XP & Printer Driver Problem

I just upgraded to WinXP Home and use an HP printer. When I get ready to print I get a choice of two HP printers, either one of which will print. However, the print job messes up and I think I have a conflict with the two drivers. It appears that when XP starts and seeks a printer driver, it cannot find the HP one, or, it cannot find it first, so it loads a generic one and I continue to have the problem. I can delete the generic printer and the driver and that seems to help, but the next time I start XP it reloads the generic printer driver again.

Any ideas about what is happening and what I can do about it?

 

here's what to do..

delete both printers.. download the driver from HP's site for WinXP for your printer model if there is one. If the driver is a complete install package then it should install the printer for you.. otherwise you'll have to point the XP printer installation to the folder in which the HP drivers that you just downloaded reside. Note that if the download is NOT an executable, it is probably a zip file which means you have to EXTRACT the files to the folder before pointing the installation to that directory or it will not find any drivers.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for your advice Kodo but I tried several different ways and things with no success. Then I had an idea that seems to be working. On the generic driver I changed the port from LPT1 Printer Port to COM1 serial port. Apparently the drivers do not conflict with this setup. Does this make sense?

Thanks!