[nastechee]

Apologies for the length of this.

System:
ASUS M2N-VM DVI/ AMD XP2-4000/ XP Pro sp3 (32 bit) 2G RAM
Internal modem, IEE1394 card
Brother HL-1450 laser printer - parallel i/f (USB packed up years ago I think)
has been working through Intel Netport Express print server.

Now adding a 1TB raided NAS to my network which has a USB print server function.
This should render the Netport redundant (not supported for XP anyway)
Bought a cheap USB to centronics cable.
Plugged it in but got 'Device Not Recognised' message each time.
Tried for 2 evenings to locate info - lots of power-offs and restarts to no avail.
Bought another cable (3x the price) same result for another evening.

I took the 'el cheapo' cable to my workplace and plugged it into a AMD XP-2200 +XP Pro sp2 system.
It was recognised immediately.
At home once more I plugged it into my system and this time it was recognised. (No changes had been made to the computer)
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With the device now recognised as a USB printer device I connected it to my laser printer.
The printer was not seen by the system ( as it should have been).
Using 'Add Printer' automatic search did not find it.
Manual configuration using XP native driver did not work either.
Deleted the entry.
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Downloaded (again) and installed the latest XP driver from the Brother site.
Plugged the cable into the printer - no result.
Used 'Add Printer' auto search did not find it.
Manual configuration using 'USB virtual printer port 001' did not work.
Deleted the entry.
Manual configuration using 'USB virtual printer port 002' WORKED!!!!!!.

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I don't understand why the device was not recognised initially
(and why another similar device failed in the same way)

I also don't understand why the printer is not seen by the system automatically.
My (eventually) successful installation method is not recommended by Microsoft.
The process has not been as easy as USB literature would suggest.

Some of the information supplied with the other similar device helped in finally selecting the correct port.


I hope this information may be of use to others.
Can anyone explain what has gone wrong??
Is there a way to interrogate an unrecognised USB device?

Phil

Edit: Update -
The second cable still shows 'Device Not Recognised'.
Tried the second (more expensive) cable in work machine - not recognised here either.
PID 0000 VID 0000 (in the same port as other cable)

Strangely, Windows still shows message to say the device is ready.
(But it doesn't work)

Phil

[nastechee]

Even though the original cable appeared to work it was not reliable.
I returned the second cable and got a replacement.
This one worked flawlessly first and every time since.
Seems like I was unlucky enough to get 2 faulty cables from 2 different places.

Learned a bit more about USB on the way.

Phil