My printer was working fine. I installed a scanner driver (visioneer 6100) but uninstalled it when I realized it would not work on xp. I added other programs (norton security, ulead photoimpact) - they worked fine. When I tried to print again, it would do NOTHING -- not even from command prompt --uninstalled and reinstalled printer. No help. Queue shows "Error - printing". Printer and cable work fine on other computer. I checked microsoft and it said that it could be the driver(tested-no) or the GDI. I don't know what that is or how to test if that is the problem. I thought maybe the scanner driver I tried to install changed something that remained even after un-install. Does anyone know if that could be the problem? If so, how to test/fix? Or how to test the GDI?

Short for Graphical Device Interface, a Windows standard for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices, such as monitors and printers
Found that on line
try and restore the computer to a known date when printer worked and see if that helps

If it ain't broke upgrade it!!!

It's been a long time since I backed up. Don't remember all that I have changed since then. Any other ideas? --that won't be so destructive?

A restore is non destructive.
I'm not suggesting performing a reformat and reinstall. Unfortunately I'm not at home right now and don't have XP in front of me. But there is a method for restoring computer to configuration on a specific date. I don't know exactly how it works, but it does. It will not delete any files that were created. It just resets system settings.

If it ain't broke upgrade it!!!

What kind of printer?

How is it connected?

What version of drivers do you have?

Did you get any errors during the install/uninstall of the scanner?

Good chance the scanner may have corrupted the LPT1: device settings which may require removing and reinstalling this device (not the hard disk, go to device manager and remove it from there, reboot, and let windows redetect it).

HTH,
J.
j e r u v y a t y a h o o d o t c o m

Thanks for the help. Printer is epson stylus color 600 but the problem is not the printer -- tested okay on other computer and also tested with a good canon printer -- same thing. I uninstalled printer then shut off. No message on re-start that new hardware found (with printer connected and on). Control panel: look for new hardware -- list showed the printer port l, but no printer. So I asked for it to search for new hardware-- found nothing! That has never happened before. Followed instructions to reinstall -- went okay, but won't print (in queue status: error - printing). I tried this with both printers. I don't know much about hardware -- when windows checked the port, it said it was working okay. But it seems like it must be either in the port/port settings or in the port's connection to the hard drive. Any ideas what could be causing this? Can I change the port or its settings? I only have one printer connection space. Would I need to get another and have it attached if I changed ports? how does that work?