Printer Driver Won't Install

Discussion in 'Software' started by Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006.

  1. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    I am re-posting this with a different title because I didn't get a response. I don't think it has anything to do with the 2007 beta software. You guys helped me so much when I had pop-up problems that I know someone would have answered by now if I had titled it better.

    I heard that the new Microsoft Office 2007 Beta was ready for regular guys to try out, so I downloaded it. It has some neat things. It changed all of my Word documents to Wordpad, even the ones I haven't opened and I would like to figure that out, but that's secondary.

    The big problem is my Lexmark X63 printer. It was doing okay, so I don't know if this is a Vista problem or not. Anyway the printer started hanging up and for some reason I thought maybe there was a new driver I could download and help it out. I went to the Lexmark site and downloaded a driver and an un-install utility. I uninstalled the old driver and tried to install the new one. It hung up and finally I gave up and stopped it. I figured it was working before I "fixed" it, so I dug out my original software that came with the printer. I uninstalled again and ran the install from the disc. It hung up, too. Now I ain't got no printer at all.

    I read the part above about providing system information, but I must just be a dunce today. I downloaded the AIDA and couldn't figure out what to do with it. Somebody help an old lady, please!

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Have no idea if the beta did it, but would suggest you do a system restore to before you downloaded the beta.
     
    TimW, Aug 28, 2006
    #2
  3. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    I know from your post you have Office 2007 beta installed but do you also have Windows Vista beta 2 installed? ( not going to leature on the use of betas on a critical home use PC, but issues like this will be evident when using beta's on a non-test PC, these softwares are not finished and will have many bugs still )

    or what is your Operating System ( Windows Version ) if not Windows Vista Beta2 ?

    Both are betas and in the case of Vista, you may find that no drivers have been written for your printer as yet, as drivers are a major issue still with Vista as many companies have not updated their drivers to work with this new Operating System.

    You could install the driver using compatabilty mode for Windows XP SP2 to see if that works.

    As you say it was working before, did you upgrade to Vista from XP Sp2?

    As it hangs on install is their any error mesages, if so what? In Vista you can get an idea of what the issue was by checking Problem History, goto Control Panel > System and Maintanence > and under Problem Reports and Solutions click View Problem History and double click any reference to Lexmark and what does it say.

    Did you also try installing the driver in forced elevated admin mode, rigth click the drivers setup.exe file and choose Compatability > under Privilage Level tick Run this program as an Administrator.
     
    DavidGP, Aug 28, 2006
    #3
  4. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    I will even need help to do this.

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #4
  5. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Start / programs / accessories / system tools / system restore ....find a restore point before the beta install.
     
    TimW, Aug 28, 2006
    #5
  6. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    I have Windows XP Sp2. The printer was working with the Office 2007 beta. It was hanging up sometimes before the Office 2007 beta. So it really isn't a beta problem. I just thought that was something that you needed to know. The problem is (I think) that I screwed up trying to install, or re-install the printer driver. It hangs up during the install and just runs and runs with the CPU usage at 100% most of the time. I left it for a couple of hours and finally gave up. I used the Task Manager to end it. At one point, it asked for a .dll file. I found a file with the correct name, but the extension was .DL_ (underscore.)

    You guys were so helpful to me before. I asked at the Microsoft site and the only answer I got was that I shouldn't have downloaded the software if I didn't know that much about it. Well I have been properly chastised, but I would still like to be able to print. SIGH!

    Rebecca

     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #6
  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Do you still have the installation directions for the printer ...some want you to not have it physically connected when you load the software, others want it connected when loading.

    As Halo mentioned:
    As it hangs on install is their any error mesages, if so what? In Vista you can get an idea of what the issue was by checking Problem History, goto Control Panel > System and Maintanence > and under Problem Reports and Solutions click View Problem History and double click any reference to Lexmark and what does it say.
     
    TimW, Aug 28, 2006
    #7
  8. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    Yes, I (think) I did what the printer instructions say. It was confusing because it says to unplug the USB cable. Then after a step or two it says to plug it back in. Okay, that's not really confusing, but I felt like if I did it wrong the thing would explode.

    No there are no error messages. It just sits there working away at 100% CPU for hours.

    I will go to the Vista problem supports and see what I can find out. Thanks! I will be right back (I hope) to let you know what I find.

    Rebecca

     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #8
  9. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    I have the Vista Office installed, but not the operating system. So I went to Control Panel, but there is no System and Maintenance.

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #9
  10. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    Will this make all my email and data go away back to the restore point? I know I can back up some of it to disc, but what all will I lose? Actually, I don't want to get rid of the beta. I like it. I just want my printer to work.

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #10
  11. erikske

    erikske Sergeant

    No, only system settings and essential files will be restored, nothing will be deleted.
    Lexmark printers can be extremely hard to install. I've a friend who had to reinstall it over five times to get it working, and then it still would only print, not scan.
    A complete reinstall of the printer is probably the best solution.
     
    erikske, Aug 28, 2006
    #11
  12. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi Rebecca,

    I see you just have Office 2007 beta installed and not Windows Vista beta ( the mention of Vista caused some confusion I guess ) , so your correct you wont see those menu items I posted as they are not available in Windows XP.

    I guess the best option is to uninstall the printer drivers and any lexmark software that goes along with it, then run Lexmarks Uninstall Clean Utility for your model printer to remove any left over reminents, then run something like CCleaner and its Cleaner and Issues scans to remove all temp files and old registry entries and clean install the printer drivers again.
     
    DavidGP, Aug 28, 2006
    #12
  13. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    I could just throw the printer out in the middle of the road and forget it. Actually, I have an HP I could use, but it doesn't FAX.

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #13
  14. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    Sorry, I even confused the experts. Should I also download the Vista Windows. Nevermind, I'm sure you will say, "No."

    I ran the Lexmark clean up thing before I tried to install the downloaded driver and again before I tried to install from my original disc. I will run it again and then run CCleaner. I have it installed from when I had the pop-ups.

    Or would it be better to do as Tim says and just restore it to Friday? I messed it up Saturday.

    Rebecca

     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #14
  15. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Vista... well NO, it will only add more issues to your PC that you have now, and its not publically available again as yet, will be soon, but I would advise not to install it until its released next year.

    Yes you could try again to cleanup the drivers, run the lexmark util and then CCleaner and then reinstall, if that doesnt work then Tims option is a viable one.
     
    DavidGP, Aug 28, 2006
    #15
  16. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    Well, I'm printing again! I'm not sure what happened differently this time. I used the Lexmark Uninstall exec. (It makes you reboot afterwards.) Then I ran CCleaner. Then I put the original disc in the drive. Once again a big blue screen came up saying "Please, wait. Installing Lexmark" or something like that. Once again I looked at the Task Manager and it showed the Lexmark exec running at almost 100% of the CPU. I went away for and hour and fifteen minutes and the same thing was still happening. So I killed the Lexmark install exec usiing the Task Manager just like I did before. I got a message saying I was interrupting the install and it was a bad thing. I told it to stop anyway. This time there was a pop up box when the blue screen went away saying "To complete install click finish." I thought, "What the heck!" And I hit the finish. But it had told me that I was interrupting the install, so I thought it still wouldn't work. I found the System Restore and tried to restore it to Friday. I got a message saying that it couldn't be restored because nothing was changed. DARN! So just for the heck of it, I tried to print something. It printed! MAN! It wouldn't print Saturday. I didn't try it Sunday. It wouldn't print this morning. So we fixed something, but the PC is trying to make me think we didn't. Can you get a poltergeist in a PC? Any idea what happened?

    Thanks so much to all of you!

    Should I start a new thread to ask about the Office 2007 changing all my Word documents to Wordpad?

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 28, 2006
    #16
  17. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    In this instance, I think its a TGIF (thank ghosts it's fixed).
    Yes ...start a new thread.
     
    TimW, Aug 28, 2006
    #17
  18. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    As long as I am asking about this darn printer. I know there has to be an easier way! Whenever there is a paper jam, the crazy thing hangs up and I have to shut down everything and reboot the whole computer before I can print again. There's gotta be a way to force the printer to behave! If I go into the print queue the jammed job is still there acting like it is printing, but the printer is yelling at me "Trouble communicating with the ptinter." If I pick the job and try to delete it, it says "deleting" by the job, but hangs there and never does anything else. I have tried unplugging the printer and unplugging the USB cable, but as soon as I plug it back up it yells, "Trouble communicating with the printer." It is really irritating!

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 29, 2006
    #18
  19. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    We have similar problems with ours at times ...go to the manufacturers web site and see if there are any updates for the drivers/printer.
     
    TimW, Aug 29, 2006
    #19
  20. Rebecca

    Rebecca Private First Class

    WAIT A MINUTE! That's the way I got into the first problem! :) I think I will go back to throwin gthe printer out in the road.

    Rebecca
     
    Rebecca, Aug 29, 2006
    #20
  21. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Could try rolling back the driver ...if the updated driver started causing problems ....been so long I have forgotten what the original problems were (LOL).
     
    TimW, Aug 29, 2006
    #21

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