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SHardy

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Lexmark X73 All-In-One Printer/Scanner

I purchased a Windows XP machine bundled with a Lexmark X73 AllInOne printer/scanner. I wish I had never seen the thing. I have been unable to get the thing working, and have had very little help from the seller (PC World), their helpline or Lexmark.

Basically, when going through the installation, I get to the point at which it asks me to connect the USB cable. Then nothing. There is no "OK" (or similar) button on the dialog, and nothing happens when you wait. If I force the dialog closed, I am then taken to the driver setup screen where I am asked to check that the printer is connected, turned on and the cable not damaged. I can't get past here.

I have tried various other methods of installing it, and have actually managed to have the printer and scanner shown as being connected. But I then continue to get communication error messages, and cannot actually use either.

When plugging in the USB cable, the hardware is not auto-detected and the "add new hardware wizard" is not launched.

At every stage described above, if I check the USB hubs/controllers within the device manager, it recognises that something has been attached, but that something is always an "unknown device".

I am now getting really frustrated, and I am ready to kick the thing all the way back to the store that I bought it from.

I have had one of the guys on the helpline tell me, in contradiction to what everyone else has said, that it will not work straight from the box with XP. He said that he was looking at the Lexmark website, and it said that the "X73 setup version 3" should be used, apparently downloadable from the website. I have not been able to find this.

Can anyone help me get this printer/scanner working please? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
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Zoplax

First of all, disconnect the printer/scanner from your computer.

Then, download the latest available drivers for it from the Lexmark website.

Boot XP into Safe Mode and open the Device Manager.

Delete any "ghost" devices, including printers, printer ports, USB ports, and scanners.

Reboot into Normal mode, and install the driver software.  If prompted to plug in the scanner / printer, do so when instructed.  Otherwise, shut down the computer, plug in the device, then reboot and let Windows detect the hardware.


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ASKER

I have already tried all that. Windows does not detect the hardware, in that it will not bring up the "Add New Hardware Wizard". Instead, all I get is a USB icon at the right hand side of the start bar with a message telling me that an "Unknown Device" has been connected. I have been through all sorts of uninstalls and re-installs, and have even completely restored the machine to "as new" several times over. I have downloaded every possible driver/installation software that I can find, including that mentioned above (it WASN'T on the Lexmark site, as instructed).

It just doesn't want to recognise it. Possibly a problem with the USB driver? I have tried manually updatingthis, but am constantly told that there are no INF files that hold "information on my device".

AAAAAGH!
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ASKER

Well I think I finally have my answer...

The PC is an Advent 3109 from PC World. This came pre-loaded with Windows XP. It also has the "SiS 7100" USB host controller. Apparently the SiS 7100 is incompatible with WindowsXP, and can't even be resolved with the patches available.

So as well as supplying me with a machine that has a useless USB host controller, they then bundle a USB printer/scanner with it just to rub it in a bit more.

GRRRRR!!!! Well I am taking it back to the store tonight. Let's see what they have to say about it.

I'll leave this here for a day or two before asking a moderator to PAQ it.

Cheers anyway.
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Computer101
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