USB Printer Issues

After months of no printer ink, I recently placed a new ink cartridge into the Canon PIXMA ip1600 printer. I would soon discover a problem with the computer responding to the printer. While reinstalling the printer driver, I found out that the USB printer could not be detected, resulting in an exclamation mark beside the printer in Device Manager. I made contact with Canon and Gateway by telephone and electronic mail respectively. I have tried Canon's suggestions, but none of them worked. Gateway's customer service representative suggested checking the current registry and restoring a previous one. The restored registry contained errors, unlike my current registry, but I found no exclamation mark by the printer in Device Manager. I was able to complete the printer driver installation in this registry and printed a test document. After returning to my current registry (which was backed up, by the way), the printer's exclamation mark was back in Device Manager. What should I do now? Should I edit my current registry?

Hi, Sorry to hear of the problem with your printer. The usual solution would be to uninstall the printer ( using the installation CD if available) and then, disconnect the USB printer cable close down your machine, wait 30 seconds and then restart your machine. The next step is to install the printer drivers from your Printer installation CD and please be sure to only connect the USB printer cable when the on screen instructions ask you to. Next is a close down and restart of your computer and if you have not been asked yet to connect the USB cable then do so now. (When Windows 98 has fully loaded and all hard drive activity as evidenced by the flashing light on your computer ceasing to flash ( if you are unsure of this just wait 5 minuted ( by the clock) from the restart and then connect the USB cable. Note when installing the printer if you are given the choice of using a LPT or USB port it is vital that you choose USB, if you allow the printer to be installed on LPT it will not work this way with these instructions. Windows 98 is quite an old operating system, and sometimes USB support within it can be a bit problematic…………….. It is vital you take the steps in the correct order, exactly as detailed above……if for example you forgot to take out the USB cable before closing down and restarting your machine, it would NOT be sufficient to unplug it after the reboot………..The whole procedure must be started again from the beginning and with no short cuts being taken! Note on checking "device manager" if you are still getting a yellow exclamation mark, then this indicates (usually) that the printer is not installed properly…….. close down your computer and start the procedure from the very beginning, afresh and see how you go. I would not recommend editing the Registry at this stage. Regards paws

I was not given the choice of a USB port during while installing the driver in the current registry. In the other registry, "Canon iP1600: 040EA1" appeared in the ports selection window. Also in the other registry, the port is MPUSBRN01 under printer properties.

Hi Ok, Follow all the instructions again and make sure that the printer is installed to the USB port and that there is no yellow exclamation mark in "Device Manager" when you have done. Regards paws

The instructions did not work.

Hi, Ok, It's not good news, but the next step is for you to please post back with the error codes or behaviour observed at each of the stages outlined in my previous post. It's important that you provide full and detailed information on exactly what happened at each of the stages so that we can provide further advice to you. Regards paws

When it was time to reconnect the USB cable, this message came up shortly after two “New Hardware Found” windows and a “Building Driver Database” window appeared: “Caution! Cannot detect printer port. Check that the printer is on and the cable is connected. If the port has not been detected even though it is connected, disconnect the cable from the printer and reconnect it.” Under properties in Device Driver, this message appears for the printer (with exclamation mark): “The NTKERN.VXD device loaders(s) for this device could not load the device driver. (Code 2.) To fix this, click Update Driver to update the device driver.

Hi, OK, This is not looking good… The indications are that the problem may lie in your USB ports. As I commented in a previous post, USB support under Windows 98 could be problematic…. The next steps would be for you to back up all your data, settings, emails and all your important stuff so that in the event of having to reinstall your Windows 98 you would at least have access to your files on the back up. Make sure that you have your original Microsoft Windows 98 installation disc, product key handy and the same for any of your applications that you want to keep. When you have completed this and have an 100% up to date, accurate, complete and reproducible copy of everything important to you safely copied to removable media, then the next steps are set out for your consideration. 1 Uninstall the printer once again, disconnect all USB devices (pull the plugs out) and reboot 2 In device manager uninstall all USB devices, controllers etc There will probably be 5 or so of these. 3 Reboot your machine 4 On start up Windows should "find the correct drivers for your USB controllers and install them correctly 5 Check in device manager that they are all installed correctly (no yellow or Red flags showing) 6 Reboot your computer 7 Now try to install your printer again, making sure that you are using the correct Windows98 drivers and that the software is installed before the USB cable is connected Let us know how you go. Regards paws