(OT) Flaky USB Bus

[Alex Hewitt]

paul.cour1 at verizon.net wrote:
> Good Morning,
>
> I have (my wife) a Win XP machine that is driving me beserk.
> She decided that a new printer was in order and I would (obviously)
> take care of the rest of that idea...
>
> How would you check the functionality of a USB Bus / Controller?
>
> May we assume that if a typical USB device plugged in to
> a Win XP (SP 2) machine and seems to work, would that "probably"
> indicate that the USB interface (cable/controller) is "squeekie clean"?
>
> I.E., would this assume that all of the generic USB functionality 
> (probably) works O. K. ?
>
> We have a new HP 6310 printer (Fax, Scanner, Printer, All In One) 
> which doesn't print,
> but an earlier generation HP 3745 printer works fine (both printers 
> via USB on same machine).
> I've done a "reinstall" using the HP CD, of software / drivers (of the 
> 6310), several
> times, without success.
>
> I downloaded and installed the 6310 Driver via the Web (as another 
> idea) without (printing) success.
>
> But if I hook up the old HP 3745 printer and create a sm file via 
> NotePad editor,
> the 3745 works (prints) fine.
>
> OBTW, I took the HP 6310 back to Circuit City and  got a new item,
> then followed procedure as above, (3 - 4 times) without success???
>
> Tried USB spigot on back of machine (different controller?) and get same
> results as USB spigot on front of machine (no print) ???
>
> I tried a different USB cable as well with no change.
>
> Can add HP 6300 printer manually, in Printers and Faxes.
> Can select Printer (Icon) as Default printer and shows as "Ready'  ...
>
> "My Computer -> Hardware" sees device as "Unknown Device"...
>
> What other options do I now have?
> Is there a way to test generic USB functionality?
>
> Should I consider Refreshing Win XP (SP 2), as the last resort?
>
> Is there other "Plug & Play" issues here, that I am not aware of?
> Any other options that you might suggest?
>
> Thanks for any Comments or suggestions (or flames)...
>
> paulc
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>
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>   
I have run into this kind of problem between an XP host and an HP 
multi-function printer before. No amount of registry editing, removing 
of old drivers, re-installing would work. Finally I found that 
re-installing XP corrected the problem. HP doesn't know how to fix this 
particular problem which usually manifests itself as a "error occurred 
during installation" message when you attempt to install the 
multi-function printer. If a re-install becomes necessary you should 
make sure you have the necessary kits (including Office and any other 
application needed) and then make sure you back up your wife's data. You 
can get almost all of her data by backing up the "Documents and 
Settings" folder (which will not only back up her stuff but all the 
accounts on the system). If she is using Quickbooks or another 
accounting program make sure you get her company file(s) in your backup. 
You can also backup individual items like Outlook Express/Outlook data 
files.  If she is using Outlook Express make sure you export her address 
book to a .wab file. You can reload her address book from that file 
after you re-install Windows. If you had another Windows system you 
could test the printer with that system but the problem you are 
describing sounds a lot like the problem I have run into at several 
client sites. HP has a more thorough printer de-installation program but 
I didn't get the results needed when I've used it.

-Alex

P.S. You should also export your wife's bookmarks and cookies before 
re-loading Windows. You can import those saved files when you've got 
Windows up and running again.

P.P.S. Feel free to google for a solution but unless HP has figured out 
how to fix this you may need to re-load Windows.