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General discussion

4 in 1 printer/scanner/copier/fax won't get hooked up again to my laptop

Mar 1, 2004 12:46PM PST

I have a lexmark x-83 4 in 1 printer/scanner/copier/fax machine that was hooked-up before to my IBM thinkpad with xp pro pentium 111 laptop and since a friend had crashed my comp. I can not get it hooked up again. What am I doing wrong? I put in the discs and follow the instructions and then put in the other disc and follow those in structions and it just won't recognize the lexmark. It says" problems communicating with the printer" I have done everything the same as before my laptop had crashed(and I had no problem having it work then)and I just do not know what to do. HELP ME PLEASE SOMEONE!!!!!!

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Re:4 in 1 printer/scanner/copier/fax won't get hooked up again to my laptop
Mar 1, 2004 6:20PM PST

try another printer cable to eliminate it being bad

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Re:4 in 1 printer/scanner/copier/fax won't get hooked up again to my laptop
Mar 1, 2004 8:02PM PST

This one is very common and tough to solve since the list of what could be broken is spread from software to hardware to cables to the printer itself. Here's what I do.

1. Try the printer on another machine. The other machine shall have a working USB such as another printer and we will install the printer driver before we plug it in!

2. Try another USB cable.

3. Read http://www.usbman.com about USB motherboard drivers, enabling USB ports and how to remove a printer/scanner/thing, leaving the device unplugged and how to install the drivers from scratch.

There are NO step-by-step instructions for this since it's a generic procedure.

Bob

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Re:4 in 1 printer/scanner/copier/fax won't get hooked up again to my laptop
Mar 1, 2004 8:23PM PST

? Insall the driver and the programs which come with the machine. Shut down computer.
? Connect the printer to the computer, connect power to the printer, and switch it on.
? Boot computer, and hopefully, it will detect the printer and install it.
? However, the printer may not work-you have to download the XP drivers and install it at the first dtep above.

The Lexmark X83, is, I believe, a USB model. Installation of USB devices required that the drivers are installed first with the device powered off, and then switched on to let Windows detect and install it.