printer driver configuration

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alexandre376

Broken In
hello,
i have a printer, scanner, photocopier all-in-one. i have windows xp. the driver is correctly installed. the wi-fi network is correctly set, also. the scanner works, the photocopier works. but the printer doesn't work. when i try to print, the printer doesn't appear in the list of available printers to choose from. i think the driver needs to be correctly configured, but i don't know how to at all. can you either help me directly, here, or point me to a text, a magazine or a book? i have a very strong idea that there is a solution to this, but i haven't found it yet. the driver is updated, and i am not going to uninstall it. whether you can help me or not, i want to say i really appreciate forums like yours. thanks in advance
 
Flash

Flash

Lost in speed
If you're still using Windows XP, there's a possibility that your printer mayn't have a compatible driver to be recognized by the OS, to list it under the Printers.
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
i have the correct and compatible driver. and updated. it is correctly installed. i downloaded the driver from the manufacturers' site. the printer isn't detected.
 
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
If the issue is not software then it is hardware.Check cable,power supply,even check printer with some other pc.btw what exactly is printer model name/no.
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
the problem is not the cable, nor the network connection. the driver is installed. the printer does not appear in the window where you can choose which printer to use when you want to print something. how can i solve this? can someone give me general ideas about how to configure a driver? where in the computer can one do that? can you indicate me a text or texts about these things?
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
i tried re-installing the driver, with the add new printer wizard. in this wizard, i was able to find the driver i needed, corresponding to my printer's make and model. it is there among the drivers the wizard presents for choosing. but at the end, the wizard says it didn't manage to install the printer.
 
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
alexandre376 said:
i tried re-installing the driver, with the add new printer wizard. in this wizard, i was able to find the driver i needed, corresponding to my printer's make and model. it is there among the drivers the wizard presents for choosing. but at the end, the wizard says it didn't manage to install the printer.
Click to expand...
Check in device manager that printer is present(with expected model number/name).If yes & still not able to detect printer in OS then only option left is to try with another system/OS to rule out any current OS corruption.
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
i think there are no problems with the operationg system. perhaps someons else could give me some ideas about all this. thank you
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Please help us help you! You still have not shared the printer model number. Someone out here might have some experience with that printer and might know what the issue could be. If you do not know the printer make/model number then you can physically find it on the printer or look at invoice/bill/user manual/cover box or even the warranty card.

What is the bitness of your Windows XP? Is it 32 or 64 bit? Some HP WiFi printer drivers do have known issues with 64 Bit Windows xp. They work just fine in XP 32 bit or even Windows 7 64 and above but fail on XP 64. If you do not know if your XP is 32 or 64 Bit then run msinfo32.exe at start run prompt. If it just says Windows XP <Edition> then it's 32 bit. If it says Windows XP <edition> 64 then it's 64 bit.

Another thing that you can just try (This directly won't help) is to install CutePDF Writer CutePDF :: Product :: CutePDF Writer along with its dependency Ghostscript. This will install a virtual printer on your OS to print document files to PDF. If it installs fine and woks then you most likely have a working printing system on your OS.

Since you say WiFi printer, and scanner is working fine, is it getting any IP address allocated from DHCP? Does it have any settings page accessible by IP Address thru browser? Did you try checking if it is seen therein and can be configured?

Have you precisely followed the exact steps as mentioned in the user manual to install the printer?
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
thank you for your attention. i am going to try to be clear, for this is all somewhat confusing. my printer is a Brother MFC-J5730DW. In the cd rom which came with the printer, the drivers' cd rom, there are only drivers for windows vista, 7, 8, and 10. but i searched on brother's websites, and found - i searched 2 or 3 hours a day for a week - a driver for windows xp - i wouldn't be able to find it again. i installed that driver. the photocopier, the scanner and the fax work, the printer doesn't. i have that driver installed, and i don't want to uninstall it for any reason, after all the work in finding it. it is updated. my windows xp is 32 bit. i don't know how to answer your question about DHCP, i tried the IP Address through browser thing, but nothing comes up. the thing is that i was using wi-fi, but i now have changed to an usb cable. i can explain more things, but i want to be clear and simple. i followed the correct steps in the user manual when trying to install the printer. the main idea is that i am not going to install another driver, and i am fully convinced this has a solution. thank you in advance.
 
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
I do not think you got that driver from official Brother's site.The official link clearly states that XP is not supported:
Supported OS | MFC-J5730DW | Others | Brother

You probably found some compatible or older version driver(from a 3rd party site) which supported xp at that time but later versions removed the support for xp.Something like this may be:
*support-brotherdrivers.com/brother-mfc-j5730dw-driver-download/
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
Micorosft’s extended support for Windows XP ended way back in 2014. As a result, most hardware vendors may no longer offer any support or drivers for XP. You may additionally like to open a ticket with Brother Tech support in your region to seek their assistance on making this work, this might come with a service fee.

If XP absolutely does not work, you can explore the option of Virtual Machine like VMWare and see if it allows USB passthru of the printer and if it can be made available to a virtual machine say Windows 7 running as a Guest on your XP as a Host. You can use Windows 7 on trial basis for 30 days. I am not an expert in that area so just speculating as one of the possibilities. You will have to explore it out if you want to go that way and if you are going to stick to Windows XP for a while. Since your XP is 32 bit, you will have to look for an older version of VMWare Player (free for non-commercial use) for example, as all new versions are 64 bit only.

You should have sufficient RAM and CPU should support virtualization for virtual machine to run in the first place though.

Another option is to try to Mod the driver's INF files (if available) for Windows 7 to fool the installer in believing that it's XP. Certain sections on INF can be modified to do that. However results could be unpredictable and in worst case whatever is working right now might also stop working! Do it at your own risk if you are familiar with driver Modding. This again is applicable if the driver is available as INF SYS CAT files and not an executable that does everything on the fly.
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
i managed to advance in something! the printer finally appears in the device manager - up to now it didn't appear in the device manager - , in the printer section, not only in the scanner section. but it says the driver is not installed, returns a code 28 error. i know that the driver is the correct one and that it is correctly installed. the printer still does not appear in the window where you can choose between printers to print a page, when i try to print a text from the word processor. what can i do?
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
first of all, i want to say i am not a professional computer technician and i am going to write about things that can seriously damage a computer. don't try anything based on what i say, except if confirmed by a professional. i take no responsibility whatsoever. so i advanced again. i now know what the problem is: a conflict in IRQ lines. two peripherals trying to use the same ISA IRQ line. but the problem isn't solved yet: how do i attribute a different IRQ line to the printer i am configuring? before that, how do i identify which peripheral is conflicting with the printer? how do i identify which IRQ line number is in conflict? i searched in the bios, but nothing there allows me to attribute an IRQ line. there is a second screen when i turn on the computer with a list of IRQ lines, but i don't know how to navigate or write in that screen. but anyway that screen only gives generic terms, like "usb device" for example, i don't find anything there. and above all, i am not a professional. the thing is i am certain i can fix the whole problem in the windows device manager - even if everything there appears in generic terms, there's some solution to this generic name problem - , but i really don't know how to fix the whole problem. i thank you for help. i warn again, if you start messing with the bios or the irqs without having enough computer knowledge, you'll damage your computer seriously, it will stop working at all, and you would have to pay a very expensive repair or would have to buy a new computer. i only have some amateur knowledge of computers. you are thoroughly warned. thank you
 
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alexandre376

Broken In
maybe the problem is not exactly what i have said, but something very similar, basically the same kind of problem. in the device manager, in the resource by connection view, i see a repetition (the only one i see) : the same device appears twice. the device is named "high precision event timer". it uses IRQ line number 0 (ISA) and IRQ line number 8 (ISA). i know each device can only have one IRQ line attributed. when i click on "high precision event timer" (any of the two that appear), the window that appears, where you can see the resources, indicates two IRQ lines, 0 and 8. i don't know how to remove an IRQ line resource. i don't want to remove IRQ line 0 - IRQ line 0 is special. thanks for help.

but i think IRQ line 0 and IRQ line 8 shouldn't be touched, they are special!

although i don't see anything in the IRQ resources list, i know the problem is an IRQ line number conflict. can someone help? thanks
 
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topgear

topgear

Super Moderator
Staff member
@alexandre376 - your printer has no compatible driver for XP - what you got may be some test drivers hence it's not working - I mean not all of the functions are working. Just install windows 7 and install printer driver which shall solve the issue you're facing.
 
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