Windows Vista and Lexmark Optra E310

Factual Questions
1

I bought a new computer with Windows Vista yesterday, and have an old Lexmark laser printer which, until yesterday, worked fine.

It took me about five minutes on theweb to discover that Lexmark are not intending to release Vista-compatible drivers for the Optra E310.

It took me another two minutes to discover here that apparently the HP Laserjet 4L emulates the Lexmark. There are HP divers within Vista, so I installed them.

Now the problem; every time I turn on the Lexmark I get the ‘new hardware’ window in Vista, and of course it can’t find drivers. Assuming that one does emulate the other, how do I ‘fool’ Vista into thinking that the Lexmark is the HP (or vice versa)? I tried renaming the printer, but, surprise surprise, that didn’t work!

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks

S.

2

i had the same problem, but with my webcam. it didnt have any drivers for it for vista, but i found a different driver and now it works, cept the built in mic wont work:S go figure. vista is a cruel temptress i might add:P sometimes its easy to trick it sometimes its not. if you had a different computer around the house you could probably connect the two computers togeather on the same network and just send any files you want printed to that computer. but make sure the other computer works with your printer.

3

FWIW, this is the sequence of actions that was prescribed for me by HP when I had to spoof Vista for printer drivers (from the HP page):

First, determine which driver is the one to spoof, of course – then, go through the “Add a Printer” sequence:

*Specific details may vary for your specific hardware, of course… * but the key may come in the next part, which they do NOT tell you:

When the next time you boot up it again says it found a new unsupported printer, DO NOT REATTEMPT TO LOAD A DRIVER OR MAKE VISTA RECOGNIZE THE PRINTER. Hit “cancel” to ignore that warning and then proceed to attempt to use the printer normally. If it does function normally, then, next time you boot up and get the “new printer” dialogue, check the box that says “don’t tell me this any more again” or however it says there. That’s what worked for me – the system THINKS there’s an HP already installed to that port, and the Lexmark’s another one being added, every time.

4

JRDelirious, that worked perfectly, thank you very much. I’d asked it to print a test page when I reinstalled the drivers, and nothing happened. The moment I pressed apply on changing the port from printer port to USB the test page came out and it’s worked fine ever since.

Thanks again!

5

You’re very welcome, glad to have helped.