My printer only feeds blank paper

A frequent problem with printers using USB connection is that the owner sets up the printer and connects to power and to the computer via USB "before" installing the printer driver. From your post, it seems that you didn't fall into this problem, but I'm just making sure. If you did, and then reversed your action by disconnecting USB and reinstalling the printer driver, you may still have a problem. To fix this possible problem, "completely" uninstall the printer drivers and remove this printer from Control Panel - Printers and Scanners. Then before you connect it back up physically, use the Printer installation CD to install the drivers. At a point in the installation, you will receive instructions to make sure the Printer is connected to power and via USB and then reboot your computer. Connect it the, and when it reboots the installation process will continue, or the printer will showup as installed. Use the Tool Box utilities associated with the Printer to "Test communication between the Computer and Printer". Follow the "trouble-shooting" decision tree if "communication" problems persist. Another often encountered problem is with the USB connection itself. Be sure you have USB connections installed and enabled by going to Device manager. Check for any yellow or red warnings and remove and reinstall accordingly. Finally, I've occasionally found that one USB connection will fail to work with a printer, and another one will work. For instance the USB connections found at the front of the computer tower fail to support a printer more often than the USB connections in the back. And sometimes, the native USB connections that come with the computer tower, just don't work with a printer. I've gotten around this by buying and installing a USB PCI card that gives you one, two or four extra USB connections. Since it's PCI, it draws power from a different source than the native USB connectors, and sometimes works, where the native connections don't. Such a USB PCI card should cost about $15. US. I don't know if the particular Brand of printer may pose any specific problems. I haven't run into that yet, but it might help Members here to help you in a more informed way if you posted the specifics of your printer. Best Regards

In the Control Panel, open "printers&faxes". There should only be one printer listed/shown there…is there more? If so, right click and delete them all. Go back to Control Panel and click on "System".. then "Hardware".. then "Device manager". Find were your printer is listed, right click on it and unsitall the device. Unplug the USB cord at the tower, reboot. When desktop shows up.. plug in the USB cord and let windows install from there. Now, (of course go ahead and try to print a doc now) if your still having issues, go back to Control Panel and open "printers&faxes" again. Right click on the printer and choose properties. Under the advanced tab, make sure the following are selected: 1. Always Available 2. Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster 3. Start printing immediately. 4. Print spooled doc's first 5. Enable advanced printing features Click "apply'.. then "ok"… then try to print a page again. If issue still remains, go back in to the properties and under the "ports" tab highlight the port with a check mark by it and click on "configure port".. does it ask/is there an option to "Capture the port"… if so.. select that option. If that option does show, then cancel that window out and under the "General" tab, click on "Printing prefernces" and look on both tabs for a "Capture port" setting.. if you find it.. enable/select it. If you still have issues.. post back and let us know.

Thanks for the feedback. To clear things up, I am using a HP Deskjet 3900. I have tried everything requested, except using a different cable or anything other than a native USB port . Crow, when I click to "configure port" it says that this operation is not supported and there was an error. Also, I could not find a "capture port" setting anywhere you suggested. Also, all of those options were already selected under the "advanced" tab. I have re-installed the port several times, under several circumstances. Also, I have not found any red or yellow markings next to anything. I have tried the ports in the front of the tower as well as the back. Also, I do not think that it is a problem with the native USBs because it has worked with our previous printer in the past. I'm not sure what happened. Any other ideas? It is still feeding out blank paper when I select "print" for a document. All of the motions seem normal after pressing "print" except the actual printing part. thanks for any suggestions! Sarah