At one of the places I volunteer there is an old HP media center PC (forgot to write down the model) connected to a HP LaserJet 2300d printer.
Still running XP, that's how old. The printer is connected by USB.

For years the PC and printer have worked together with no problems. Recently the connection between them has failed, as if they are no longer connected. I have checked the printer and it seems fine. It prints the test page with no problems. There are no print jobs in the queue.
I have checked the connections between the PC and printer and they are connected as usual.
When I select a document to print, and click on print, nothing happens.

Can anyone tell me what steps to take to diagnose the problem?
Thanks for any replies.Check to make sure the printer is still set as the default.I can't remember if I checked that it was still set as the default.
Only 3 or 4 people use that machine, and rarely even use it, and I doubt they would know where to look to see if it was the default or how to change it.
I won't be able to get there again til Tuesday.

In the meantime if anyone has other suggestions please let me know.The model of the PC is HP Media Center m7350n.

The printer is set as default (lpt1).

I ran the Windows troubleshooter for the printer. Nothing helped. Took an hour to go through the steps. Even uninstalled and reinstalled the port driver. Do you get an error message when you try to print?
Go to control panel. Look in the printers. Does it show up there?
Did you try another USB cable?
Did you try to install again on another USB port?
Can  the printer work on another computer?
Can you install another printer?


Q. Do you get an error message when you try to print? A. No.

Q. Go to control panel. Look in the printers. Does it show up there? A. No.

Q. Did you try another USB cable? A. I have to use the special cable for this printer.

Q. Did you try to install again on another USB port? A. No. I'll try this.

Q. Can  the printer work on another computer? A. There is no other computer in this office or nearby.

Q. Can you install another printer? A. There is another printer. But it's a new one and I'm not sure it COULD work with an XP machine. I can check. One more detail I made an error about: The connection between the PC and printer is not USB, it's parallel.

I'm going to try to find the installation CD-ROM and see if I can reinstall the Windows printing system software for direct connection.
If I can't find it is there a way to find that software online?Yes...at the printer Manuf. site.Here's the downloads site for the printer in question:
http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=238807&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=228
OS is XP 32 bit.
None of the downloads on this page seem to be the Windows printing system software for direct connection.How do you know?
How many did you try?
BTW: did you confirm that your computer has the port enabled?
See attachment.


[attachment deleted by admin to CONSERVE space]I'm not going to install anything except what is identified by what I need, the Windows printing system software for direct connection. None of the downloads appears to be that. From the brief descriptions of the downloads, they seem to be mainly drivers and a resource kit.

Yes the lpt1 is listed in the ports.Good. Let's review.
It is a HP  Laser-jet 2300d printer.
It uses the parallel  cable.
The OS is Windows XP 32 bit.
The printer had been working.
The LPT1 port is pretest in device manager.

The recommended drive is the HP universal driver for that printer and XP.
The term "Windows printing system software for direct connection" In not in the HP commentary.

Even without a driver present, Windows should identify the HP printer when you turn off and on the HP Laser-jet power switch.
Verify the cables integrity and the Verify the printer's usability. This is done with   another computer with the same kine of LPT connector.

Buying a new printer is not a reasonable solution in this case. The HP printer is a high capacity printer for business use and would cost about $200 to replace.

If you are sure the cable is fine, then there are few options at this point.









The HP 2300 user guide is at
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/bpl13151.pdf

On p. 16 you will find the Windows printing system software for direct connection section.

I have checked the cables several times. Unfortunately there is no other computer here. If there was maybe it would have to be running xp.

I checked again by opening the case where the parallel cable is on the printer. It was a little loose and there was a small wire sticking out a few inches. Maybe its a ground wire. But I cannot see where it would be attached. Edit: It must be a ground wire, so I reattached it.

One of the potential problems is that the printer might not be getting enough power. I checked and it was plugged into a power strip with the computer and another peripheral. So I pulled out the printer power cable and put it in its own outlet. This of course turned it off and when plugged back in it had to reinitialize. I tried another test page from the computer and it went through the normal procedure of setting up the print but no page was printed and the printer was silent.

Your are right. The PDF manual talks about:
Quote

Installing Windows printing system software for direct  connections
This section explains how to install the printing system software for MICROSOFT Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
When installing the printing software in a direct-connect environment, always install the software before connecting the parallel or USB cable. If the parallel or USB cable was connected before  the software installation,
...
Either a parallel or USB cable can be used for the direct connection. You
cannot  connect parallel and USB cables at the same time. Use an IEEE 1284-compatible cable or a standard  2-meter USB cable.
Windows 95 and NT 4.0 do not support USB cable connections