USB Bidirectional Communication Problems In Win2K

[Wadester]

Greetings,

I just purchased a new USB Epson 825 photo printer. It works great, however I am unable to get the bidirectional communications to work on it, and therefor am unable to view ink levels and so on. I am running Windows 2000 Server with SP3. I hear that XP looses the bidirectional USB functionality, but is this maybe true with Windows 2000 as well? I have updated the drivers to the latest and greatest, verified that bidirectional support is enabled, and even see that the usbmon.dll resides in the system32 directory. I even went as far as to try another usb cable, but with no luck. Any help on how I might get this to work would be much appreciated!! This is driving me crazy!

Thanks in advance!!!!
Wade
MCSA

 

[WindowWizard]

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but bidirectional USB works fine in Win2K. I have an HP multifunctional and the "ink level" check works just fine.

What does Epson tech support say?

WW

 

[Wadester]

Thanks for the reply on this. Actually, I am glad to hear that your HP works in the Win2K environment... that at least gives me some hope. Espon brought up a good point, in which the bidirectional communication may not work if the USB cable is connected through a USB hub, which mine was at the time. Unfortunately plugging it in directly, removing and re-adding the drivers after the direct connect did not help either. Epson seems to be at a loss at this point. Second level support has indicated that the version 2 USB cable will not work. The one cuurently connected is V 2... my original USB cable that I started with, I am not sure if its version. Would this be correct, in that V2 might do that? Epson has offered to send me a new printer, but I am going to try a v1 cable first... if I can find one.

Wade

 

[WindowWizard]

I'm using V2. I am not connected through a hub either. A passive hub may not provide the bidirectional support, but I don't see why not. Good luck.

WW