Deskjet 450 won't print on this system but OK on a similar one

[Martt_Harding]

HP DeskJet 450 connected to Compaq nc6220 laptop PC running Windows XP SR3.   The printer driver was installed from the HP-supplied CD.  Printer is connected to port DOT4_001.  

Printer works fine when connected to an unrelated desktop PC also running WinXP SR3.

However the printer does not work properly when connected to this laptop PC.  No application that I've tried is able to successfully print, not even Notepad.   The print document shows up in the print queue for the printer, the printer feeds the paper about an inch, moves its heads, then rapidly feeds the rest of the sheet without printing anything.   The symptom is the same if I connect to a different USB port on the laptop.

I have already uninstalled and then reinstalled the driver, but the symptom is unchanged.

[Travis_C]

Hello Martt_Harding

I would suggest giving the HP Print and Scan Doctor a try. It may resolve your issue.

http://www.hp.com/go/tools

[Martt_Harding]

Travis,

Thank you for your suggestion, but no joy yet.  

The tool you suggested ran to completion and found no problems, but the printer still wouldn't print from any application I tried.   And the symptoms were unchanged from those I described in my initial request.

After considerable fiddling I got the IE ActiveX settings down to where HP's remote diagostic routine would run:  the troubleshooting tool said it found an outdated driver and updated it.   Unfortunately the printer didn't work and symptoms were unchanged.   And I suspect that the updated driver didn't actually install, since the driver shown in Control Panel | Applications | Hardware is version 1.0.0.0 dated 8/1/2001.    Don't know if I've ever seen a 1.0.0.0 version of any software before, so that seems a bit fishy, more like an "I don't know so here's a placeholder response".    The HP website listed the latest version of the driver for the DeskJet 450 as being version 1.3 dated13 Aug 2004.

Stuff that might be relevant:

When I did the original driver installation from CD, and the printer failed to work properly, I followed the suggestion in the installation notes and ran the included copy of DriverTool.exe.   The tool maxed out the CPU.   That seemed unlikely since the tool is only supposed to check and patch the registry, so after watching the CPU churn @ 100% for 10 minutes or so, I terminated the process from Task Manager.   Nothing seemed to have changed, the printer still wouldn't print from applications.

To (perhaps) clarify the symptoms:  Anything I've tried from the printer toolbox has worked.   The printer prints out the test page with the color picture of the motorcycle.  Print-head alignment works.   But when I try to print from an application, it seems to me that the print driver initializes the printer, which then waits for a few seconds for the text file to arrive.   When the file doesn't arrive, the printer times out and ejects the paper.   So I suspect that somewhere in the registry is a switch that isn't set, that would tell all applications where to send files to be printed.   Just a thought...

Martt

[Travis_C]

Hello Martt_Harding

Have you tried re-installing with the latest software? The link below will bring you to the Deskjet 450 Series download page. I wasn't sure which one you have. (450cbi, 450ci, 450wbt).

Deskjet 450 Series