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Thread: new printer needed-Microsoft update no longer supports

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    new printer needed-Microsoft update no longer supports

    My HP deskjet D1560 no longer will connect to my hp Windows 10. I have spent hours and come to the conclusion that Microsoft has a conspiracy to make me give up perfectly good things because they refuse to support them. Vista, now my printer. It worked two days ago, then I had updates (they come automatically). I've uninstalled the printer, checked drivers, uninstalled things...all the suggestions on the boards from HP and Microsoft and a few other places. It won't work. So, any suggestions for a useful printer, home use, I mainly print my writing and Sodukus. I also have an even older scanner that I have not attempted to check...just figure I should get a multi use printer than has a scanner and copier. No FAX needed. Thank you.

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    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    My recent experiences with HP anything makes me tremendously disinclined to recommend any of their products. I gave up on Epson when they started selling printers with "starter" (e.g., partially-unfilled) ink cartridges and then using chips to prevent use of remanufactured cartridges.

    I can recommend Canon. We've had two Canon all-in-ones that provided great service (for as much as we use a printer), which have no issue using third-party (or refilled) ink cartridges, and which continue to decently support Windows and Macintosh OS and even Linux, if I remember my last trip to their support site. Ditto for Brother; well-built and well-supported.

    Two considerations:
    - One, it's unlikely that your HP printer model is the only model affected by whatever was broken by the Windows update. It is possible that there will be an update to the update once Microsoft or HP are made aware of the issue and one or both of them elects to fix it. No guarantees, however -- and no timetable.
    - If you're printing primarily text and sudokus, you may not need to print in color. If so (or if you print in color only rarely), a very strong case can be made for buying a monochrome laser printer instead of an inkjet printer. The per-page cost of printing black pages with a laser printer typically is well below that of printing with an inkjet printer. And while replacement toner cartridges are not cheap, they last far longer than ink cartridges.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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    Thanks,Steve, I was hoping you'd chime in. I'd love to wait for the "update to the update' I have visions of them attacking my monitor next. It is nine years old....I did wonder if I got a new usb cable if that would even work. One of the messages was that it couldn't access troubleshooting due to a usb 2 cable? No idea what that means, but if the newer cable would fit and was a 3 or whatever the new ones are, would that help?

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    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    Another vote for Canon. I went through a laser printer and then three Epsons that pooped out shortly after the warranty expired. At the time they were getting used routinely for color printing, but not heavy use. My Canon replacement has worked very well for several years now. I was looking at their new models at the store the other day and they have some pretty slick looking printer scanner combos.

    I have a couple of assorted hardware that has become out dated with operating system changes. I've been able to find appropriate drivers to adapt them by searching around on the internet.

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    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    Thanks,Steve, I was hoping you'd chime in. I'd love to wait for the "update to the update'
    With the understanding that it might never come about, waiting is fine. Of course, during that time you're also unable to use the printer...

    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    I have visions of them attacking my monitor next. It is nine years old
    Unless the monitor does something really special (built-in USB hub, built-in microphone, synthesized surround sound, etc.), it should not be killed by an update and, even then, the update may simply disable that special functionality and leave you with an otherwise-usable monitor.

    However, sometimes updates do switch some preferences you've set back to their defaults, which may cause something to not work quite right but should not make it totally unusable forevermore.

    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    ....I did wonder if I got a new usb cable if that would even work. One of the messages was that it couldn't access troubleshooting due to a usb 2 cable? No idea what that means, but if the newer cable would fit and was a 3 or whatever the new ones are, would that help?
    Cables can fail though typically that's due to physical stress (yanking on the cable, corrosion, pinching it with furniture, etc.). I'm assuming you've disconnected and reconnected the cable at both the PC and the printer to make sure the connection is solid. If you haven't done that, I would power down the printer and the PC, disconnect and reconnect the cable, check the cable for obvious damage (including a tight curve just at the part where it connects to the jacket at the end), then start up the printer, wait a moment, and then start up the PC and see if things work.

    If you get a similar error message again, see if it mentions something about the USB 2 cable itself or a USB2 port. The confusing part is that the USB interface standard has had a number of versions, one of which is USB 2. However, if your PC has more than one USB port, they're likely labeled (at least by Windows, if not on the cabinet) by numbers like USB1, USB2, USB3, etc. It may be that the Windows update somehow reset the port definitions and that's why the PC can't find the printer. Unfortunately, that's nothing I would be able to help you with long-distance.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar
    I have a couple of assorted hardware that has become out dated with operating system changes. I've been able to find appropriate drivers to adapt them by searching around on the internet.
    That can work. Manufacturers sometimes do weird things like update drivers for one market but not another, and a Web search will find them so they can be downloaded.

    And, sometimes, close enough is good enough. The push to always have something new to market leads manufacturers to put different labels on the same wine, so to speak, so a printer driver for, say, Canon's MP-480 printer works just fine with their MP-490 printer (might not for an MP-500, however, so be careful).
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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    Thanks Steve. I bought a Canon Pixma tr8520- had a dreadful time installing it, it wouldn't work even though it showed that it had been installed, then it wouldn't work again so I set a restore point....it didn't complete so I reinstalled windows with the saving my files option and now it is working as I muddle through changing windows 10 to what I like. One odd thing is when the Windows renew went up it changed all my Libre odt documents to word, excel. I guess it is until they quit giving me time with it ( April 21) but I can access them from the reinstall of Libre. I am just not good with all these apps and changes, but am learning. It should have been an easy plug in installation, but I wonder if whatever problem it had with the other printer was the same problem. Thanks.

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    We've switched to Canon here at the house as well, after a similar Microsoft "update" killed off our perfectly-good Epson printer.

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    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    You're welcome, nswef!

    There is a reason "plug and play" got corrupted to "plug and pray"...
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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    Now you've made me laugh!

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    I am slightly an anticannon guy, after years ago, being asked to drop off a Cannon printer at Geek squad for somebody. Geek squad diagnosed it as a "bad ink cartridge" and had another ready with it. Returned it to its owner (broken leg, hence me doing the errands) and the same thing.
    Turned out it wasn't the cartridge, but the print head that was bad. On other printer brands, that print head is part of the cartridge, but not on Cannon at the time (have no idea currently).
    I went from one of the first Epson injets, to a Lexmark color printer, that was so infrequently used for color, the cartridge would dry out, to a Brother Laser printer on a printer server. I use color so infrequently, it makes more sense to go to a print shop, and the starter cartridge that comes with the brother, lasts me at least a year, normally more.
    Another option is do you have another computer, that could act as a print server?

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