Network printing problem xp/98

[Travlin_Man]

In a perfect world things would work right first time. . . . .

here is the setup. A friend of mine has two systems,

#1 is a desktop running win98 se. It has a Lexmark Z55 attached to it via usb.

#2 is a laptop running XP home

Both systems are networked through a Linksys 4 port router/switch.

I have set up both systems with file and print sharing. Both systems have access to the internet and also access to each other with no problems. The desktop can print to the lex with no problem. The laptop can see the shared printer and has loaded the drivers,, but when he tries to print to it,, it says it is having problems with the current setup and cannot print to the specified printer.

They are both in the same workgroup.
He is logged on to xp as himself with administrator rights.
I have uninstalled all printers from the laptop and re installed only the network printer.

HHEEEELLLLPPPPPP!!!???:( :( :(

[C.M. Weaver]

You might want to read THIS (http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87716) thread. Another person here was having the same problem with a Lexmark USB printer.

[Travlin_Man]

Yeah I read that one, but the thread looked like it just ended..

I know it is possible to use a lexmark on a file and pritshare network,, I have two lexmarks on my network. All my machines are running xp pro, but that wasn't always the case. I upgraded them from win98 one at a time,, with the printers being hooked to the last machine upgraded. I was able to print to them then,, although I do remember haveing some difficulties at firs, but I think I resolved them by changing the spooler format. That did not work this time.

Thanks

[gotwake79]

need to have same OS on both systems.... otherwise your going to have major spooling problems

local machine
1. install printer on local PC
2. start - settings - printers .... right click z55-> share as (name)
3. network neighborhood -> right click z55 -> capture port -> lpt3 or above

remote machine
1. install drivers on remote machine -> choose lpt x (from above) if given the option
2. NO TEST PAGE, and don't run the install over the network - make sure you use the cd in the same pc you're installing on

[Travlin_Man]

Hey gotwake!!!

Thanks for the reply!

Excuse me for being a little slow on the uptake here...

Go to local machine (desktop runnin win98),, network neighborhood,, right click on z55,, and the will be a "capture port" that I can select?

then select lpt3 or above.

Even though the lexmark is connected via a usb? guess I don't understand capturing ports.

Then go to the remote machine (laptop running xp home) and install printer and select whatever lpt port I chose on the local?

Do I choose the lpt port thru the network?
Do I choose the lpt port on the remote??

Sorry bout all the questions. I haven't felt like this bad of a noOb in a long time.....

[koldchillah]

Here at one of my jobs we stopped using Lexmarks because they would work over the network one day and then not another. Every PC here is running win2k and everyday we would have to go to the remote PC that wanted to print to the USB Lexmark and navigate through the Network Neighborhood to the PC with the printer connected. - Right click on the printer and select "Connect". It would then pause for a second while connecting, then viola! it worked... at least until they rebooted or something. It got annoying so we switched to HP and (using the same technique) have never seen that problem again... We just didn't have good luck with networking the Lexmarks. It didn't matter how many times we reinstalled drivers and on which machines... we tried it all. It's probably something to do with USB because the only Lexmark that didn't get replaced was an old parallel laser printer.. go figure.

[Travlin_Man]

Hey Koldchilla33

Thanks for the info. I finally got tired of trying to get the lex to work on a mixed os network. In the process of upgrading the 98 machine to XP. I was trying to avoid that cuz I had to flash the bios and all the other problems that go with moving a older machine to xp,,, but I flashed yesterday and we are upgrading it today. Hopefully this will solve the network printer problem.

I think some of his sock files were bad or something on 98 because there were other problems he started having which reported socket errors and an async message.

I just don't understand computers sometimes..:D They seem to have a life of their own .. I had a network of two 98 machines one time. One machine had two lex printer attached via usb and lpt. They worked fine. I upgraded on mahine to XP and it gave me a bit of trouble,, but after screwing with the spooler format,, no prob. Later after upgrading the second puter to xp I had no printing probs at all.

Anyways,, I have read about soo many people having lex/network problems,, I am now curious to see if I can get it working.

Will advise;) ;)

[zxc47]

Travlin_Man: I have a hp printer that is usb on two computers running winxp.The computer that does not have the printer plug into it . I had to add a printer to each of the user name on the computer network.I had to go to each user name and add printer. I did this on both computers and it works fine know

[Travlin_Man]

Both systems are now XP and the Lexmark works fine....

thanks for all the help!:D ;)