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Printer Software for HP Deskjet


HoppaLong

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It seemed like my copy of 98SE on a laptop was doomed to sit on a closet shelf.  Recently,
a friend was cleaning out some bedroom closets in his home.  He found a factory sealed box
with a brand new printer!  It's an HP Deskjet D4260.  For some reason, it was never used.  When
he offered it to me, I immediately thought it would be nice to use my laptop with this printer.

I've got the CD with all HP software, but it's not compatible with 98SE.  Apparently, the drivers
for Windows 2000 and 98SE are the same:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t2548443-need_driver_win_98_hp_deskjet_d4260

The HP website does not list a software package for D4260 and 98SE.  I've had terrible luck
with KernelEx.  I managed to use a couple of apps with KernelEx, but most attempts have failed.

The drivers alone are not enough.  Without software there is no way to align the print head or
perform maintenance functions.  Years ago I downloaded an app called X-Mouse Button Control.
It worked with almost any mouse, providing many more features than conventional mouse apps.
I haven't searched yet, but is there generic software that might work with a very basic printer
like HP Deskjet D4260?

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HP printer utilities for previous 9x-compatible printers might work with the D4260 once drivers are installed. (I have the Deskjet 656c utilities installed on this very 98se system I'm posting from.)

However, unless you are reporting that the W2K drivers did install on 98se and allow you to print at least a test page, then you already provided the answer to the underlying question:
    "...it's not compatible with 98SE."

Minimum system requirements are a 128MB Pentium II with Windows 2000.

All that said, if you are interested in creating a 9x driver/software pack for the D4260 you can try updating the last one from HP with driver files for the D4260 (and maybe wdmstub or wdmex).

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I was asking for a generic printer utility.  The proper name is "universal."  Here is a universal HP driver for
Windows 98:

http://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=1344325

I tried to print a test page.  Nothing happened.  The printer failed to respond.

When the printer is powered up, all moving components travel normally across the carriage.  The question
is, why did the universal HP driver fail to communicate with the printer?  It's suppose to work with all HP
Deskjet and Laserjet printers.

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5 minutes ago, HoppaLong said:

When the printer is powered up, all moving components travel normally across the carriage.  

Sure, this is normal, imagine that the printer is doing someting similar to a computer boot.

6 minutes ago, HoppaLong said:

The question is, why did the universal HP driver fail to communicate with the printer?  It's suppose to work with all HP
Deskjet and Laserjet printers.

Unfortunately there is no way to answer :(, you will need to check several things:

Is the printer listed? (besides in "Printers" also in "Device Manager") 

Is it connected to the "right" USB port?

Do you have any other (USB) printer (with "manufacturer" drivers) to test that the USB printing support in the install is working?

jaclaz

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Yes jaclaz, I know it seems foolish to mention that all the moving components are really moving!
I mentioned that because I thought one of you guys would ask, "is the printer dead?"  Actually, that's
probably a good question.  After all, this brand new printer sat on a closet shelf for many years.

The New Hardware Wizard appears seconds after the printer is powered up.  It tries to install a native
driver, but it doesn't work.

There are countless USB driverpacks available for download.  Using a few of these driverpacks, I upgraded
all the USB drivers in my old 98SE system.  Has anyone created printer driverpacks?  It would be nice if
I could download a big collection of printer drivers, and let the New Hardware Wizard scan the list.

There are also command lines that will force install a driver.  If I had drivers that were almost guaranteed
to work, I would try a force install.

That Neat Net Tricks posting is kind of discouraging.  After reading all that info from experts, it doesn't
seem very likely I'll ever get this HP Deskjet working with 98SE.

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Agreed. Even my 656c never worked very well, but you might want to try its 9x drivers for USB. I haven't been able to find a timeline (or list) anywhere of HP printers (that supported 9x), so have no idea what was the last for 9x. If we knew, those would be the drivers to try.

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5 hours ago, HoppaLong said:

Yes jaclaz, I know it seems foolish to mention that all the moving components are really moving!
I mentioned that because I thought one of you guys would ask, "is the printer dead?"  Actually, that's
probably a good question.  After all, this brand new printer sat on a closet shelf for many years.

Well, we are not in an online computer assistance hotline following a script, and you are not a common user that hasn't ever seen an electrical appliance before, so the canonical questions:

1) Do you have electricity?

2) is the power cable (or power adapter) actualy plugged into mains?

3) Have you tried flipping the on/off switch on the device?

4) Does any light blink or any sound (or movement) come from the device when it is powered up?

Were given as already asked for and replied positively. ;)

The next questions remain:

5) Is it connected to the "right" USB port?

6) Do you have any other (USB) printer (with "manufacturer" drivers) to test that the USB printing support in the install is working?

 

As that would exclude a malfunctioning USB port/bus on either the computer or the printer and some possible issues with the chosen printer port in software.

AFAICR (it is ages I don't install a USB printer on a 9x machine) there were issues with selecting the port as even with the "wrong" driver (but with the "right" port) *something* happened (lights blinking, carriage moving, garbage characters printed, etc.)

As a matter of fact while - generally speaking - for years (not anymore I believe) all HP printers were good, sturdy, work mules, the real issues with them has traditionally been the accompanying software (and drivers) and in many cases to actually install (having th eactual original, valid, driver) was a nightmare, one example among the many (please note how these are actual "official" HP support pages :w00t::ph34r:) :

https://support.hp.com/ee-en/document/c00523824

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/buu01858

The "nearest" model I could find a driver for is the D2360, but as often happens unfortunately with driversguide files, there is no guarantee whatever that the file actually contains what is in the download page description and of course no guarantee whatever that a D23xx may work for D42xx.

http://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=794993&si=b6b7e34bceca9b15578c4e979e0c419d

However, at a quick check (Universal Extractor can be used to expand into a sub-directory), it does contain 9x drivers.

jaclaz

 

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4 hours ago, jaclaz said:

As a matter of fact while - generally speaking - for years (not anymore I believe) all HP printers were good, sturdy, work mules, the real issues with them has traditionally been the accompanying software (and drivers) and in many cases to actually install (having th eactual original, valid, driver) was a nightmare, one example among the many (please note how these are actual "official" HP support pages :w00t::ph34r:) :

So much true! I still own nearly 10 years old HP AIO device. It's been far before I started lurking into how computer works, but even the, with my nearly zero skills, i was surprised to see that my printer made a  copy of itself in device manager, and refused to work with 'original' one! Few years later, i decided to clean it out, and after a few reinstalls it seems that HP digital Imaging monitor refused to work without having a copy of the same device seen by windows. It ended up that I gave up HP bloatware and stick with driver. I cannot scan using on-device button and have to go through crappy windows 'wizard', but oh, it works...

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My experience has been the same as everyone else crappy software and proprietary ink that costs more than the printers are worth that lock you into years of butt rape by the manufactures of the printers.  This is not for just HP deskjets but other manufacture Deskjets.  However Laserjets to me from HP have always been great.  I will only use laserjets from HP.

 

Like I said in another thread.  HP postscript is a standard protocol.  You do not always need the right printer driver for a printer.  At least that is true for network printers.  You can a lot of times just get away with a generic PCL driver and it will work fine for basic printing.

Edited by Destro
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