You're very welcome.... I'm happy it all works now!
--
Cari (MS-MVP)
Printing & Imaging
http://www.coribright.com/windows



"Marty" wrote in message
...
Cari,

New development... Upon further research with HP (the new printer in
question is an HP inkjet), it appears that the HP print drivers supplied
for
it are problematic with wireless networks. HP suggested that a generic
print
driver for another HP printer be used instead. My colleague tried this
out
and it worked. Now the WinXP laptops can print from Office apps just
fine.

I apologize for making you spin brain cycles for something that turned out
not to be a MS-related issue (OK, that's one... ;-) ) but I do appreciate
your willingness to respond and try to resolve the issue.

Thanks!
Marty


"Marty" wrote:

Cari,

Just another tidbit of info I just remembered that may or may not be
pertinent... My colleague indicated that his current work-around is to
copy
the Word doc (or Excel spreadsheet) from the WinXP laptop to a shared
folder
on the Win98 PC. Then he launches a the corresponding application
resident
on the Win98 box and can print just fine. I don't recall what versions
of
Office are on the WinXP laptops versus the Win98 desktop, but I think
it's
Office 2003 Prof on WinXP and Office 97 on Win98.

Marty

"Marty" wrote:

Cari,

I appreciate the "bite" (byte?) on this problem. I've contacted my
colleague to check on your question -- I should have an answer for you
by
Tuesday at the latest. It was an intriguing question, however. Are
you
thinking that the old printer is still configured/registered on the
Win98 PC
and is somehow being interpreted as the "default" printer for Office
apps --
thereby sending the print jobs to Never Never Land? My understanding
is that
the old printer is no longer connected to the Win98 box, but I don't
know if
it was ever deleted. Would it help in the diagnostic process to
reconnect
the printer (if it still exists) and see if the Office apps can print
to it?

Just out of curiousity, do you have a plausible hypothesis and are just
holding your cards close to the vest, or are you grasping at straws
like I
am? (I want to believe that when you get the answer to your question,
you're
going to pull an Adrian Monk or Hercule Poirot and say "Ah ha! The
butler
did it!")

Thanks!
Marty

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

Usng File, Print (instead of hitting the print icon on the toolbar),
how
many printers do you see (or does your colleague see) in the drop
down box.
--
Cari (MS-MVP)
Printing & Imaging
http://www.coribright.com/windows



"Marty" wrote in message
...
I'm researching this problem for a colleague, so pardon if the
details are
incomplete...

Prior configuration was a Win98 SE PC operating as a print server
with a
locally attached parallel printer in a network containing wireless
laptops
running WinXP. Under this configuration, the printer was shared
and all
laptops could print to it.

New configuration is using a USB-connected printer on the Win98 PC
instead
of the parallel port-connected printer. The XP laptops can print
test
pages
and from non-Office applications (e.g., Adobe Reader) just fine.
However,
Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) won't print. The
job
never
shows up in the print queue. The printer status shows "idle"
rather than
"ready".

Office has been uninstalled/reinstalled on the XP laptops, as have
the
printer drivers. MS KB307162 begins to describe this anomaly, but
indicates
that a printer test page won't print -- this is not the case here;
the
test
page prints fine from the XP laptops, as well as non-Office
applications.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated...
Marty