Win98 printers no longer work

[lionelbrown]

My printers suddenly no longer work. I can install printers, but I can't even print a test page.

I suspect the problem is somehow related to Office 2000 with publish (installing disk 2 of Office 2000), since the problem seemed to appear not long after installing it.

Office programs show up as having no default printer installed, and when I select a printer in an office app and click properties, I get a fatal exception.

I've tried changing the default printer to fix any registry issues, but that doesn't work.

I'm running win98se with Novell client and using NDPS.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[ski]

If it's a parallel printer, then make sure that the parallel(LPT1) port is enabled in BIOS, and that the ECP/EPP option is selected for it.
If that's ok, then check for any problems with the LPT1 port in Device Manager.
If that's ok, then press and hold the Ctrl key during startup, select 'Command Prompt', press Enter, type dir>Lpt1 at the C:\> prompt, and press Enter.
If the printer does not work, then there's a problem with the printer, its cable, or the parallel port.
If the printer works in DOS, then there's a software conflict in Windows.
Try uninstalling the printer's software in Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs, and reinstalling it.
If no luck, then uninstall Office 2000 and reinstall it.

If it's a USB printer, then make sure that USB is enabled in BIOS, and there are no USB problems in Dev. Mgr.
If ok, then try a different USB port and/or a different USB cable.

 

[cdogg]

Excellent post, ski!


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[ski]

Thanks, cdogg.

I just hope that it helps to solve the problem.