My printer does not work

Bear with me. This is my first post here and I am so new to computers I really don't know what I am doing. I am running Windows Vista home basic. 32bit I took a full factory restart and since then my printer does not print when I click on the print. I have a HP F300 series printer and I my computer is an E Machine. I have contacted HP but they have not solved the problem. I can go to the property tab of the printer and ask to print a test page which it does. Then when I have something like e-mail that I want to print and click on the print icon, nothing happens. No error messages, nothing. I disconnected the printer when I took the restart and reconnected it. I probably made a mistake reconnecting which caused the problem. I asked HP for the disconnect and reconnect procedures but they did not reply. That is all the infro I can think of. Thanks for any suggestions. Bob

Bobh said:

Bear with me. This is my first post here and I am so new to computers I really don't know what I am doing. I am running Windows Vista home basic. 32bit I took a full factory restart and since then my printer does not print when I click on the print. I have a HP F300 series printer and I my computer is an E Machine. I have contacted HP but they have not solved the problem. I can go to the property tab of the printer and ask to print a test page which it does. Then when I have something like e-mail that I want to print and click on the print icon, nothing happens. No error messages, nothing. I disconnected the printer when I took the restart and reconnected it. I probably made a mistake reconnecting which caused the problem. I asked HP for the disconnect and reconnect procedures but they did not reply. That is all the infro I can think of. Thanks for any suggestions. Bob

Click to expand...

Here is what I would suggest to start and see if it resolves the issue.

First go to the HP driver's page and enter your exact model number (eg F340). Find the driver's for your specific printer and operating system and download them. I recommend saving them to your desktop so you can easily find them to install them later.

Next, go to your HP folder under the start button and go to the F300 series folder. At the bottom of the list you should see "uninstall" as an option. Run the uninstaller to remove the printer software.

Next, right click on your "my computer" icon on the right side of the start button menu, then left click on "properties" on the menu that pops up. You should then see "device manager" as a link in the left side of the window that comes up. Click on that link and a list of your system devices will come up. You should see "imaging devices" about half way down. If you don't, that means the uninstaller fully removed the printer. If you do see it, click the plus sign next to it and you should then see your printer listed. Right click on your printer and then left click on "uninstall".

Next, disconnect your printer from your computer (power the printer down and disconnect the USB cable).

Now reboot your computer to be sure all driver elements are removed and after reboot, launch the driver installer you downloaded to your desktop earlier. DO NOT CONNECT YOUR PRINTER YET. During the driver installation process, you will be prompted to connect your printer. Connect the USB cable and and power it on when directed to during the driver installation. Let the driver's finish installing and follow any prompts by the installation program.

Once you finish with that, your printer should be working properly again.

Good luck!

Keep in mind I'm learning. I have no one to teach me. I try things and usually get in trouble. People like you are a great help. For instance you said save it to the desk top. How do I do that? I found the download and saved it in C:\users\Bob\downloads. Also you said "go to HP folder under start". Where is that? I know where start is but I can't find the HP folder. Thanks Bob

Uninstall the printer driver from administrator. Turn off the printer. Install new drivers for your printer and operating system with printer off. Once completed, turn printer on and let it find the drivers.

How do I uninstall the printer driver from administrator? I am learning. Thanks Bob

Look in add\remove programs for HP printer. Then, remove the printer from printer folder.

I went to control panel -programs and features- uninstall or change a program. Is that the right place? There was not a program there by HP. Nothing I could relate to a printer. Did I go to the wrong place? Bob

HP load a lot of crap on HP Printers. Just remove the printer from printer folder. Turn off the printer. Reinstall new drivers from the administrator account. Turn printer on and your OS should find new hardware.

If I go to control panel - printer the only thing there is add printer. There is nothing about removing a printer.

Bobh said:

How do I uninstall the printer driver from administrator? I am learning. Thanks Bob

Click to expand...

Bob, when you go to the HP site and download their drivers, you will click on the link for the proper driver file for your printer. Depending on which internet browser you are using, you should get a save dialogue window that pops up. On that window there should be a "save as" option or a drop down menu with a list of places you can save the file to. In that list you will see "desktop". Select that option and the file will then save to your main screen so you can easily find it.

If you already downloaded the drivers and they are in your downloads folder, then don't bother with saving them to the desktop. That was just a suggestion so you could easily find them. Just go ahead and run the installer from your downloads folder, but be sure to remove the old drivers first.

As for removing the drivers, if you don't have the HP folder, just follow my earlier instructions for going into the device manager and remove the drivers that way. Be sure to follow the other instructions about unplugging the printer as well.

Some way I got on a panel that said delete this printer. Is that what you want?

Does unistall and delete mean the same thing?

Bobh said:

Does unistall and delete mean the same thing?

Click to expand...

Okay, when you go into the device manager and right click on your printer, it should look like the image below. If you aren't seeing an option to uninstall, either you didn't go to the correct location, or you have no driver's installed.

By the numbers;

1. Left click on the start button (large orb in lower left corner of desktop with windows logo on it).

2. You will see "My Computer" on the right side of the start menu that comes up. Right click on "My Computer"

3. Left click on "Properties" in the menu that comes up.

4. A new window will open up and at the upper left corner under "tasks", you will see "Device Manager" as the top option. Left click on "Device Manager.

5. Look for "Imaging Devices" in the device manager window and click on the + sign next to it.

6. You should then see your printer listed. Right click on your printer and you should get the menu to come up that you see below.

7. Left click on "uninstall" if you have that option. If not it means your drivers are not installed.

8. If "uninstall" is not an option, delete or remove the printer.

9. Unplug the printer USB cable from your computer and restart your computer.

10. After reboot, launch the driver installer you downloaded earlier.

11. Plug the printer USB cable back in when prompted to during the driver installation and follow all prompts by the installation program.

That should get you up and running again.

SuperFuzz
It did not work. When I clicked on a print icon a pop up came up. It wanted to run a program titled: igfxsrvc Module - Intel Corp. I allowed it. That brough the print panel. I clicked on print but nothing happened. I went to the "Deskjet F300 series properties" panel. There I clicked on "print a test page" and it did. That shows something is working but it just will not print an e-mail. This is just about as far as HP help got to. Do you have any other ideas or do we just give up? Would it cure things if I uninstalled and ran a full factory restart and then installed the printer?

Bobh said:

SuperFuzz
It did not work. When I clicked on a print icon a pop up came up. It wanted to run a program titled: igfxsrvc Module - Intel Corp. I allowed it. That brough the print panel. I clicked on print but nothing happened. I went to the "Deskjet F300 series properties" panel. There I clicked on "print a test page" and it did. That shows something is working but it just will not print an e-mail. This is just about as far as HP help got to. Do you have any other ideas or do we just give up? Would it cure things if I uninstalled and ran a full factory restart and then installed the printer?

Click to expand...

A few of questions.

1. Confirming you completely removed the printer and drivers through the above instructions and reinstalled the driver's and printer?

2. Have you tried printing from other programs? (word, excel, a PDF file etc) Can you print from those programs? (If you haven't tried, please do and see if you can print from programs other than your email).

3. What email client (program) are you using?

Question 1: I followed your instructions very carefully. They were very clear.
Question 2: I don't know where word, excel, or any other place where I might print from. I told you I did not know much.
Question 3: My home page is Verizon.Yahoo and I think my mail comes through Yahoo
I went to my mail and clicked on print on your e-mail and tghe result was as described earlier. The only thing I have ever done with the printer is print e-mails. The rest of the time on the computer is checking things like the weather, a couple of forums, jigsaw puzzles, etc. It works fine for me except it has stopped printing. Thanks for your patience with me.

Bobh said:

Question 1: I followed your instructions very carefully. They were very clear.
Question 2: I don't know where word, excel, or any other place where I might print from. I told you I did not know much.
Question 3: My home page is Verizon.Yahoo and I think my mail comes through Yahoo
I went to my mail and clicked on print on your e-mail and tghe result was as described earlier. The only thing I have ever done with the printer is print e-mails. The rest of the time on the computer is checking things like the weather, a couple of forums, jigsaw puzzles, etc. It works fine for me except it has stopped printing. Thanks for your patience with me.

Click to expand...

If you have any word processing programs on your system, they would be listed under your start menu, or you can simply click on the start button and type "word" in the search field in the start menu. If you have word, open a word document and type anything at all in there, then try printing the document. If it will print, then the problem is with your email client. If it won't, we still have an issue with your printer drivers.

As for your email, it sounds like you check your email through a web page, rather than a dedicated email client such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird, is that correct?

P.S. If you don't have word, try notepad. Every computer that ships with a microsoft operating system has notepad. It can be found again by typing "notepad" (without the quotes) in the search bar of the start menu, or by clicking on "all programs" under the start menu and going into the accessories folder.

You were absolutely right. I went to word pad and IT PRINTED!!!
What now?

My friend says I get my mail through Verizon or the Internet Express. He sat this computer up for me so I guess he knows.

I would reboot and test the printer.