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new to XP, installing old printer question

18 years ago

I have an old (Lexmark Z705, vintage 2004) printer I dearly love, and want to install it on my new PC with XP. It's so old, Lexmark doesn't even have reference to it on it's site, that I could find.

I still have the disc and it says it's XP compatible. It appears to use a USB port--a little flat, square-ish end on the cable.

I still have the "placemat" showing the steps to follow, and it looks like in the example picture the PC is "ON" when the cable from the printer is connected, and the printer is also "ON"

I want to make sure I'm interpreting the illustrations correctly before I do something that will ruin my brand new computer, so my question is, should both PC and printer be on when I make the connection?

Thanks,

Jann

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Comments (6)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
18 years ago
actually it usually varies from printer to printer and from manufacturer. It is pretty normal that they give you a direction sheet to follow so if that is for sure what that one says then that should be how they want you to do it. But I have no way of knowing for sure. Do you happen to have the instruction guide? Sometimes on the actual cd when you first put it in there are some guides that you can read that tell you step by step how to proceed, you might try the cd and see if you see any how to directions.

Just to make sure nothing gets messed up on your pc it would be a good idea for you to make are real simple restore point so if something should go awry you can just go right back to that place in time before you added the printer.

To do that in xp click on start> all programs> accessories> system tools> system restore> create a restore point, name it something like prior to printer install then follow the instructions for a quick restore point to be created, that is all there is to it. Now if something messes up with the install of the printer you just follow those directions again and choose to restore your pc to a previous time and from that list pick the one you created with the name you choose and follow the directions for your pc to go right back to how it was before you started any of this. it will tell you to reboot the pc in that process.

Anyway hope some of that helped and good luck.
notjannaz10
Original Author
18 years ago
Ravin, That's exactly what I planned to do if I couldn't get a definite answer here. The problem with that instruction sheet is, there are no words, just drawings. You have to guess what they're trying to show you. But there's something on the disc that says "view user guide" that might tell me--and might even be on the old computer, come to think of it.

Thanks--and keep me in your prayers...
J
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ravencajun Zone 8b TX
18 years ago
yep I would bet that view user guide on the disc will be the directions!
fruitjarfla
18 years ago
lexmark.com shows that the latest driver for the Z705 is CBJ700EN.exe so you might compare this to the one on the original disk.
genes
18 years ago
I know when I hooked up my old HP Multi, both the laptop and printer where off when I was hooking up my cables etc and only turned on the PC and printer when I got to that step. I found when following the placemat instructions, you have to be sure that you go thru all the step right from 1 to whatever
notjannaz10
Original Author
18 years ago
Fruitjar, thank you. after reading your post, I went back to the Lexmark page, and after some searching found written instructions for installing the printer. (It still doesnt say computer on, computer off, but...) It's a good thing I found them because it's a 13-step procedure before it even starts reading the disc!!!! I would have been dead, and probably my computer, too.

Nothing like a computer to make your life easier...
Jann

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