Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Printer driver issue

by marsdta Feb 18, 2008 3:02AM PST

hello all

recently i upgraded my families computer up to Windows Vista Ultimate ( 32 bit) and all went very smoothly. But one error did ocurr , now vista fails to install the driver for my families hp deskjet 3650 printer. According to some hp reps and their website the driver is built into vista and it should be loaded by its self. But when i plug in the printer to my laptop with vista premium it installed and worked just fine.

my question is is there a way i can copy the driver from my laptop over to there desktop. Or if you know a way or place i can download it (hp reps said there was no place to download the driver and told me it was not there problem but Microsoft). Maybe a generic driver as they only need it for very simple printing.

Or should i just buy them a new printer

mars

Computer Specs:
family Desktop
Gateway 812m, 2gb ram, Vista Ultimate, FX 5200

My laptop is :
HP DV2200 cto, 1.5 gb ram, Vista Premium, Geforce 7200

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

- Collapse + Expand Details

- Collapse -

So How Did You Install It?

by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Feb 18, 2008 5:20AM PST

...and what shows up in the "Printers" folder now.. At this point, I would start anew.. Turn off the printer and unplug the USB cable from the printer.. Next, open the "Printers" folder and remove/uninstall the printer, then turn restart the computer. After the computer is restarted, then turn on the printer, wait for it to get fully "on", then plug in the USB cable ito the computer.. Vista "should" recognize the printer and automatically install the correct driver..

If it doesn't, it might be possible to manually install the driver assuming that it truly is located on the upgraded "Ultimate" machine.. Examine the driver location for the other computer running "Vista Premium", then see if the same file is located on the "Ultimate" computer.. If it is, then you should be able to manually direct the search for the driver by choosing "Have Disc" during the installation process when you plug in the USB cable and direct the driver search to the correct location.

Hope this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -

Still doesnt work

by marsdta Feb 18, 2008 6:33AM PST

thats for the help Grif, i tried your first suggestion and and it did the same thing, after it says that its looking for the driver via windows update it says and error occurred and it fails.

As for the second suggestion where wold the drivers be located? I have looked in the device manager and in the Premium machine it is not even listed yet i can print. and in the ultimate machine it is listed but heres a quetion mark saying that it has not been installed.

I have tried suing the old Xp drivers but he setup would get stuck at it locating the printer

Back to Windows Vista forum