HP printer issue

[DAD]

I just bought a HP photosmart all-in-one printer to hook up to my dell desktop running XP home with SP2. After I installed the software, I hooked up the printer via USB cable. When I did that, my PC went to a blue screen with the error message.....driver_IRQL_not_less_or_equal.

I rebooted, same thing. I contacted HP, they had me download the software fron their site (said the disk might be corrupted), same error. I moved USB cable to another slot on the PC, same error.

HP can no longer help me, unless I pay their rates for a service contract.

PC is out of warrenty, so Dell is out of the picture also.

Can anyone help me on this? Printer goes back to store otherwise.

Thanks, Dad

[davy]

Sounds to me like an incompatible driver, I would double check and see if the driver is suitable for Xp Sp2.... an idea might be to have a look in Device Manager if you can see the printer, have you tried 'hot plugging' the printer? Boot up as normal, with the printer powered on and then plug the USB lead in you should get a 'ding dong' sound with a window display on the bottom right 'New Hardware Found', I don't use HP a printer myself.

In device Manager you will be able to check and update the driver, clicking on the + sign in the little square will open the device.

If any problems should arise you can always do a system restore in Help and Support, this will restore the machine to an earlier time, bear in mind you will have to do a Anti virus, Spyware update or whatever is installed as the recent updates will be lost.

Davy

[DAD]

davy, I tried that already. When I plug the printer in, I do get the new hardware notice, then it goes to the blue screen before I can do anything else. No time to check system.

DAD

[DAD]

I think I may have found the solution ( I hope). I deleted the old printer and rebooted the pc. It is working ok so far.

Dad

[davy]

Sounded like a driver conflict, good show sounds like you've cracked the problem.

davy

[DAD]

Thanks, Davy. Now my next big project will be to get this PC cleaned up and running faster. There are alot more processes running then I think there should be. PC is kinda laggy. Do you know what is the absolute minimum there should be running?


Dad

[davy]

Have a look here, How to tweak Xp

Obviously the place to start is in Internet Options, cleaning out the Cookie and Cache History files, then a hard drive defraq, then we can tweak.

A bit like painting the Forth Bridge, when you finish it's time to start again - a bit like decorating

Davy