Will take some time, perhaps another day, for me to refamiliarize myself
with this case and to add your new info to the mix, do a new search for
possible answers, etc. Please be patient. I won't lose you.

--

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
Dear Gary, Thanks for all your help. Sorry about the delay in
responding. I had a retreat, and then a family emergency, which has
delayed everything..

My mother board has 2 USB1 ports. I have an Adeptec pci card with 5
USB2 ports; all have worked before. The printer was connected to a USB2
port. I still haven't deleted all USB ports in Safe Mode and tried
reinstalling them.

I went to the site you mentioned, but I do not get the error messages it
shows. I also went to this site:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...me=c000164 41
I tried solution 3, but it didn't work either. I did have over 1000
files of the form hpz*.* left behind by the installation, which I
deleted before reinstalling.

I used Windows explorer to look at the CD, and the driver folders are
there with files inside them. I also tried not doing the USB connection
during installation, but waiting for the next boot. Windows told me it
had detected new hardware, named it correctly, said it was building a
driver database, and still said it couldn't find the driver. The only
other thing I tried was to look in the registry for the product ID code.
HP at one time told me to delete that key if it were there after
removal. It wasn't. After installation the key was PID_c202. HP's web
site tells me the key should be PID_c102. I don't know if that matters,
and I did not try to edit it. The HP help desk gave me a key for the
wrong printer entirely.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Clicked Send too soon.

Here's the link:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...dlc=en&lang=en

TinyURL=http://tinyurl.com/k3qmg

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message news:...
Never mind, I decided to go back to the beginning and review your
case. Is
this the problem you're having? Read it through, OK? There is a
special
section for Win98.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message news:...
My *personal* preference would be to remove ALL of the USB stuff
(in
Safe
Mode) and then restart to reinstall. I wouldn't feel sure that
things
were
configured properly. Devices that are dependent upon other devices
(USB
hub
dependent on USB controller, peripheral dependent on USB hub, or,
drive
dependent on controller), it's best to reinstall the "child"
device(s)
after
the "parent" device. This is in case the configuration of the
parent
device
was changed, which often requires a change in the configuration of
the
child.

Just exactly what is the topology of your USB? By that I mean
exactly
what
hardware do you have on the system? How many, if any, USB ports
are
onboard
(part of the motherboard, not a plugged in card?) Vice-versa, how
many
are
removable cards? Are some only USB1, with your USB2 added on,
probably as a card? I ask all this because it might be possible to
do
some
extra testing to narrow down the problem. Like, have you tried the
printer
in a USB2 port?


--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your prompt reply, Gary. I hope this is not an
annoying
duplicate.
Yes, I did boot to safe mode to look at the device manager.When
you
say
delete all USB items and devices, do you include host
controllers? Do
I
need to do that from safe mode as well? There was also a USB2
device,
which showed only my PDA connection that works. Do I include
that,
too.
If I delete everything, that includes my DSL modem, which is
connected
to a USB port rather than an ethernet card. I sure hope it
reinstalls.

Thanks again.
Don Eagle


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary S. Terhune"
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win98.printing
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 9:56 PM
Subject: USB driver problem with Win98SE


I'd not bother to delete the ENUM key or any part thereof
unless
it's
the
whole thing. The primary reason for doing so in the first
place is
that
certain items can't be removed in Device manager -- they can
only be
gotten
rid of (and thus reinstalled) by deleting them in the
Registry. What
I
*would* do is to delete *all* USB items and any devices
connected to
USB,
then reboot and let Windows reinstall (remember to not connect
the
printer
at this time.)

More importantly: Have you taken a look at Device Manager in
Safe
Mode, as I
suggested? Honestly, this is an important step in
trouble-shooting
this kind
of issue. Garbage that gets left in the ENUM key does not show
up in
Normal
Mode, only in Safe Mode. The only devices that show up in
Normal
Mode
are
those that got loaded or detected during the current startup
(Unknown
and
Problem devices included.) Safe Mode shows ALL of the ENUM key
items.

You get to Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 or Ctrl key
during
startup, which chould cause a Startup Menu to appear.

--

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
Thanks to both you, Gary, and Mary Sauer for replying.
The link Mary posted refers me to delete 2 files that are
not on
my
computer. I think they are probably part of WinME. The link
says
Microsoft no longer supports Win98SE and refers me to HP,
which so
far
has not helped.
Gary, I did wait until prompted before connecting the USB
cable.
I
booted to safe mode and looked at the USB hardware list.
There
were
two
copies each of 2 host controllers, which I left alone.
There were
4
entries of "USB root hub" that I deleted. There were some
single
entries, but they appeared to relate to accessories that are
connected
to the computer. I did not delete them. When I rebooted to
the
normal
mode, the 4 USB root hubs were re-installed. However, the
same
error
ocurred when I tried to install the HP printer. A device
driver
could
not be found on either the hard drive or the software CD.

Thanks for trying. If you have any other suggestions,
please let
me
know. I'm not sure I have the knowledge to get the video to
install
properly if I delete the entire enum key in the registry.
What
would
happen if I delete only the USB key within ENUM?

Don Eagle

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you follow instructions precisely and wait until
prompted to
connect the
USB cable? If Windows detects the hardware before the
installer
is
ready for
it, that will frequently cause the installation to fail.
What I
would
do,
just to make sure, is to uninstall the software using
Add/Remove
Programs,
disconnect the printer, remove any mention of the printer
in
Device
Manager,
then reboot. Now run the installation again. If that fails,
then
the
suggestion to rebuild the USB tree is also a decent one and
not
likely
to
cause problems. Yes, there's always the chance, but...

Another thing you might check is Device Manager in Safe
Mode. See
if
there
aren't a lot of duplicated items or items listed that are
no
longer
part of
your system. The legitimate duplications are due to two
pieces of
hardware
actually being identical -- two hard drives of the same
type, for
instance,
or multiple USB host controllers. You can ignore those, but
it's
common in
Windows to see garbage items in Safe Mode DM that you can't
see
in
Normal
Mode, and that garbage can cause problems. Remedies include
selectively
removing duplicated items -- all of them, since you don't
know
which
is your
currently configured entry, including child devices in many
cases --
and
then restarting to have Windows redetect and reinstall. Or,
if
the
garbage
is rampant, the entire ENUM key in the Registry HKLM branch
can
be
deleted,
causing Windows to rebuild the hardware profile from
scratch. The
trickiest
part of that can be getting video to properly install.

If you want comment on the state of your Safe Mode Device
Manager,
post back
with a list of *only* the duplications, they're names and
how
many
of
each.
Only you can know what entries are obsolete, representing
devices
that
are
no longer present.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
I recently bought an HP Photosmart 8250. After disabling
my AV
and
firewall, I tried to install it. Software installs to
the
point
where I
am instructed to connect the printer to the USB port.
Message
"Building
driver information database appears". HP software says
"device
detected", "waiting for setup to finish".
However, Windows says it cannot find the driver on either
my
hard
drive
or the HP CD. Eventually, HP software says "Setup failed
to
complete".
If I let the software finish, it appears, but the
hardware
device
manager lists the printer as "Other Device" and has the
yellow
?.
The
8250 does not appear as a printer. Uninstalling and
retrying
did
not
help. I asked HP for a driver, and they referred me to a
180MB
download
which just duplicates the software on the CD, and has the
same
problem.
Now they want me to delete all USB ports from the device
manager,
and
re-detect and reinstall them. I am very reluctant to do
that
for
fear
of losing all the rest of my peripherals. One other
thing: If
I
click
on "Add a printer" or add hardware in the Control Panel,
I get
a
"RUNDLL32 has performed an illegal operation and will be
shut
down"
I
don't know if that is related to the printer installation
problem
or
not. My USB2 hub is an Adaptec card which works fine
with my
other
peripherals.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Don Eagle



"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
I'd not bother to delete the ENUM key or any part thereof
unless
it's
the
whole thing. The primary reason for doing so in the first
place is
that
certain items can't be removed in Device manager -- they can
only be
gotten
rid of (and thus reinstalled) by deleting them in the
Registry. What
I
*would* do is to delete *all* USB items and any devices
connected to
USB,
then reboot and let Windows reinstall (remember to not connect
the
printer
at this time.)

More importantly: Have you taken a look at Device Manager in
Safe
Mode, as I
suggested? Honestly, this is an important step in
trouble-shooting
this kind
of issue. Garbage that gets left in the ENUM key does not show
up in
Normal
Mode, only in Safe Mode. The only devices that show up in
Normal
Mode
are
those that got loaded or detected during the current startup
(Unknown
and
Problem devices included.) Safe Mode shows ALL of the ENUM key
items.

You get to Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 or Ctrl key
during
startup, which chould cause a Startup Menu to appear.

--

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
Thanks to both you, Gary, and Mary Sauer for replying.
The link Mary posted refers me to delete 2 files that are
not on
my
computer. I think they are probably part of WinME. The link
says
Microsoft no longer supports Win98SE and refers me to HP,
which so
far
has not helped.
Gary, I did wait until prompted before connecting the USB
cable.
I
booted to safe mode and looked at the USB hardware list.
There
were
two
copies each of 2 host controllers, which I left alone.
There were
4
entries of "USB root hub" that I deleted. There were some
single
entries, but they appeared to relate to accessories that are
connected
to the computer. I did not delete them. When I rebooted to
the
normal
mode, the 4 USB root hubs were re-installed. However, the
same
error
ocurred when I tried to install the HP printer. A device
driver
could
not be found on either the hard drive or the software CD.

Thanks for trying. If you have any other suggestions,
please let
me
know. I'm not sure I have the knowledge to get the video to
install
properly if I delete the entire enum key in the registry.
What
would
happen if I delete only the USB key within ENUM?

Don Eagle

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you follow instructions precisely and wait until
prompted to
connect the
USB cable? If Windows detects the hardware before the
installer
is
ready for
it, that will frequently cause the installation to fail.
What I
would
do,
just to make sure, is to uninstall the software using
Add/Remove
Programs,
disconnect the printer, remove any mention of the printer
in
Device
Manager,
then reboot. Now run the installation again. If that fails,
then
the
suggestion to rebuild the USB tree is also a decent one and
not
likely
to
cause problems. Yes, there's always the chance, but...

Another thing you might check is Device Manager in Safe
Mode. See
if
there
aren't a lot of duplicated items or items listed that are
no
longer
part of
your system. The legitimate duplications are due to two
pieces of
hardware
actually being identical -- two hard drives of the same
type, for
instance,
or multiple USB host controllers. You can ignore those, but
it's
common in
Windows to see garbage items in Safe Mode DM that you can't
see
in
Normal
Mode, and that garbage can cause problems. Remedies include
selectively
removing duplicated items -- all of them, since you don't
know
which
is your
currently configured entry, including child devices in many
cases --
and
then restarting to have Windows redetect and reinstall. Or,
if
the
garbage
is rampant, the entire ENUM key in the Registry HKLM branch
can
be
deleted,
causing Windows to rebuild the hardware profile from
scratch. The
trickiest
part of that can be getting video to properly install.

If you want comment on the state of your Safe Mode Device
Manager,
post back
with a list of *only* the duplications, they're names and
how
many
of
each.
Only you can know what entries are obsolete, representing
devices
that
are
no longer present.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Don Eagle" wrote in message
...
I recently bought an HP Photosmart 8250. After disabling
my AV
and
firewall, I tried to install it. Software installs to
the
point
where I
am instructed to connect the printer to the USB port.
Message
"Building
driver information database appears". HP software says
"device
detected", "waiting for setup to finish".
However, Windows says it cannot find the driver on either
my
hard
drive
or the HP CD. Eventually, HP software says "Setup failed
to
complete".
If I let the software finish, it appears, but the
hardware
device
manager lists the printer as "Other Device" and has the
yellow
?.
The
8250 does not appear as a printer. Uninstalling and
retrying
did
not
help. I asked HP for a driver, and they referred me to a
180MB
download
which just duplicates the software on the CD, and has the
same
problem.
Now they want me to delete all USB ports from the device
manager,
and
re-detect and reinstall them. I am very reluctant to do
that
for
fear
of losing all the rest of my peripherals. One other
thing: If
I
click
on "Add a printer" or add hardware in the Control Panel,
I get
a
"RUNDLL32 has performed an illegal operation and will be
shut
down"
I
don't know if that is related to the printer installation
problem
or
not. My USB2 hub is an Adaptec card which works fine
with my
other
peripherals.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Don Eagle