Unwanted feed

I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.

Are the USB ports recognized correctly by other devices? Did you try a
different cable?
--
Cari (MS-MVP)
Windows Technologies - Printing & Imaging
http://www.coribright.com/windows

"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.

A system cold boot sends an initialization command to the parallel port
printer. Your printer responds by executing a form feed.
What happens when the printer is turned off and the system is booted. And,
after windows has completed it's boot process, the printer is turned on?

Some printers have a set of options that are settable via a control panel,
dip switches, or a utility.
If yours is in this category, you may be able to modify the printers
behavior when it gets the initialization command.

What is wrong with the USB system on your computer? Does it work with other
devices?

"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.

My Mouse when connected to either USB port works OK. Basically the same
thing happened to my HP Scanjet 5370 .
Both HP Devices worked fine with USB for many months. I did try different
USB cables. The USB Circuitry on the HP Devices both failed ? Could be. I
tried booting the computer with the Printer off, then turning it on once XP
loaded.

That seemed to stop the sheet from being fed thru. Thanks for that info.






"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.

The USB Circuitry on the HP Devices both failed ?

Likely not. The problem may be in hardware, in that the USB ports may not
have enough current capability.
Another issue may be a change in the USB subsystem (microsoft) At some
point, Microsoft changed the USB support to more closely conform to the
standards. This did cause problems, mainly with devices that really did not
comply completely with the standard. Understand that the "devices" can be
such things as a printer, or even the USB support chip set in the computer.
Somewhere in the MSKB is an article that explains a "rollback" proceedure.


When all else fails, I usually end up uninstalling the USB ports and
controllers, and then reinstalling them. Obviously, this can cause problems
if the keyboard and mouse use a USB interface. In this case, I usually use a
PS/2 keyboard and mouse wjile I'm dinking with the USB system.
The process I use in summary
Remove/disconnect USB devices other than Mouse and Keyboard and uninstall
drivers
Shutdown
Connect a PS/2 Keyboard & Mouse
Boot
Uninstall the USB ports and Controllers

http://www.support.microsoft.com/sea...se&range=1-200

Sorry I did not have enough time to find the referenced proceedure, and had
to list the problem index instead

"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
My Mouse when connected to either USB port works OK. Basically the same
thing happened to my HP Scanjet 5370 .
Both HP Devices worked fine with USB for many months. I did try different
USB cables. The USB Circuitry on the HP Devices both failed ? Could be. I
tried booting the computer with the Printer off, then turning it on once
XP
loaded.

That seemed to stop the sheet from being fed thru. Thanks for that
info.






"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a
sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.

Chuck, thanks for hanging in there with me. I have done all the obvious
stuff like uninstalling all the USB Controllers from
Device Manager ( many times ) and trying to reinstall the HP Printer
Software. . I have a Epox 8K3A Motherboard with a Via Chipset and have been
using the
Via 4-1 Drivers. But, I think WinXP supercedes them and uses it's own USB
drivers. One thing I just thought of is to
reconnect my USB to the Printer and see if it works in one of my Linux
Distro's. I have WinME still on my system which has
the same problem with the USB devices so I don't think it has anything to
do with WinXP. I do get the new hardware icon but it always fails to
initialize and sometimes I get a unrecognized USB device error. I have had
XP since it first came out
and I remember the trouble getting drivers for older Peripherals. Even HP
was late coming to the table. Anyway, thanks again for
your input.


"Rich Barry" wrote in message
...
I have a HP Printer connected by Parallel port. Everytime I bootup a sheet
of paper gets feed thru the Printer. How do I
stop this from happening. Using WinXP but I don't think that matters.
Printer is a Deskjet 5550 Series. Can't use the USB
connections anymore. Printer is not recognized.