cannot get usb to LPT adaptor to work.

[dacflyer]

i bought a USB to LPT adapter so i can use my HO printer on my laptop. but i cannot get it to work.
the unit came with no instructions.
i am wondering is there is a setting that i need to enable somewhere that i need to set.
anyone here know of anything ?

[CeaSaR]

Ususally you have to specify the LPT port for the printer so that the driver can
find it. The problem with USB is that it is dynamic and can change, somteimes
while the computer is running - such as a failure condition that will restart the
USB peripheral. I know there is a setting to force a particular peripheral to stay
at a specified setting, but I haven't had to do it in so long that I forget what it is.

Another possibility is that it is not supported by the OS, but I've had some really old
stuff hooked up to XP machines (HP250C color plotter - from the mid '90s via actual
parallel port). You just have to find a driver that will work if it is not recognized.

CeaSaR

[MrAl]

Hi,

Yes you can go into Device Manager and look up the USB device and see if it has settings for the LPT port. You might try LPT3 i think it is as that's the most common (been a long time for me since i needed an LP port).

If the driver is installed right you should see the USB device listed with no exclamation point. If it has an exclamation point then the driver isnt installed right. If it doesnt show up at all it may be defective.

Some of these drivers are tricky to install. Some come with a program .exe to run, others you have to find an .inf file, or maybe even another file, and tell Windows to install it via the Device Manager and "Update Driver", or you may have to run an .exe install program first and then also use Update Driver to actually get it to install.
I hate it when there is no install instructions.

Good luck with it.

[dacflyer]

well i contacted the seller in Ebay. and he said it should be just plug-n-play.
he said its possibly defective and is sending me a 2nd one..
only cost me less than $3.00..to WIN it..lol
so i will hope 2nd one works when it comes in..

[dacflyer]

i got my replacement unit in today..
it still does not work. i have looked all thru my printer settings, nothing seems to work.
the usb device is recognized. but it does not talk to printer.
and i cannot find any information or setting for the device, the seller said it is a plug-n-play device, so no instructions are needed.. any other suggestions ?
i have no info on the device what so ever... the printer is a HP "820Cse"

[gerty]

I have a couple of USB type adaptors, and they all needed specific drivers.
http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=2 ... gory_id=47
This one was very touchy to get working, the driver had to be loaded in a specific sequence.
And the factory driver that came with the cable didn't work, I called the dealer and he had me go to his website and download a different , OS specific, driver.

[Janitor Tzap]

Hey Dacflyer,

What is the Operating System on the Laptop?
Is it the older 32 Bit version or 64 Bit version?

I've did a little hopping around on the HP Forums.
And found that Windows 7 & Vista have problems with older printers,
that try to use USB to Parallel Port Adapters.
XP it seems, doesn't have the problem except for the 64 Bit version.

I've run into this issue of USB to Parallel Port Adapter not working because of IRQ issues.
But this was on a desktop computer.
To get around the problem, I put in a PCI Parallel Port card.

I looked at the HP Manual to see if in the Accessories,
you can change out the Centronics Parallel Port for a different type of interface.
But it doesn't show anything.
I've worked on the Business HP Laser printers, and they could be configured for
Parallel, Serial, or LAN depending on what the business needed.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[dacflyer]

the laptop is a Toshiba satellite with XP sp3.
if i cannot get it to work, is there any other options one can think of ?
do they make a PCMCIA card to LPT adapter ?
i do not want to buy another printer just to use with my laptop.
my current printer works great, and i have source for inks ( freebies ) i just cannot use it on my laptop

[CeaSaR]

If you have it hooked to another computer, just share it through the network.

CeaSaR

[dacflyer]

i don't think i can.. old desktop is a WIN98se or can it?
if so, how do i do it ?

[CeaSaR]

At the old job, we had a p2p network with Win98 and XP running together. As
long as you had the printer on one that worked and shared it, you could add it
to another as a network printer. This worked for a HP250C plotter that was
originally made for Win3.X/Win95 (Win98SE machine), a HP something or other
that was good for Win2000/XP (another Win98SE machine) and a Brother that
was good for XP (on an XP laptop). Sure, the newer ones needed older drivers
for the Win98 machines, but once they were installed, all worked just fine. So,
if you can share folders on a network, you can share a printer - as long as there
are drivers for it for your particular system(s) - or one close enough to it.

Oh, don't forget that you need the main printer computer to be on to use it.

CeaSaR

[Janitor Tzap]

Amazon has PCMCIA card to LPT adapters at fairly reasonable prices.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... 92vo1clz_b


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[MrAl]

Hi again,


Some devices like that are plug and play, but still require a driver because the plug and play part is only for the device to be recognized, not to be working properly. If it is recognized then my suggestion is to try it with another printer or something else altogether like a scanner or anything else you can find that plugs into a parallel port.
Do you know the manufacturer and model? You can search the web for a driver, or we can also try to find one too if you post the info.
Another possible problem could be that your printer requires an extended parallel port and that USB one is just a regular port, or it may require something else that a motherboard port would have (some spec).

I needed a parallel port a while back myself. This is my story
I had a decent scanner, but i switched motherboards (updated my system) to a more modern one, and sure enough, it did not have a parallel printer port nor even a header for one. So i ended up looking around i guess like you did. I found various devices including the USB parallel ports but heard too many stories of them not working properly, so i decided to go with an internal pci card. I got a pci card for under 20 dollars and note this is a pci not pci express. It supposedly supported all the printer port specs like extended and all that, but sure enough, it was too slow for the scanner to operate reasonably. It would work decent on very low resolution, but as soon as it was turned up even to the next setting, it went wayyyyy too slow. And i mean so slow you just could not use it.
And that was with a pci card too made by Rosewill. I ended up getting a new scanner which wasnt a bad idea because the new one was far faster than the old one anyway. Not perfect on scans, but good enough and the speed was much better.

So if you need a card make sure you get a decent one too made by a 'reputable' company (if there is such a thing anymore ha ha).

[Lenp]

Just use a network print server from Trendnet. I have several on our system and they are great!
I use the TE100-P1P, Ethernet to parallel. They are easy to set up and available on line from many suppliers 30-40$

[dacflyer]

MrAl >> i am using a laptop, so i cannot install any cards...

lenp >> for that amount of money i can buy another printer - used of course, unless someone has them on sale somewhere..