BleepingComputer.com: HP Deskjet F4100 won't print over wireless network

Hi

I've added an HP deskjet F4180 printer to my wireless network. The printer is attached by USB cable to another PC on the network and I was able to successfully add the printer through the wireless network to my PC. When I try to print however I get the message "Your file could not be printed due to an error on \\DADSCOMPUTER\\HP Deskjet F4100 series on Ne03:"

DADSCOMPUTER is where the printer is cabled into. Both PC's are running XP. I have already tried installing the printer driver on to my PC to no avail.
Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Regards

Jez Wagg

Worth a look, IMO.

How to Share Printer in Windows XP - http://www.home-network-help.com/share-printer.html

Share Your Printer Over a Home Network Using Windows XP - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx

Louis

Hi Louis

Thanks for the links. I checked these out and it confirmed I'd set everything up as I should. Unfortunately the problem persists.

Jez Wagg

Hi jcwagg,

Are the 2 computers able to share files/folders?
One more thing we need to consider is the firewall on both computers, make sure that their not blocking the file and printer sharing.
Also please provide the make/model of the 2 computers.

Hi. Thanks for your reply. The two computers can share files and folders ok. Both firewalls are set to allow file and printer sharing.
The computer with the printer connected by USB is a cybermaxx running Intel Celeron 3.06ghz XP Home SP3. The other is a custom built running Intel Pentium 4 3.00ghz XP Pro SP3.
I already have another printer connected to the host computer by USB which is sharing fine across the network. You may ask why I need a second printer but they are owned by different people with different printing requirements.
I was wondering if this question should really be in the networking section?

Ok, that's good to know. So if a different printer works on your network, I wouldn't think that its a network issue.
Basing on your first post, the printer driver is already installed so try the following steps below.

1. On the client computer, go to control panel > Printers and Other Hardware/printers and faxes.

2. Look for the printer icon which you installed as a usb (I am assuming you have installed it as a usb printer too on this computer because we wanted to make sure the printer driver works on this computer via usb direct connection to isolate the driver issue)

3. Right click on the printer icon then click on to properties then go to ports tab.

4. Click on add port > local port > new port

5. On the new window which says enter a port name, type in \\HOSTCOMPUTERNAME\PRINTER SHARE NAME which is = \\DADSCOMPUTER\\HP Deskjet F4100
Click ok till your back in the printers and faxes, you can try to print a windows test page once you have done that step.

If you get an error during one of the step, please indicate on which part and take note of the error message.

Thanks for your reply. You made me realise I hadn't tried to connect the printer by usb to the second pc. I had only added the printer by using add printer in the control panel -printer and faxes.

So I tried to connect the printer by USB cable and when the installation software prompted me to connect the printer I got this error message on found new hardware wizard "Cannot install this hardware. The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable"

This happened with the HP installation disk and also when I downloaded the software and drivers from the HP site.

Sorry if I should have tried this before and I hope it hasn't wasted your time.

Jez Wagg

That's Ok.

We need to remove the drivers properly first.

* Make sure the printer is connected and turned on before proceeding to the next steps.
* Take note of the error messages and close them afterward.
* Make sure that there's no other printer is connected aside from the HP deskjet F4180 printer.

1. Click on start > run > type in devmgmt.msc in the box.

2. Look for other devices (? icon) and check if that's your printer. If it is, right click on it and uninstall. If other devices is not in the list, skip this step.

3. On the bottom part of the list, look for universal serial bus controllers and expand it by double click on the label (if its not expanded)

4. Look for usb printing support, right click then uninstall it. If its not there, look for usb 2.0 mfp and uninstall it. If its still not there, skip this step.

5. Disconnect the usb cable that is connected on the printer and computer.

6. Click on start > run > type in appwiz.cpl in the box.

7. Uninstall all HP deskjet F4180 printer related software. If you have a different HP printer installed here, make sure you take note of the model so your not removing it as well.

8. Restart the computer.

9. Download and install only the basic drivers for your printer.

10. Connect the usb cable back to the printer and computer once the driver software instructs you and try printing a test page once its done.

If ever you encounter any problems or errors during one of the steps, please let us know and post them.
I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for your patience. I followed all your instructions and everything went fine until instructed to connect printer by usb. Then I got same message in Install New Hardware Wizard. "The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable"

Jez Wagg

Lets try running the check disk utility of windows.
Click on start > run > type in cmd
On the black window type in chkdsk /r /f
Press Y to schedule the check disk on your next reboot.
Restart the computer and you should see the check disk executed outside windows. Screenshot below.



After the check disk finished scanning, try uninstalling and reinstalling the downloaded printer driver. (Same steps)

------
edited to add note:
This will take some time to finish so you can get a cup of coffee or tea while waiting.

This post has been edited by booterbotter : 30 August 2011 - 05:05 PM

Hi. I ran the chkdsk and then followed the same steps and when I was prompted to connect the printer the same error message appeared.

We also have an old HP laptop (Mobile AMD Athlon 1900+ XP Home SP3) connected to the network. So I tried to connect the printer by USB following all the steps in this thread and got exactly the same message when prompted to connect the printer.

Not sure if that information helps.

Jez Wagg

So the error message appears even on a different XP computers except for DADSCOMPUTER which is where it is directly connected, right?

Just to clarify. On these 2 XP computers, is there a different HP printer installed aside from the HP deskjet F4180?
We need to know this before we proceed further.

Thanks!

Yes the printer works fine on DADSCOMPUTER where it is cable connected. Neither of the other XP computers has an HP printer connected in any way. They both have a Canon printer connected over the network. The Canon is also connected by cable to DADSCOMPUTER.

Thanks for your continued help

Jez Wagg

I wanted to ask one more thing if you don't mind.
The 2 XP Computers, are their hard drives FAT32 format or NTFS?
You can check them in the windows disk management.

Click start > run > type in diskmgmt.msc

Both XP computers are NTFS

Thanks

Jez Wagg