Why does my printer work with only one of my USB ports?

[rudy45]

I have an HP Laserjet4P printer that I connect to my Dell Vostro 1320 laptop via a parallel-to-USB cable. If I plug this cable into three of my four USB ports, I cannot print. I see, in my printer queue, the document, plus the remark "use printer offline." Only when I plug into the fourth USB port do I succeed in printing. When I do so, the "use printer offline" message disappears, the printer light blinks and prints and the queue entry disappears.

What is going on? Thanks.

[Hodar]

I think OldMissileer is correct, this could be the reason. But anyway you slice this, this is a poorly written driver because the driver should be ‘smart’ enough to know that USB devices can come and go without warning. That’s why there is a USB ‘cakewalk’ or discovery phase every 10-50 ms.

It could also be that the POORLY WRITTEN driver is demanding to be connected directly to a USB Hub, and that the one USB connector you have is tied to the USB Hub, and the other 3 USB connectors are located heirarchically beneath the 1 working USB Hub.

Typically, you will have 2 USB Hubs on a South Bridge (IOC) on your motherboard, and having one USB device go directly to the HUB, and then having 3 USB connectors ganged together on the secondary HUB is not uncommon.

The rationale is that for high data rate devices, the direct HUB connection will have slightly less latency - which is desireable for video editing that utilized USB 2.0 instead of Firewire.

[paulycy]

First you need to reboot your electical system.

Don't forget to make sure the computer plug is in the wall when you rinse out the USB ports with vinegar and water.

[bamagirl1944]

Do any of the other ports work with any other USB devices? If not, then the ports are bad. If they do, then it probably has something to do with the printer setup. Check your printer properties and see what port it is using. That might give you a clue.

[paulycy]

Seriously, it could be a poorly written driver. HP, in my experience, makes good hardware and sketchy software.

For intstance, I have an HP OfficeJet 6500 which I like a lot with the exception that it forgets it is a wireless printer and I have to reinstall ALL the software from scratch to get it to remember. Others on other forums have noted the same problem with otherwise great hardware.

Since it's HP I'd reinstall the drivers with the printer in the port you want to use and hope that it remains stable in that position. HP doesn't update their SW very often so if it ain't broke...

[JRios1968]

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's probably not getting enough power from the port it's not working on (USB ports supply power as well as digital communications).

Try plugging a powered USB hub into that port, and the printer into the hub.

[Hodar]

You might want to try a manual power off with your wireless printer. That should trigger a dump of the volatile data into non-volatile memory storage.

If the power gets cut without this transfer, the printer will forever ‘forget’ whatever the driver installed. If the printer is forced to do the transfer - I HOPE it will remember it permanently.

It could also be that the non-volatile memory device is defective.

[FourPeas]

It absolutely MUST be a metal coat hanger, and not the cheap, nasty ones the dry cleaner uses. I have a few prized ones left. They have to be something like 20 years old.

Bobby pins....there are still some around here somewhere. Now that I think of it, I wonder if they are steel under the coating. I’ve been looking for a cheap conductor for an electronics demonstration. Hey, thanks for the idea!

[paulycy]

I’ll definitely try that. We get sporadic power outages with all our afternoon thunderstorms here in central virginia. I never associated the problem with that before.

I must say though that I’ve tried power downs before that didn’t work. Maybe there’s a couple things going wrong. All I really know is that reinstalling the bloated software works and it is a pain.

Otherwise I really like the printer. It’s my first wireless and it sure is handy.

[Young Werther]

The Sailor just disembarked from a six month cruise. He finally finds a lady of the night and leads her into alley where he propositions her. she replys that she is soo tired cause she has serviced over 20 of his shipmates.

He kisses her spins her around and says " Honey. any port in a storm!"

Hand salute! Yadda Yadda!

So much for Control Panel Pundits!

[paulycy]

I’ve been looking for a cheap conductor for an electronics demonstration.

Be sure to stick the bobby pin into an electrical outlet to make sure it conducts well.

[Domangart]

$200.00

[FourPeas]

Ah, and THAT is where another cheap old-time tool comes into play: the wood clothespin.

[Bigh4u2]

That’s easy..

It’s DELL!!

[Bigh4u2]

That’s easy..

It’s A DELL!!

[Bigh4u2]

Darn mouse double clicks when it wants too.

And yes.. The computer is a DELL..

:)

[count-your-change]

You have to ground it a storm drain, then it’s any port in a storm.

[calex59]

Although many devices will work on every USB port without reloading the drivers, some printers require that you reinstall the print drivers if you change ports, and printers aren’t the only pieces of hardware that have that characteristic.

[Fire_on_High]

I’d say being parallel-to-USB could be part of the issue here, and the easiest thing is just go with what it wants if that’s the case. Beyond that, you could simply have a bum port. My old machine had 2 side ports, only one ever worked. I simply plugged more permanent devices like the mouse into the back ports, and kept the side port for swapping out gamepads, thumb drives, and the like.