to reload Windows anyway, this isn't a big deal but should be pointed out. Be sure to backup the registry if you aren't willing to reload Windows at this time and by all means, go ahead and take a stab!


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

^^^ If you know what you're doing and you use Autoruns, you can effectively turn off everything for a given program and not allow it to start any services or startup items.

If you don't, then what you said is true. Actually, you don't even need to delete any registry files as you can use Autoruns to effectively turn things off without deleting or uninstalling.

I'd guess that for most people, I wouldn't advise them to use this method unless they have had experience with Autoruns previously.

CDogg - take a look at that program some time and you can see the power that it has to fine tune every item that starts up on your computer from all sources.

 

[tlcscousin]

How is the printer connected to the PC USB or Ethernet?
Is it a warning from XP or from the HP connection software?
I have noticed the HP connection manager for the ethernet was slow to load on Vista and actually slowed the network connection down during startup when using it and ethernet.
If you skip the found new hardware wizard does the printer show after boot is complete?

 

[hiker056]

tlcscousin,
Normally it's connected by Ethernet. Never by USB.
I get the error even if i'm completely disconnected from anything.

Warning is from the New Found Hardware Wizard, so it's XP.

The printer works fine after reboot. However, I can NEVER find a way to get rid of the hardware wizard error once it starts popping up.

 

[tlcscousin]

The printer is an all in one did it install the scanner part of the software?

 

[tlcscousin]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298370/en-us

The following MS article describes deleteing one registry key to solve the issue.