[mellais]

I'm using a Lexmark Z25 printer with my laptop and purchased a USB 2.0 Hub so I could use the printer and my flash drive at the same time. When I first attached the printer to the usb hub, it installed a usb driver for it, and then it printed a test page without any dramas. But since printing out the test page, everytime I try to print out anything with the printer attached through the USB HUB it comes up with the following error:

Lexmark Z25-Z35: USB001
Communication Not Available
The printer cannot communicate with the computer
Make Sure:
- The printer is turned on.
- All connections are secure.

Hope you can help!

Thanks
Melissa

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Easy stuff first. did you disconnect everything, power off, and then reattach?

[rrush]

Easy stuff first. did you disconnect everything, power off, and then reattach?

[mellais]

hi there rrush

thanks for replying. Yep, have disconnected, restarted computer and printer, and reattached but same error message came up when i tried to print.

I did this the other day as well, but that time it detected it as new hardware and went through the process of installing drivers for it (it did this the first time too), successfully. Both times it printed a test page. This time (third) it didn't detect it as new software or install drivers.

Also, I noticed that in the printers menu, there was 3 icons for the printer (2 or which were copies and have deleted them).

Hope some of this helps.

Thanks
Melissa

[Samm]

Try connecting the printer directly to the laptops usb port instead of through the hub & see if that makes a difference

[mellais]

hi samm, the printer works fine directly. but i would like to use it through the usb hub as i have other usb devices to use at the same time.

[Samm]

Does the printer have its own power supply (ie other than the USB cable) and is the hub self-powered (ie own power supply)?

[mellais]

The printer has its own power supply. the usb cable does not have its own power supply. It has a little light on it that is powered once it is plugged into the laptop.

[Samm]

The problem only occurs when the flash drive is also connected to the hub, right? So the problem is gonna be either a resource conflict between the 2 devices or a lack of power from the USB port to the printer.

The power issue shouldn't be the problem if the printer is self powered even though the usb & (I assume) the flash drive aren't.
The IRQ conflict might be the cause though. USB devices essentially are not assigned their own irqs, they use the irq assigned to the usb controller instead. This means that the drive & the printer will be sharing an irq. If they are both in use at the same time, then this will cause a problem. USB printers can ve particulary twitchy about this, and besides which, it IS a lexmark, which is never a good start, I'm afraid!

[mellais]

no, the problem doesn't only occur when the flash drive and printer are connected to the usb hub. it occurs also when just the printer is connected to the usb hub. and i don't think it is a power supply problem either.

[Samm]

Sorry, misread your first post!
If it happens when connected on its own, then you're probably right, its not gonna be power issue or a conflict issue.

I take it your other USB devices work fine through the hub?
Also, can you tell me what make the hub is & roughly how long the usb cables are (hubs cable & printer cable)?

[mellais]

The hub works fine with my flash drive.

usb hub is a 4 port mini hub. looks like a little spaceship with a light that comes on in the middle when it is plugged into a usb port on a computer. it is a plug and play usb 2.0 hi-speed 4 port (L)62x(W)62x(H)23mm. the length of cable coming from it is about 65cm. The length of cable from printer is about 80cm.
what will the length of cables have to do with it? I thought it would be a driver problem.

[Samm]

If the printer works fine connected directly to USB port on laptop, then it's unlikely to be a printer driver problem or USB hub driver problem (usb hub doesn't normally come with any drivers).

The cables lengths are fine, btw. (longer cables = greater resistance = drop in signal strength)

Can you tell me what chipset you have? Theres a whole big issue regarding non-Intel chipsets & USB. In short, the USB controllers on many non-intel based motherboards, cannot ramp enough power to the ports when high current draw devices are attached...

You may find the only solution is to use a powered USB hub or buy a USB pcmcia card.