Laserjet 4050 not working with Windows 10

[pantochris]

Printer no longer works, and says error. I can't find the printer or add it. It is connected via USB to parallel.

[GaryL1 · Accepted solution]

If it is a straight conversion cable, it will not work.  Windows 10 does not have drivers included that can dumb-down the transmission.

There are some cables that have a processor built into the plastic connector (on the parallel port side) but they have to be installed before connecting the printer.  If you have that kind of cable, remove everything and delete software.  Reboot.  Go back and install the cable first.  You can tell if it's the "install first" kind by connecting it to your PC and it asks if you have a disk or want to use Windows update.

Your best bet is to pick up a used 620 Jetdirect network card on Ebay for about $40 and pluc it into your network.  It will work then. 

[Roger41]

Hello GaryL1

You suggest installing a 620 Jetdirect network card. Is a 620 the same a 620N?

[Roger41]

Hello Gary.

When I’ve got the 620 network card is it just a question of installing it into the 4050 printer and then connecting the printer to the laptop in the normal way. Does anything need plugging into the network card?

[GaryL1]

You will need to connect it to your network.  If you mean, "normal way" by hard wiring it in, then yes.  The 620 card is not wireless.  The 4050 doesn't have enough internal memory or processing power on it's own, so adding the network card increases the RAM and helps it process larger jobs.  Keep in mind that large PDFs, PowerPoint and other large size or complex files will "stall" the printer between pages.

You may want to go on eBay and see if you can grab some extra RAM for it.  It should be dirt cheap because so many units are being retired.

[Roger41]

Hello Gary. 

As suggested to get my HP 4050 Laser jet printer working following upgrading to Windows 10 I’ve installed an HP620N network card. I’ve connected the printer to my HP pavilion laptop using a CAT 5 Patch cable UTP. Unfortunately the laptop and the printer are still not talking to each other. Other numbers on the cable are E189529 AWM 2835 60 Deg. C  CSA 221236 FT2 ETL VERIFIED TIA/EIA-568B.2. Do you have any idea?

[Roger41]

Hello Gary

You will be pleased to know that my printer is working. Having installed the 620N network card I uninstalled the printer from my laptop and reinstalled it which did the trick. Thanks very much for providing the solution. Roger