PLEASE help with printer problem (HP 6540)

We live 40 miles out of town, so hauling equipment back and forth to
the store is non-trivial. I'm having a weird problem with our brand new
HP 6540 printer, and I'm hoping somebody here can give some advice.
Here are the facts:

1. I'm running the printer with the Ambicon Wireless Kit. You can see
it at:

http://www.ambicom.com/products/wp-kit/wp-kit.html

The adaptor is in the back USB port of the printer, and is connected to
an AC power source.

I KNOW this printer isn't on the list of "compatible printers" but that
list is about 6 months old and is very incomplete. This printer should
work fine.

2. The very latest drivers for this printer have been downloaded and
installed from the HP site.

3. The other part plugs into the USB port of the computer.

4. When printing from a new Dell Inspiron 1150 notebook with XP HE w/
SP2 & 512MB RAM, it works flawlessly, even from outside the house.
Never fails. Beatiful. Wonderful. Love it.

5. The problem is printing from the other computer. This is a Compaq
Presario 5BW130 made in late 2001, with a Celeron running XP Pro w/
SP1.It has USB ports in the back, and 2 in front for conveniently
plugging in digital cameras and such, which always works just fine.

What happens is that printing from this computer is very erratic. It
will print several documents in a row, and then stop. Last night, for
example, I opened MSWord, printed a few pages, then closed Word and
went to the web, and tried to print out a text web page.

The little window showing the ink levels, print job status, etc. pops
open, but nothing happens. No lights flash on the printer. I go to the
Windows "printers and faxes" window and the printer's icon is dimmed,
indicating it is "offline." Even when I set it back to "online,"
nothing happens. If I try to print something, a little window opens in
the lower right corner saying, "this document failed to print."

I open the printer's window and all the jobs are listed in a queue. I
have to just delete them.

It will NOT print ANYTHING until I shut down the computer (not restart)
completely and reboot. Then, it might print several pages, or none at
all. Or maybe it'll print fine in one program, and stop when you go to
something else. It's hard to predict exactly what will happen.

6. The Compaq is 6 feet from the printer, and the Ambicom devices are
line-of-sight with each other. The problem occurs regardless of which
USB port you plug into. The keyboard and mouse are in two of the rear
ports.

7. The page filing is set to 576 MB.

8. At first I thought memory might be a problem, as the machine only
has 191MB RAM. I put in new memory, upping it to 512. Cold-rebooted. It
printed a page in Word. Then it printed a web page. Then I went to
another web page (my wife's university email page). It happened again.

We love this printer, and like I said, it's absolutely reliable with
the Dell Notebook. Do you think kicking the Presario memory up to 512
would fix this problem? I've got my fingers crossed.

Ron M.

First try SP2 on the Compaq and then test using the same documents. See
what happens.

Ron M. wrote:

We live 40 miles out of town, so hauling equipment back and forth to
the store is non-trivial. I'm having a weird problem with our brand new
HP 6540 printer, and I'm hoping somebody here can give some advice.
Here are the facts:

1. I'm running the printer with the Ambicon Wireless Kit. You can see
it at:

http://www.ambicom.com/products/wp-kit/wp-kit.html

The adaptor is in the back USB port of the printer, and is connected to
an AC power source.

I KNOW this printer isn't on the list of "compatible printers" but that
list is about 6 months old and is very incomplete. This printer should
work fine.

2. The very latest drivers for this printer have been downloaded and
installed from the HP site.

3. The other part plugs into the USB port of the computer.

4. When printing from a new Dell Inspiron 1150 notebook with XP HE w/
SP2 & 512MB RAM, it works flawlessly, even from outside the house.
Never fails. Beatiful. Wonderful. Love it.

5. The problem is printing from the other computer. This is a Compaq
Presario 5BW130 made in late 2001, with a Celeron running XP Pro w/
SP1.It has USB ports in the back, and 2 in front for conveniently
plugging in digital cameras and such, which always works just fine.

What happens is that printing from this computer is very erratic. It
will print several documents in a row, and then stop. Last night, for
example, I opened MSWord, printed a few pages, then closed Word and
went to the web, and tried to print out a text web page.

The little window showing the ink levels, print job status, etc. pops
open, but nothing happens. No lights flash on the printer. I go to the
Windows "printers and faxes" window and the printer's icon is dimmed,
indicating it is "offline." Even when I set it back to "online,"
nothing happens. If I try to print something, a little window opens in
the lower right corner saying, "this document failed to print."

I open the printer's window and all the jobs are listed in a queue. I
have to just delete them.

It will NOT print ANYTHING until I shut down the computer (not restart)
completely and reboot. Then, it might print several pages, or none at
all. Or maybe it'll print fine in one program, and stop when you go to
something else. It's hard to predict exactly what will happen.

6. The Compaq is 6 feet from the printer, and the Ambicom devices are
line-of-sight with each other. The problem occurs regardless of which
USB port you plug into. The keyboard and mouse are in two of the rear
ports.

7. The page filing is set to 576 MB.

8. At first I thought memory might be a problem, as the machine only
has 191MB RAM. I put in new memory, upping it to 512. Cold-rebooted. It
printed a page in Word. Then it printed a web page. Then I went to
another web page (my wife's university email page). It happened again.

We love this printer, and like I said, it's absolutely reliable with
the Dell Notebook. Do you think kicking the Presario memory up to 512
would fix this problem? I've got my fingers crossed.

Ron M.

Under printer settings check to see if you are printing using buffering or
not? This may help, I had a similar problem and all I had to do is check
this buffering box.



"measekite" wrote in message
news
First try SP2 on the Compaq and then test using the same documents. See
what happens.

Ron M. wrote:

We live 40 miles out of town, so hauling equipment back and forth to
the store is non-trivial. I'm having a weird problem with our brand new
HP 6540 printer, and I'm hoping somebody here can give some advice.
Here are the facts:

1. I'm running the printer with the Ambicon Wireless Kit. You can see
it at:

http://www.ambicom.com/products/wp-kit/wp-kit.html

The adaptor is in the back USB port of the printer, and is connected to
an AC power source.

I KNOW this printer isn't on the list of "compatible printers" but that
list is about 6 months old and is very incomplete. This printer should
work fine.

2. The very latest drivers for this printer have been downloaded and
installed from the HP site.

3. The other part plugs into the USB port of the computer.

4. When printing from a new Dell Inspiron 1150 notebook with XP HE w/
SP2 & 512MB RAM, it works flawlessly, even from outside the house.
Never fails. Beatiful. Wonderful. Love it.

5. The problem is printing from the other computer. This is a Compaq
Presario 5BW130 made in late 2001, with a Celeron running XP Pro w/
SP1.It has USB ports in the back, and 2 in front for conveniently
plugging in digital cameras and such, which always works just fine.

What happens is that printing from this computer is very erratic. It
will print several documents in a row, and then stop. Last night, for
example, I opened MSWord, printed a few pages, then closed Word and
went to the web, and tried to print out a text web page.

The little window showing the ink levels, print job status, etc. pops
open, but nothing happens. No lights flash on the printer. I go to the
Windows "printers and faxes" window and the printer's icon is dimmed,
indicating it is "offline." Even when I set it back to "online,"
nothing happens. If I try to print something, a little window opens in
the lower right corner saying, "this document failed to print."

I open the printer's window and all the jobs are listed in a queue. I
have to just delete them.

It will NOT print ANYTHING until I shut down the computer (not restart)
completely and reboot. Then, it might print several pages, or none at
all. Or maybe it'll print fine in one program, and stop when you go to
something else. It's hard to predict exactly what will happen.

6. The Compaq is 6 feet from the printer, and the Ambicom devices are
line-of-sight with each other. The problem occurs regardless of which
USB port you plug into. The keyboard and mouse are in two of the rear
ports.

7. The page filing is set to 576 MB.

8. At first I thought memory might be a problem, as the machine only
has 191MB RAM. I put in new memory, upping it to 512. Cold-rebooted. It
printed a page in Word. Then it printed a web page. Then I went to
another web page (my wife's university email page). It happened again.

We love this printer, and like I said, it's absolutely reliable with
the Dell Notebook. Do you think kicking the Presario memory up to 512
would fix this problem? I've got my fingers crossed.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

I don't recall seeing anything called "buffering" in any of the printer
settings. There was one box you check if you've got "low memory." I
tried it with that checked, no difference.

I really appreciate the help.

Would the USB Port type have any effect on this? Since the computer was
made in 2001, it's certainly a USB1.1 port. The printer, on the other
hand, is a fresh new model, and has a 2.0 USB port. I skeptical that
this would be the problem, though, because it will print several pages
before it stops working. If this were the problem, it just wouldn't
print at all.

If I do a cold reboot and just open Word, it'll print fine, page after
page after page. But after I switch to the web or another program, it
MIGHT print one page, and then stop.

I'm going to switch to SP2 tonight and see if that fixes it.

Ron M.

Sorry, something screwy with the browser here at work. I apologize for
the multiple posts.

Ron