I just bought a new PC. I installed Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2) on it.
Now, I am trying to install my printer (Brother MFC 5100C). It installs the printer and everything seems fine.
Then after I restart my computer, I can’t print.
From notepad I get the error message saying “Handle is invalid”.
From Printer’s properties->Print test page I get the message saying “Test page failed to print. Would you like to view the print troubleshooter for assistance? Some driver files are missing or incorrect. Reinstall the driver or try using the latest version.”
I have tried the new version from Brother website without any use.
ALWAYS trouble shoot from the physical level and work upwards isolating possibilites along the way.
Start with the dumb stuff first.
Does everything have power?
USB connection? Is it in the right port?
Are the cables correctly seated?
A good way to troubleshoot is to always get back to basics, so If you have half a dozen other peripherals hanging off the PC, disconnect those and try JUST the printer. May not have to do it in this case but certainly something to be mindful of. Conflicts can cause problems such as this.
ALWAYS restart both the printer AND the computer when troubleshooting, especially after installing drivers.
Yes everything has power. Printer is on and system detects it and labels it properly, which means (I am assuming) that drivers are installed. (Proper or not, not sure)
USB Connection is right. Port? I am not sure. I have 4 USB ports in the back. 2 USB ports are extension (came with mother, also in the back). 2 up front
Cables are connected properly as system can detect the printer.
I tried using Brother’s utility (bundled in software package along with driver) called “MFC Remote Setup”. It can communicate properly with the printer AND prints the “User Setting List” retrieved from printer. It’s just the application where it doesn’t work.
Hmm, ok whilst not being 100% certain about your above comments, Ill assume that everything is on and connected as it should be. You could try one of the other USB ports as an alternative option.
Never presume that simply because Windows detects it and goes about doing its thing that the printer is infact installed.
Im not a big fan of bouncy ball installs, I always do it the old school way, manually. This way you KNOW for sure its installed.
Take a look within device manager and see how it looks in there. Then check the printers status within the control panel. Also make sure your print spooler service is active and started.
As a suggestion, Id uninstall the printer (delete it) and start over clean.
I tried 3 different USB ports but it din’t work anywhere.
I uninstalled (deleted and then used “Uninstall” utility from brother to remove the drivers) the printer 4 times and used the drivers which came with the printer AND the drivers downloaded from Brother website. But, it din’t work.
I did reboot after uninstalling and then after installing.
Following is the screenshot of “Ports” in Device Manager.
Are you sure the USB ports on the computer are active? As in ENABLED within the BIOS? You mentioned that this computer is new…so?
Although you did also mention you get the “New Hardware Detected” bubble pop up when you plug it in yes?
Troubleshooting printers over the internet isnt exaclty an ideal situation!
What exactly are you doing to carry out the install?
Have you checked event viewer to look for errors?
Again, what is the status of the printer once installed - does it show ready???
Right click the printer itself and check properties - ensure its talking through the correct port.
Again, trying to troubleshoot this over the net is enough to do my head in!
I am not exactly sure how to check for USB ports in BIOS. I’ll try and find it and see if it’s enabled or not.
Yes. “New Hardware Detected” bubble comes up when I connect the printer.
JFYI.
On my last computer my operating system was XP Pro (UPGRADED from XP Home; Had some problem with getting bootable CD to work. As a student I get CD from college). On my new computer I installed XP Pro SP 2 DIRECTLY with a bootable CD. not sure if that makes any difference.
I installed it with the software CD which came along with the printer. It did work on my last computer.
I checked Events viewer (System). I got some printer related error. There are many WARNINGs there too but looking at them seems that those are just message like when I installed/uninstalled/deleted printer. Let me know if I should post those too. There are around 10-20 messages in WARNINGs.
ERRORs
Failed to ugrade printer settings for printer Microsoft XPS Document Writer driver Microsoft XPS Document Writer error 126.
Failed to ugrade printer settings for printer \\COMPUTER\Microsoft XPS Document Writer,LocalOnly driver C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\unidrvui.dll error 126.
Printer “Status” is “0”. Neither Online nor Offline.
It’s on USB002 “Virtual printer port for USB”. If I try to “Configure” it on properties screen I get the following message: An error occurred during port configuration. This operation is not supported.
So, I guess you are right. Windows is either not detecting the printer or something is wrong with the drivers. I am not sure what it might be.
