# Problem With Printer- Keeps Installing Itself **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-printer-keeps-installing-itself/422870 "2007-10-16T02:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-printer-keeps-installing-itself/422870/1 "2007-10-16T02:54:46Z")
I own an HP Officejet J5780 printer, which I’ve used for a little under two months. Over the last few days, I’ve had a problem with the printer, in which my computer keeps claiming to have found new hardware (i.e., the printer), and installing it, usually in connection to a claim to have found a new USB port. That it already has this does not seem to register. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? (If it matters, I am a user of Windows XP) ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-printer-keeps-installing-itself/422870/2 "2007-10-16T05:12:13Z")
I recently built myself a new computer, using Win XP pro as my operating system, and have run into the same problem. In my case, I have an HP laserjet 1200 that is connected to the print server port of a Netgear ProSafe firewall router, this arrangement allows my wife to use the same printer from her Mac notebook. I was using Win 2000 pro on my previous system, and had no problems at all with the setup. However, despite the fact that the printer works perfectly from my new system, every time I start (or restart) the machine, I have to suffer through the same stupid “Found new hardware” sequence, which means that I have to click the X’s on two message boxes, tell the system not to go looking on the internet for an updated driver, and then click the X on the message box informing me that my new hardware is not installed and will probably not work. I searched the Microsoft support site and got the following link: [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298370/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298370/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH) which discusses this problem. **Note** , their workaround invlolves using the system registry editor, which must be treated with caution, as it is very easy to royally screw your system with this tool. Unfortunately, for my case, this solution did not work at all - HP doesn’t have any updated drivers for my printer and each time I tried deleting the registry key as they suggest, it was magically re-created by Windows on restart. Perhaps you will have better luck… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-printer-keeps-installing-itself/422870/3 "2007-10-16T14:03:57Z")
I’ve seen this issue with various bits of hardware. In addition to what MS say, you should be sure to log in using the administrator account to properly install the device. You should also inspect the Event Log to check that the registry is being saved properly when you shut down or log out. > [@My Application Event log](#): > > Event Type: Warning > Event Source: Userenv > Event Category: None > Event ID: 1517 > Date: (deleted) > Time: (deleted) > User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM > Computer: (deleted) > Description: > Windows saved user (computername)(accountname) registry while an application or service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the user’s registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is no longer in use. > > This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-printer-keeps-installing-itself/422870/4 "2007-10-16T16:08:13Z")
[QUOTE=Governor Quinn] I own an HP Officejet J5780 printer, which I’ve used for a little under two months. Over the last few days, I’ve had a problem with the printer, in which my computer keeps claiming to have found new hardware (i.e., the printer), and installing it, usually in connection to a claim to have found a new USB port. That it already has this does not seem to register. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? (If it matters, I am a user of Windows XP) [/QUOTE] Have you tried a different USB cable? Might also want to try stripping the USB drivers and reloading from a fresh copy from the mobo manufacturer.