Epson printer & USB problems

[SteveC]

Hi Guys,

Got an odd one for y'all:

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 870 printer on my USB port and it used to work fine. I tried using it yesterday for the first time in a a few weeks (first time since a complete re-install of everything) and I can get only a couple of inches to print of a picture, and if I print text (eg a word document) I get a page and a half then that's it. I get a 'Communications Error' message and it won't print at all then till I reboot PC & Printer.

The USB Cable and printer are fine as I can print perfectly from my WinXP Laptop.

It happens on my PC in both WinMe AND Win2K which seems to me to point to a hardware problem? I use an Asus A7V mainboard, and I've tried the onboard USB plus the A7V has a built in 3 Port USB Hub on a separate USB controller - I've tried that too. IRQs - everything is on IRQ 9 as ACPI does its job.

Any ideas?

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[SteveC]

Oh - I should add that I have a Smartmedia reader and a Compaq iPAQ all running off USB with no problems. I've tried removing them and it makes no difference.

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[isochar]

How about disabling the serial and parallel ports in the bios?

[Wombat]

VIA has a USB filter driver on their website. I have no information about what it's for, or if it will help you. Sorry.

[The PIT]

686b timing bug ?????

[SteveC]

Wombat - I installed the USB filter driver and it didn't seem to do anything at all - good idea though

The PIT - I have an earlier A7V which has the 686A chip....


Thing that annoys me is that It Used To Work!!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Taz]

Are you using the same version of the printer drivers? Are these Microsoft's or Epson's?

[SteveC]

I've tried Epson's ones that came on the CD with the printer and the drivers that are the latest on Epson's site.

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Taz]

I assume you've tried it with the other USB devices unplugged.

[SteveC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Taz:
I assume you've tried it with the other USB devices unplugged.</font>

Yep!

I've just tried it with a parallel port cable and it works fine (albeit slower!). Must be something odd with my USB - but I've had an idea

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"