Matt -
I have an HP PhotoSmart 100 printer that I have been trying to link up to a laptop running Windows XP. I also got the "Generic IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support" error message when trying to add the printer and could find absolutely NO HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS ON THE NET ANYWHERE!! (Lots of useless suggestions and simply nowhere to download the IEEE 1284.4 driver. Yet another of these 'black hole' computer problems that makes you think that you are the only person in the world experiencing what should be a common problem!! Very frustrating!!
Well, here's how I fixed the problem:
1) Go to http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Lookup?h_lang=en&h_cc=us&cc=us&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_pagetype=s-002&h_query=photosmart and select your particular HP PhotoSmart device.
2) Download all of the software for your particular PhotoSmart device and install on your computre (requires restart).
3) Connect your PhotoSmart device to your computer and try to add the printer using the Printer Wizard dialog boxes.
4) If you should get the message saying that no "Generic IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support" and if the Wizard cannot find the software online (which is what happened in my case), specify the location of the driver by browsing to the location of your newly downloaded and installed PhotoSmart software. A folder with the name "photosmart" should have been installed in c:\temp. Browse to this folder and select. Then let the Wizard search the "photosmart" folder for the IEEE 1284.4 driver. You will be pleased to see the Wizard finally recognize "PhotoSmart" software and then a cascade of confirmations and further software installations follow with the PhotoSmart software completing its setup on your computer!
5) Your PhotoSmart device will now be recognized and you can begin printing to the device.
Hope this is helpful to everyone.
Lorien5
Hi
I've been trying to reinstall my HP Photosmart printer after a reinstall of XP but everytime I load the drivers, i get a "found new hardware" message for Generic IEEE 1284.4 printing support. Each time it cannot find the drivers in any location and I can't stop the found new hardware message popping up everytime i start windows etc.
Few more bits of info:
- I am able to print through the printer although printing is VERY slow.
- I have other USB devices connected and these work fine.
- I'm running Win XP Home, with SP1 and SP2 (as I understood it USB support was included in SP1 but I already have this installed).
Grateful for any help and ideas!!
Thanks
Matt

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