PCI-Parallel card install

[harry12]

Setup is Win98SE, plenty of memory and HDD.
This is the fix for a failed LPT1-port on my Intel motherboard.
So I've bought a PCI parallel port card, installed the driver from the CD and the printer no longer says "Cannot communicate..." ..indeed it shows the paper (icon) feeding the paper and then it goes away after it thinks it's priinted....
Only it hasn't. The printer is working OK on other PCs and when the PC is switched on part-way through the Boot sequence the printer appears to initiate (something inside moves!).
But there is no paper movement..... and no printing.

The card supports two LPT* ports and setting the printer to LPT2 is OK...
seting it to LPT1 - error msg ="cannot initialise" (this is the Port on the motherboard)
Setting it to LPT3 - similar error msg
Only LPT2 (which I guess is correct),results in no error msg...but it's still not putting ink on paper. I conclude that the printer is connected to the (new)parallel port LPT2 and that the printer driver is attempting to send data to LPT2 (that's the Port it says it's connected)
The card is Digitus and unfortunately their web-site is descriptive of new products but appears to offer no back-up, FAQ's etc. - which is pretty stupid as I may avoid Digitus products.
The PCI-card came with a multi- Win (from 3.1-XP) driver.
Anything obvious - I feel this is so near, with the printer responding at Boot-time.
Cheers.

[harry12]

PANIC-Over.
-Well nearly - I have several HDD that plug-into the PC and my fav PC has just 2.5+2.5G and a decent firewall (Zone Alarm) - running WIN98SE.
The 2.5+2.5G HDD is my "best" PC and this is having problems - the Parallel port card appears to provide the printer port LPT2 and the printer won't print.
However,
The 130G HDD (also Win98SE) has the same hardware (inc the new PCI/LPT2 card) and this prints in full colour.......Yipee!.

However, this still leaves the other one - so I'm going to reinstall it and hope that 1st-time round "maybe " I did something silly.
Additional:-
The PCI card was quite cheap, provides TWO LPT (parallel) ports and provide a degreee of isolation should a mains-powered external device have a failure.
Well that's it folks.
Boo sucks to Intel, that failed to assist - you know whose Motherboard and processor will be on my shopping list?
This Digitus PCI-card required very little installation, no bios changes and the CD driver appears to work - albeit on one HDD-version....rather odd but at least it's saved me having to buy another motherboard;... with so many changes (esp memory capacity) being "essential" for Vista. However, the first attempt was marred by poor documentation and a useless web-site....can't expect everything, it seems.
Expect memory prices to rocket a month or two before Vista Release.

[harry12]

Looks like I'm unlucky, or I've messed up the BIOS even. Now the new PCI card wont support my printer, although the printer is OK on another PC, so I know it and the Win98SE driver is OK.
Just goes to show, eh?
I suspect there is nothing wrong with the card but the printer refuses to work....now called LPT2.....

I use the other PC for any printing work, but it doesn't have a firewall so I prefer not to connect it to the internet.....

[alwaysonline]

1st... go back to the Bios and reset defaults.

does that parallel port card supposed to work on a 98 box?

next, look for an updated driver for that parallel port card, then also an update driver for your printer, reboot and try again.

if all fails, uninstall the drivers for the printer, reboot, re-install the printer driver,reboot, then connect the printer and let window find the driver.

by the way, on a 98 box, any over 512 of memory is and will always be unused.

this day and time, you should bump up to a new computer with at least XP Home being a 32 bit or 64x as 98 is no longer supported by Microsoft.

[harry12]

Appreciate yr comments, will try in due course. As to XP I find that MS is not being truthful and therefore I distrust them. The new MS Advantage being a wheeze to eliminate illegal copies - yet I find that honest users are often included in the net with no advantages. Furthermore XP has limitations regarding changinf=g HDD, motherboar detc - I don't expect Ford to dictate where I can drive without seeking their permission...etc.
With Vista out soon (when they get the firewall issue sorted!), so XP should be selling at a low price - yet strangely whilst hardware has fallen in price year-on-year ....... MS appears to raise their prices....this is because stupid people will continue to support poor software...sure many bells etc. but there are fundamental faults still. If Linux was run by people who wanted it to work, it would wipe the floor with MS...unfortunately it is controlled by Geeks who only care about OS niceties, rather than getting something to do day-to-day work.
However, I'll accept yr rec. is reasonably sound.
I suspect my MB has some failure-mode in respect of printing - seems darn strange as the printer is OK, on a different Win98SE PC.
Thanks,H.

[pip22]

The guy already said way back that the LPT1 port is dead-- doh!
Incidentally, Harry, your comments re Windows XP/Vista and Linux made some refeshingly intelligent points. I wish you well.

Pip

[harry12]

Pip22//Oldtimer...
Yes the MB LPT1 port appears dead:
For some while (last 2-years?) the printer sometimes prints and sometimes says "Not initialised" yet when booting the PC the printer reacts - I discount this being due to power, I'm sure the power is On for a minute or so before the boot gets to the point where is detects(or doesn't) the printer. Currently two printers are connected to the PC and neither will work, although their drivers were installed OK. It is posible using MS Defrag has destroyed it, but it's hard to believe only this aspect of the PC is in error - everything else is OK.
Sometimes I used another HDD (in a Caddy) replacing the OS and data-files with a newer HDD - but this also has the same printer problem.....that's why I suspect the MB is at fault. Considering that delicate circuitry is connected to long external leads (which we handle), it is surprising that there aren't more instances of a blown port. Perhaps USB is better protected, or it's just a case of waiting. The MB is an Intel model and I have found no self-test on the CD, I tried Intel and they never replied - too busy suckering-in new customers. Hence my next PC will use AMD, unless they fold.
The PCI-card appeard to work for a while but then it too suffered failure - so I suspect the MB hasn't turned-off addressing the faulty chip.....frankly I fed up with this - - tryiung the printer via its USB connector has been a total failure, so I suspect the driver software is missing something and I never tested this when I bought it those years ago.The USB ports are OK on several items including a fancy USB-IDE converter - it just works (with the driver installed) - really good it has enabled me to use a spare HDD as a data-store (external), without having to buy a fancy boxed HDD which appear to offer nothing more, yet costlot.
The scheme I'm using is the same printer connected to a friend's loan PC (also Win98SE) with my drivers installed. I transfer any "notes" via a 3.5" floppy and print from Notepad - fairly crude, but it works - My cPC has a ZoneAlarm firewall, whereas I just missed a Win98SE-version before MS pulled their Support - which triggered other vendors to drop Win98SE products.....pity as Zone Alarm was free ...I tried the internet for other Firewalls but they have succummed also.
When Vista is commonplace the cost of new PC's will fall and I may try the Linux route again. Ubuntu is a nice package, but still suffers from a Geeky approach to the bits behind the desktop......and frankly having a nice-looking PC is of no use if every tweek is impossible to achieve without help. I updated Ubuntu in November2006 - but they may have improved bits of it, but not as I say the flaws lurking below the surface.
It seems to me that a reasonably-spec'd PC should be easy enough to move over to Linux - why can't there be a list of "To-Do's" like your ISP and email addresses, without loads of jargon and tabs etc.....I mean just how much new information does the average user need to get the thing working? When you buy a video-recorder... you tune in the stations and bung-in a tape - provided you remember to put fresh batteries in the remote, that's it. It doesn't need you to enter a serial number from yr aunt's inside leg. or go through wads of codes to get the tape bias right. I found many aspects of Ubuntu were automatic - I can't recall any big issues and things like the camera(USB) seemed to work....only the printer (yes the same one) was an issue - but this was before the port blew - the isse was that Ubuntu/Linux doesn't like Lexmark - almost any HP printer is OK, along with Cannon and Epson....but not my Lexmark.......Grr.
Still thanks for reading this far - the Port is still preventing any printing somehow.
regards