Another thing you might try is to install the printer drivers directly from
the LexMark CD. (I'm assuming you have one. If not down load from the
LexMark site and burn to a CD?)
"Martin Healy" wrote in message
...
I am running a small workgroup network where a Windows 98 desktop
machine and a Windows XP laptop machine are connected to a DSL router
that has a built-in or integrated switch. The windows 98 machine is
providing two main resources: A shared folder and a shared printer. The
printer
is directly connected to the Windows 98 machine. In other words the
printer
is
connected locally to the Windows 98 machine. The Windows 98 machine has a
private IP address of 192.168.1.1 /24 and the XP laptop has a IP address
of
192.168.1.2 /24. The default gateway on both machines is 192.168.1.254
/24.
I can access the Internet from both machines. Furthermore, I can access
the
shared folder on the Windows 98 machine from my Windows XP laptop.
However,
my problem is that I cannot connect to the printer attached to the Windows
98
machine from my Windows XP machine.
I have carried out the following steps on my Windows XP laptop in order to
connect to this network printer:
1. Selected Printer and Faxes from the XP startup menu.
2. Clicked Add Printer
3. In the subsequent Add Printer Wizard, I selected the option: "A network
printer
or a printer attached to another computer.
4. Then I choosed the Browse option and clicked Next.
5. From here I was successfully able to browse to the printer by clicking
Workgroup
under Microsoft Windows Network, then double clicking the name of the
remote
Windows 98 machine and then clicking the name of the printer.
6. After completing this step 5, the network queue name or UNC of the
printer was displayed in the box above as: Printer\\R9X3Q8\LEXMARK. Then I
clicked Next. Please note that R9X3Q8 represents the name of the Windows
98
machine and LEXMARK represents the share name of the printer attached to
this
machine.
7. Next the Software License Agreement page appeared telling me to click
Yes
to accept the agreement in order to install the Lexmark Printer drivers.
I
accepted it and clicked Yes.
8. Then the following message was displayed: "To complete setup of this
printer, please restart Windows after Add Printer installation has
completed". I click OK in this message box.
9. Then this horrible error message appeared: "Windows cannot connect to
the
printer. Either the printer name was typed incorrectly or the specified
printer has lost its connection to the server".
After failing to connect to this printer using the above method, I then
tried to connect to the printer from my XP laptop using another method, by
double clicking on the name of the Windows 98 machine in My Network Places
(i.e. the equivalent of Network Neighborhood in Windows 98). Here the
shared
folder and shared printer of the Windows 98 machine was displayed. I then
double clicked on the
Lexmark printer displayed with a pipe, and it yielded the same Software
License Agreement as mentioned in step 7 above. More importantly, it
displayed the same horrible error message as in step 9 above.
Please note, I can successfully ping the Windows 98 machine from my
Windows
XP laptop. Furthermore, I can also ping the default gateway from both
machines. As mentioned earlier, I can also access the shared folder on the
Windows 98 machine from my XP laptop. I can print locally from the Windows
98
machine but I can't print remotely from the XP machine. It is important
to
note that the File and Printer sharing service for Microsoft Networks is
also
installed on my Windows 98 machine and both check boxes are ticked in
relation to sharing my files and printer(s).
However, I want to make a very important point in relation to this
problem.
I recently reinstalled my Windows 98 machine, and when I came around to
installing the service for File and Printer sharing for Microsoft
Networks,
it requested me to insert the Windows 98 SE CD ROM. And when I clicked
OK,
it came up with the following strange message: "Version Conflict, A file
being copied is older than the file currently on your computer." "It is
recommended that you keep your existing file: File name vserver.vxd
(VSERVER
Virtual Device) Version 4.10.2224, Do you want to keep this file".
Anyway, I
clicked OK as recommended. As a result, there was no copy over of files
from
the Windows 98 CD. However, it still installed the service.
As this stage I have tried almost everything to overcome this problem of
not
being able to print or connect to the printer attached to the Windows 98
machine from my Windows XP laptop. The most annoying thing about this
matter
is that I was able to print remotely from my XP laptop in the past until
such
time I recently reinstalled my Windows 98 machine. I think the problem or
fault may hinge from the VSERVER.vxd conflict error message encountered
while
setting up the File and Printer service for Microsoft Networks. Perhaps,
I
should have clicked No and not the recommended Yes when posed with the
question of keeping the existing VSERVER.vxd. On the other side, it could
be
a fault with the printer even though I can print locally from it. The
reinstallation of Windows 98 and its drivers
along with the network driver went very smoothly. I can't think of
anything
I did that could have caused this VSERVER.vxd conflict when installing the
File & Printer service. Please note that the VSERVER conflict message
only
appears here when installing this File & Printer service for Microsoft
Networks and no where else - not even startup. The Windows 98 machine is
running very well apart from this print server issue of not allowing the
XP
laptop to printer from its printer. By the way, the primary network login
for the Windows 98 machine in Network Properties is set at Windows login.
This was the setting used in the past as well when I was able to print
remotely from the XP laptop. I also tried changing the primary login to
the
Client for Microsoft Networks in desperation but it yielded the same
network
printing issue. Anyway, I do realise that the Microsoft client is more
used
in a domain network.
To summarise, I can access the shared folder on the Windows 98 machine
from
my Windows XP laptop but I can't access the shared printer on the Windows
98
machine from my Windows XP laptop. As you can gather from the long
description of this problem, being able to print remotely from my XP
laptop
means alot to me as I am a DSL Internet subscriber. Please note that the
Windows 98 machine is always switched on when attempting to connect
remotely
to the printer. Likewise, the printer is switched on. Please note also,
I'm
not attempting to print remotely over the Internet as the Windows 98 and
XP
laptop are in the same location and in the same workgroup network in my
house. The Windows XP firewall does not make any difference either to
this
problem as I was able to print from my XP laptop in the past when this
firewall was enabled. I think the VSERVER.VXD conflict may have caused
this
problem or some other installation setting on my Windows 98 machine.
Alternatively, there might be a small chance that some critical security
Windows update or patch in either XP or 98 could have jeopardised the
print
sharing feature in Windows 98. I know for a fact from the printer error
message described in step 9 above did not arise from an incorrectly typed
printer name path as I browsed correctly to the right sharename and path.
Finally, my apologies for the long painful description but I had to cover
every angle in relation to this problem in order to assist peole reading
this
to diagnose the problem and possibly resolve it. I included this post in
the
Windows 98 rather than XP because I think the problem hinges from a
configuration in the 98 machine. Just to note also, I'm running Windows
98
SE and XP professional operating systems.
Anyway, I would really appreciate if somebody could suggest any possible
resolutions to this problem as I would like to be able to print again
remotely from my XP laptop via the Windows 98 machine connected to the
printer.
Thanks,
Martin Healy
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