Hi, I am using Vista Home Premium 64-bit. My L/T does not have a parallel
port and I want to use my HP 4P parallel printer with it. I have an adapter
cable to do the job, but after going through the installation of the printer
several times, it only printed once. If that was due to a combination of
settings, I haven't found them again. I believe the problem is most related
to the printer status in the Word print window being IDLE and not READY as I
was able to get when it worked. How do I get the status to READY? The
adapter is pretty simple and not likely the problem; it is a cable with a USB
connector on one end and a parrallel connector on the other end. The
parallel connector housing has the electronics. It came with no S/W as it is
not needed (it seems; and I was told). I would greatly appeciate some help
here. --- Also, the L/T has 4 USB ports. During my trials I tried them all.
When installed on USB port 2 (for example), does that correspond to a
physical port connection and, if so, must I always use that connector for the
printer?

"Art K" <Art K@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:71A08E5A-8E03-4BAC-B219-C4A15B47218E@microsoft.com...
> Hi, I am using Vista Home Premium 64-bit. My L/T does not have a parallel
> port and I want to use my HP 4P parallel printer with it. I have an
> adapter
> cable to do the job, but after going through the installation of the
> printer
> several times, it only printed once. If that was due to a combination of
> settings, I haven't found them again. I believe the problem is most
> related
> to the printer status in the Word print window being IDLE and not READY as
> I
> was able to get when it worked. How do I get the status to READY? The
> adapter is pretty simple and not likely the problem; it is a cable with a
> USB
> connector on one end and a parrallel connector on the other end. The
> parallel connector housing has the electronics. It came with no S/W as it
> is
> not needed (it seems; and I was told). I would greatly appeciate some
> help
> here. --- Also, the L/T has 4 USB ports. During my trials I tried them
> all.
> When installed on USB port 2 (for example), does that correspond to a
> physical port connection and, if so, must I always use that connector for
> the
> printer?

For the last question about always using that port, the simple answer is you
should. When the port is created and you then plug the USB cable into a
different physical port you may get the computer "finding" hardware and
attempting to create another logical printer port. I have my Canon BJC 80
for my laptop installed using a Belkin USB-Parallel cable and it took a
while to get it to work.

To attempt to get the printer to print, you need to make sure that you have
a USB printer port created. Do this to check. Open the Printers by
clicking on Start, Settings, Control Panel, Printers. See if your printer
is listed in the listing. If not, it is not installed at all and you need
to go through the Add printer procedure.

If you find it, right click on the Printer name and then left click on
Properties. From the window that opens click on Ports. Your printer should
be listed on a USB Virtual printer port for USB. If it is not then it is
installed incorrectly.

If it is installed and the USB Virtual printer port is present make sure the
check mark is in that port. If not check it and then click apply.

One other thing I found with the cable is that if I have the Enable
bidirectional support enabled it slows printing down enormously in Vista but
not in XP.

Also use the Print test function to test the printer initially, it is right
there instead of having to start a program and print from it. Once you get
it to print from the driver test, then test it with a program.

Let us know what you find out.