usb printer not detected

[norm1320]

disclaimer: Printers are definitely my weak area as I do mostly residential work and rarely need to work on them.

ok, so here's the situation:

Fairly new win7 system using an HP 2600n color laser printer connected via USB. Yesterday morning client gets to his office and finds that his computer is off (most likely shut down by the UPS as we had lightning storms and power failures the night before) and his printer won't print. He claims that there was an error message when he tried, but of course he does not remember what the error was.

I get there and find several documents in the printer spool and clear them out. Try printing a quick notepad test, and it goes to the print spool but does not print. I figure it never hurts to check for updated drivers, so I go and download the newest drivers.
Remove the old drivers and install the newly downloaded ones, but there is a snag... it does not find the printer, so I have to manually point it to the usb port and install that way.
Seems to go fine, but when I go to print it still does not print. It does send the doc to the spool, and after a few seconds the spool empties as though it has printed.
So I try switching to a different USB port to see if it will bring up the hardware detection routine. It doesn't.
Try a different USB cable. Doesn't work.
Try connecting it to my laptop. Not detected.
Try the first cord again with my laptop. Still not detected.
Try manually installing it to my laptop. Doesn't work.

Throughout all of this, I have seen no evidence that either computer is able to communicate with the printer at all, and given that we've just been through a storm and power failure scenario, and that the printer has no surge protection AT ALL, I feel comfortable saying that it is the printer itself and that he'll need to replace it.

Now I just received word that he got a new printer and it won't print either. It's too late in the day to go out there and work on it, but I'm really not sure what to try next when I do go out there first thing in the morning.

Any ideas?

 

[BDPCR]

Have you confirmed that USB is enabled in the bios and that those USB ports are working?

 

[norm1320]

The system uses a USB mouse which works fine, so USB is enabled, and I tried switching to every USB port on the system (other than the one the mouse is using). I will doublecheck the BIOS in the morning to make sure there isn't some strange setting which would allow a mouse to work but not a printer.
I do know for certain that the USB ports all work on my laptop, including for other printers though, so I guess that is what is really confusing me.

 

[ProTech Support]

Have you verified that the printer is set to use the USB port in the printer properties?

I skimmed through your post, so excuse me if you already tried this.

EDIT: Just noticed you mentioned connecting it to your laptop as well. Sounds like the printer is shot considering the lightning storm and that the printer is not being detected on multiple computers with different cables.

 

[iptech]

disclaimer: Printers are definitely my weak area as I do mostly residential work and rarely need to work on them.

ok, so here's the situation:

Fairly new win7 system using an HP 2600n color laser printer connected via USB. Yesterday morning client gets to his office and finds that his computer is off (most likely shut down by the UPS as we had lightning storms and power failures the night before) and his printer won't print. He claims that there was an error message when he tried, but of course he does not remember what the error was.

I get there and find several documents in the printer spool and clear them out. Try printing a quick notepad test, and it goes to the print spool but does not print. I figure it never hurts to check for updated drivers, so I go and download the newest drivers.
Remove the old drivers and install the newly downloaded ones, but there is a snag... it does not find the printer, so I have to manually point it to the usb port and install that way.
Seems to go fine, but when I go to print it still does not print. It does send the doc to the spool, and after a few seconds the spool empties as though it has printed.
So I try switching to a different USB port to see if it will bring up the hardware detection routine. It doesn't.
Try a different USB cable. Doesn't work.
Try connecting it to my laptop. Not detected.
Try the first cord again with my laptop. Still not detected.
Try manually installing it to my laptop. Doesn't work.

Throughout all of this, I have seen no evidence that either computer is able to communicate with the printer at all, and given that we've just been through a storm and power failure scenario, and that the printer has no surge protection AT ALL, I feel comfortable saying that it is the printer itself and that he'll need to replace it.

Now I just received word that he got a new printer and it won't print either. It's too late in the day to go out there and work on it, but I'm really not sure what to try next when I do go out there first thing in the morning.

Any ideas?

I'm sure this was the first thing you tried, but did the computer self-test print come off OK? A printer is just a basic output device, or input/output for AIOs. Ignore the complex and misleading manufacturer's software/installation instructions and look at the fault as being a simple comms error.

It's my guess the power surge has fried the printer i/o card. Does this printer have an alternative interface such as Ethernet you could try?

 

[norm1320]

The menu system that is built in to the printer is pretty minimal and I did not see any place in it to select USB vs Network, but I'll add that to the list of things to check more closely.

 

[norm1320]

I'm sure this was the first thing you tried, but did the computer self-test print come off OK?

Nice catch on that one. Unfortunately I didn't think to run one. Once it failed to communicate with my own laptop, I guess my mind got stuck in the "this thing is just plain fried" mode and I may have missed some obvious steps after that.

It does have an ethernet port (don't ask me why they spent the extra money on a network printer when they have no intention of using it as such). I guess one thing to try would be to haul it into the "server room" and connect it to the hub to see if I can access it that way. Then if that does work I'll at least be able to give him the option of returning the new printer and just have me run a new cat5 line from the server room to his office to set it up as a proper network printer.

 

[norm1320]

EDIT: Just noticed you mentioned connecting it to your laptop as well. Sounds like the printer is shot considering the lightning storm and that the printer is not being detected on multiple computers with different cables.

Exactly my thinking when I told him he'd need a new printer.
However since he just got a new one which is also not working, I want to be as well armed as possible in the event that I did miss something. Hopefully the new printer is just being stubborn with the installation and I'll be proven right, but if not I want to salvage the situation as much as possible.

 

[GaPazz]

Straight from HP support site, did you try this?

HP LaserJet Printers - USB Devices Quit Working Unexpectedly in Windows XP
ISSUE:
An HP LaserJet printer may lose its connection and stop working unexpectedly when printing to a USB port in Windows XP.
The HP LaserJet printer may appear to work fine when Windows first starts up but later stops working.
NOTE: Disabling power management to a USB root hub is functionality of the Windows XP operating system and not specific to HP devices.
If you experience any issues with the instructions outlined below then please contact your PC manufacturer or Microsoft for further assistance.

SOLUTION:
Disable power management on the USB root hub. By default, Window XP disables the USB port when the HP LaserJet printer is not used in order to save power.
However, the printer may not respond when a print job is sent if this option is selected. To disable power management on the USB root hub, follow the steps
below:

1.Click Start , and right-click My Computer .
2.Click Properties , and click the Hardware tab.
3.Click the Device Manager button.
4.Double-click the Universal Serial Bus controllers branch to expand it.
5.Right-click USB Root Hub , and then click Properties .
6.Click the Power Management tab.
7.De-select the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"check box.
8.Click OK , and close the Device Manager.

 

[norm1320]

Ok, final wrap-up as the problem (actually 2 problems) is solved.

Turns out it was one of those lovely cases of two problems showing up at the same time.
The old printer was in fact dead, or at least no longer able to communicate with a computer. The new printer is now installed and working fine, however only after a system restore to about 5 days ago to solve a problem of the print spooler not working correctly. I suspect that whatever power surge killed the printer, also corrupted some of the print spooler files. However that is only a guess based on the fact that the two problems occurred either at the same time or very nearly the same time, I have no real evidence to support it.

I'm just happy to have a client who no longer thinks I screwed up the original diagnosis. (also rather happy to have a check in hand)

Thanks to all who contributed for your help.