cannot connect printer with usb cable

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So far I have confirmed the following regarding trying to install the HP5 printer using win7

1. cable (usb to centric ) is good tested it on a old computer (XP) and got it to be recognized and print a document.

2. when I connect the cable to the new computer in the printer/device I get a icon unspecified “usb2.0 printer”, but no hp5 printer icon.

3. I tried creating “add printer” on the new computer & noticed that when I do that with win7 the selection off of the drop down list for USB is NOT there. I have tried/looked for several solutions to get the USB option back on to the drop down list without success. Seems no one has a solution to get it back. Now I have other devices using USB ports, which I just installed again now & they are ALL fine. But they are not printers and do not have to go thru the “add Printer” & then the drop down list. So it is my belief I need to get the drop down fixed first before going any farther.
thanks hope I get back a solution…..

is it possible that a good cable creates the usb option in the drop down & the usb2.0 printer icon is telling me even thorough the cable test good on the old computer it does not work now on the new one. At one time I have it printer working with the cable on the new computer then lost it.

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You need to install the HP printer driver for the printer, then plug the cable in and all will be well. Mind you, that is an old printer and drivers may be ard to come by.

cheers, Paul

[Edit] This PCL5 driver should work.

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To expand on what Paul said, run the install program that HP provides for this printer. But don’t plug the printer in until it tells you to on the screen.

When you said “usb to centric”, did you mean “usb to centronics”, that is, “parallel”?

Windows 7 is a long way removed from the time that parallel ports were used for printers. Therefore, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to get this to work. Things have changed a lot since the “parallel printer” era. Hopefully your usb-to-parallel cable is up to the task for Windows 7.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Hello, Jim, how are tricks ?
Further to your comments on this old printer, might I state that here, beside a more recent HP wireless ( networked ), I still have an older LaserJet 6L connected to my secondary system, W-7, via an USB to Centronics cable. It runs fine. I used the MS provided driver for this even if I have the CD from HP and its printer driver on it. All this to emphasize that using the “Add a Printer”, then clicking on HP, showed that MS still could provide the proper driver, I fancy that this could be the case for the older 5L, I have seen it on the MS site. I had to install a “rejuvenating” kit in this 6L, rubber wheels got glazed over use and would not feed the paper anymore. You be good. Jean.

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Hi, Jean.

My reason for being concerned about parallel working with Windows 7 is because I have a backpack CD-ROM drive which connects to the parallel port, but it absolutely will not run in Windows 7. I’m sure the drive is good, because I pulled it out of the box new after letting it sit on the shelf for 20 years!

At any rate, the comments I read on the Web indicated that the Backpack parallel port drive WILL NOT work with Windows 7 because of something to do with interrupts, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, since it is a parallel, not a serial, device.

I’m sure that a parallel printer would have less incompatibilities than my Backpack drive did.

Jim

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Hello, Jim and good morning.
I am a little late, sorry. Got busy somehow. Your CD-ROM might need an extra power supply ??? I have one here, a USB one that runs fine but needs two connections, one being an extra PS, it is USB connected but the small motor in it sure needs more juice. My old Laser 6L is connected to the grid, that is its extra PS. The other device, the USB DVD-RAM also needs the extra humph ! I use it on the laptop to do medium to medium copies, it is quicker than copying to the HD then to insert a virgin DVD into the optical and then copy back to it. Laptops having only one optical, I beat the system this way.
Do you have another machine to test this CD-ROM of yours ? . Have a great day. Jean.

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The CD Rom drive had its own power supply, separate from the parallel cable.

From the comments I read, its method of connection basically got left behind as the rules changed over time. (It became incompatible.) It operates in a way which doesn’t work in the modern day.

Back in the days of DOS, there were a lot of unorthodox things which were done; apparently the Backpack CD-ROM drive was one of them.

I gave up on it and threw it away, not really needing a parallel CD-ROM reader.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I am wondering if the OP has a printer with a parallel port because he mentioned Centronic. If that is the case, there has to be a driver for the adapter in addition to the driver for the printer.

I still have one of these adapters but I haven’t used it for several years and I do not recall whether I used it with Windows 7. I had an HP LJ4L which I bought in 1996 and ran it until it failed and I decided not to try to fix it and bought a newer HP with a USB port.

It might make more sense to buy a parallel port adapter and connect the printer with a standard parallel to Centronic cable. I have one of these as well which I have connected to an old Epson dot matrix printer. It does work with Windows 7.

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I have a 1997 model HP Laserjet 5L that is still in daily use with its 4th computer. I connected it with a USB/Centronics cable and it works most of the time without problems, even through a 4-way USB hub. When it does drop the connection, I almost always get it back as soon as I unplug the power to the printer and plug it back in (there is no ON/OFF switch). I very rarely have to do a reboot to restore it.

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