Drivers.biz feels for you! Lately, people have been having a lot of  troubles with certain brands. HP printer drivers (Hewlet Packard, or simply HP drivers), and Canon printer drivers (or, as some people call them, Cannon printer drivers!) have been suffering from a lot of mistakes.

Printer drivers are rather complex, and cause many problems, partly because they are poorly tested by manufacturers.

Common Errors

  • Solid black boxes are seen everywhere on the page
  • The final character on a line is not there
  • Nonsensical letterings are printed *~%^$#!
  • Grid lines are lost
  • A program crashes when printing, and Windows sends an error in a file ending with .DRV

Need a solution?

You can see that printer driver problems can be difficult to figure out, since they come in many guises. There are two likely solutions:

  1. Update your driver
  2. Use a driver for a dissimilar printer (cheat)

Bring your driver up to date

The best solution to a printer driver problem is to get a better and newer driver. If they have created one, you can get it from the supplier of the printer driver–normally the manufacturer. The major printer manufacturers are shown below, with links to their printer drivers.

Utilize a different driver

If you can’t get an updated driver, then you can mostly do a “work-around” for your problem by installing a different printer driver. Your current programs will likely still work with the alternate driver.

There are three methods:

  • Choose a compatible alternate printer
  • Install the driver for the “new” printer
  • Print to the “new” printer

Select a compatible printer

Samsung white laser printer

flickr.com/sanspoint

Printer manufacturers tend to replace their printers gradually over time. If you print to a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 5, while pretending it is a Laserjet 4, your file should print correctly. So, if you find an older printer from the same manufacturer,  it will often be compatible with the one you actually have.

Install the driver for the “new” printer

  1. Click on “My Computer”
  2. Double-click on “Printers”
  3. Check that your printer is on port LPT1, by right clicking on your current printer. Choose “Properties.” Click the tab marked “Details.” Look for the box titled “Print to the following port.” Usually this will say LPT1. Otherwise, write it down. Click “Cancel” to close the window
  4. Double-click on “Add Printer” and follow the instructions
  5. Enter the port number
  6. Choose “Yes” to making it your default printer
  7. Close, and admire the new printer icon in the “Printers” directory!

Print to the “new” printer

Try printing a file. If it prints, then you are all set! If not, then try checking your settings. If nothing is amiss, you could try another alternate printer.  If not, you must find an updated driver from the manufacturer–use the Drivers.biz.

Top Printer Manufacturers

Apple Printers

Apollo Printers

Brother Printers

Canon Printers

Compaq Printers

Epson Printers

Fujitsu Printers

Hewlett-Packard Printers

IBM Printers

Lexmark Printers

Minolta Printers

NEC Printers

Okidata Printers

Panasonic Printers

Ricoh Printers

Samsung Printers

Sharp Printers

Texas Instruments Printers

Xerox Printers

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Filed under: Device Drivers