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Vista compatible printer drivers

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JD5241

Technical User
Jan 17, 2005
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We had the bright idea to load Vista on two machines on our network, and too late we found that none of the printers we have have Vista compatible drivers yet (Lexmark T640 and T630, various local inkjets). Does anyone know of any laser or inkjet printers that have Vista compatible drivers?
 
I have a Samsung 1740 laser printer and I just used my XP drivers and it worked just fine. I've done the same thing with my Canon scanner, loaded the XP drivers with no problems.

Have you tried to load your XP drivers?

Cheers
Rob
 
Yes, didn't work... no word from Lexmark on when they're going to release the Vista drivers either. Their exact words, "you will have to wait". Very nice.
 
You could try some one MIGHT have something there for you. At least they'll have a variety of them that you could try out.

So far, of all the programs and hardware I've installed on my Vista machine I have one piece of hardware (and I think its a motherboard problem more than Vista) and one program I can't use. Guess I've been pretty lucky! Good luck!

Cheers
Rob
 
Already saw that too, which is why I contacted tech support anyway... the Vista DVD we have does not have the driver on it as that page would have you believe. You would think with the business release of Vista they (Lexmark) would be ready for it with drivers handy for their "business" class printers.

Thanks for the suggestions so far!
 
I'm using a Konica-Minolta PagePro 1350. The drivers had to be obtained via Windows Update, but once installed everything's working fine.
 
Konica Minolta 2300DL works ok with latest XP drivers from their website.
 
smah wrote a driver for the K-M PP 1350 was obtained via Windows Update. I just get a "no applicable driver found" message. Is there a trick to getting the driver?
 
I don't recall exactly what occurred. I'll see if I have any other info when I take another look at that machine.
 
Any Optional Updates (which includes drivers) are offered via Windows Updates when available, but you have to click on the box to download and install them, otherwise you just get the main updates.
 
Here's what it says when running the upgrade advisor on an xp machine that uses the Konica-Minolta 1350W
 
Looks like my issue may be doing a new install vs and upgrade. I did a clean install of Vista on a new PC. The success reports all seem to be upgrades. I can't do the initial install under Vista.

If I use the New Hardware Found dialog and give it the original K-M software CD, it reports that no driver was found. If I allow it to search, it reports it could not find a driver.

If I try to install the software, either from the CD or downloaded from the K-M site, I get a report that AddPrintProcessor failed.

While some software is copied into the Windows directories, Windows Update doesn't find anything it wants to update.
 
Actually mine was a clean install. Now I'm very curious how it went in; I don't recall getting anything from the K-M web site. Interestingly, in researching the driver details for my installation, no printers show in Device Manager unless I display hidden devices. That's quite strange, but maybe it's a Vista thing that I hadn't noticed before. I might just install Vista again to see what happened. Driver info screenshot
 
smah, Are you running Vista x86? I'm running x64. That might account for the difference, or not.
 
That probably explains it. I'm using 32 bit. xp-64 had notoriously bad driver support, I expect pretty much the same for Vista.
 
You can try this site if you like, ,and let it scan (ActiveX installed) and see if it says there are better drivers around. I don't know anything about the reliability of any drivers offered but you could slip down to the actual manufacturer's site and check them out.
 
I went to Lexmark looking for Vista driver, none there, but the 2003 driver worked a treat.
 
I am not on Vista (yet, and now I probably won't) but am running 64 bit XP, which looks good especially after hearing that I would need new office software for Vista (and probably my entire Coral suite, etc).

This is a custom machine so drivers are my problem. What I have discovered is that there are a lot still in development. Among them
- Palm cradle
- Numerous printers including my Samsung laser (I would say anything developed over a year ago.
- Every hayes compliant modem except Hiro (google it, if you want a Modem).
- A lot of keyboards, mouses, etc.

Solutions are:
1) try to go USB where you have a choice of ports. What won't converse with Parallel may like USB. (My Samsung printer does).
2) Beg. Cardscan, for instance, actually has a driver, but it isn't on the web site and you have no way to know it's the right one.
3) Bitch. Drop a "shame on you" wherever possible. Granted, much of this goes to the house of Gates (and a pox on them). Peripheral suppliers have had time to develop drivers, despite delays. The more misery you can heap on them, the more motivated they will be to produce.
4) Prioritize. Is your time worth what it costs to get what you need? In my case with Palm (I have about $450 worth of plastic junk hanging around until I can sync..that's a big deal for me) it's worth the effort. (Still waiting for Tier @ to get back to me so I can gripe) but if your five year old deskjet won't work, then buy one that will work 64bit. The Hiro modem for instance costs about 19 bucks on Tiger.
5) Regress to whatever you had first and wait a couple of months for the rest of the world to get their act together. If you are just considering buying a 64 bit system, put it off.
6) Buy stock in Best Buy or Comp USA. They are going to make a killing replacing everything under the sun.

 
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