posted
My dad gave me his HP PSC 1210 All-in-One thingy as it was screwing up and he just got fed up and bought a new one. I went out today and spent $30 on a USB cable (why they don't package them with printers anymore I'll never know). It'll photocopy just fine, but the port on it seems to be messed up somehow. I might be able to fix it if I can get it apart, but I'm wondering if I actually can? That is, is it worth the effort of trying to open the thing up to fix the port somehow? Or is this thing just utterly useless as anything other than a photocopier now and I'm out $30?
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
When you say the port is messed up somehow... can you describe what you think is wrong?
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Sometimes the computer will pick up the device, sometimes it won't.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
When the thing does get picked up, can you print/scan/etc with it? Intermittent connections are usually a sign of cable damage, but since you've already ruled that out by buying a new one...
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Well, it would work with my dad's computer, but when I plugged it in on mine the best I got was "unknown USB device".
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Did you install HP's PSC-1210 drivers?
Registered: Nov 1999
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Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
posted
The problem with lots of things like printers is that pretty much their entire processor isn't in the machine itself, but is part of the drivers.
A problem with lots of modern drivers is that they aren't just "drivers" but also a lot of additional code and programs. Three quarters of the new devices I've played with recently that had no built in Windows drivers could not be installed by trying to browse to a drivers directory during the "Found new hardware" wizard.
For this reason, a lot of drivers INSIST that they be installed before plugging the device in for the first time. This way they can put the "drivers" in the right place for Windows autodetection and also get their other crap installed.
Thankfully XP is generally very good at picking up devices nowadays. I never had to install drivers for my external DVD writer, for example. Others, like an external hard disk enclosure I have here, were nothing but trouble.
In the enclosure's case, Windows would detect the device, but the damned thing wouldn't "start"... and for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I eventually blamed it on shitty drivers and moved on. I recently had to do a reinstall, and decided to try again on a clean version of Windows, but it failed again... eventually, thankfully, I was able to find other people that had the problem.
It was human error. I had set the jumpers on the drive to Master, when it needed to be Cable Select. I fiddled with the jumpers, turned it on, and BAM, Windows detected the thing right away.... and then proceeded to AutoPlay each of the plugged in partitions. Sigh.
('twas an enclosure by Coolmax, using a Cypress Semiconductor IDE to USB chipset... mutter mutter error code 20 mutter mutter...)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, I've had this particular device hooked up to my computer many times, and each time it would tell me that it detected an HP PSC 1210 rather than an unknown USB device, with or without installing the drivers first.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
posted
But...
quote:Well, it would work with my dad's computer, but when I plugged it in on mine the best I got was "unknown USB device".
posted
Yeah, that was before it started acting up. It worked fine, and while it was fine I hooked it up to my computer a few times. Then it started getting sketchy, my dad bought a new one, gave me this one, and I arrive here.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I just got rid of FunLove.4099, which I wrote my AV customer care dept about. I made all my stuff start acting really goofy. Attacks the .exe, .scr, and .ocx files. Symantec as fixfun.exe that got rid of most of it, had to delete a few files that did not get repaired though.
Just a thought anyway.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
So I tried to get the thing to work again. When I plugged it in the port broke off and fell into the machine. I'd say that's a sure sign this thing is fubared.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yes, well, in that case a virus would be my secondary concern.
Do you soldier?
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Personally, I would just set the thing on fire and claim the insurance. It's my solution to all of my car problems; unfortunately, my mom never lets me implement it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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