Peripherals forum: Generic IEEE 1284.4 printing support - PROBLEM

Matt -

I have an HP PhotoSmart 100 printer that I have been trying to link up to a laptop running Windows XP. I also got the "Generic IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support" error message when trying to add the printer and could find absolutely NO HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS ON THE NET ANYWHERE!! (Lots of useless suggestions and simply nowhere to download the IEEE 1284.4 driver. Yet another of these 'black hole' computer problems that makes you think that you are the only person in the world experiencing what should be a common problem!! Very frustrating!!

Well, here's how I fixed the problem:

1) Go to http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Lookup?h_lang=en&h_cc=us&cc=us&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_pagetype=s-002&h_query=photosmart and select your particular HP PhotoSmart device.

2) Download all of the software for your particular PhotoSmart device and install on your computre (requires restart).

3) Connect your PhotoSmart device to your computer and try to add the printer using the Printer Wizard dialog boxes.

4) If you should get the message saying that no "Generic IEEE 1284.4 Printing Support" and if the Wizard cannot find the software online (which is what happened in my case), specify the location of the driver by browsing to the location of your newly downloaded and installed PhotoSmart software. A folder with the name "photosmart" should have been installed in c:\temp. Browse to this folder and select. Then let the Wizard search the "photosmart" folder for the IEEE 1284.4 driver. You will be pleased to see the Wizard finally recognize "PhotoSmart" software and then a cascade of confirmations and further software installations follow with the PhotoSmart software completing its setup on your computer!

5) Your PhotoSmart device will now be recognized and you can begin printing to the device.


Hope this is helpful to everyone.

Lorien5

Thank you so much Lorien5!!!!

I was struggling with the same problem Matt described in the forum, and when I tried your recommendation, it worked immediately. I went from scratching my head for 10 minutes to immediate gratification and printing!

For that, I joined CNET and will participate as often as I can. This is a great resource, and I really appreciate your help, Lorien5!

Steve T.

I know that this is an old post but it ended me days of searching for the solution for this problem. I am not sure why this worked but it did. thanks you 1000X