My printer is driving me crazy again

[Q]

The printer is physically attached to the rig with xp pro on it. It works just fine with that machine. I have sharing enabled on both machines ( the other one is 98)It will not print from the 98 machine. When I try to print from the 98 machine it says "problem communicating with the printer" then when I cancel print, it says "printing started" and the progress bar fills up, but it doesn't print....it even says "printing complete!" like it's all proud of itself when it gets done NOT printing. WTF??

Both machines are connected to a router. XP doesn't like the router and wants to use it's own firewall. I heard bad bad things about xps firewall and xp is not in charge, so the router stays. Any ideas?

 

[HomeLAN]

On the 98 machine, delete the printer in question, then reinstall it as a network printer.

For the network path, type:

//name of XP computer/share name of printer

It may or may not want the driver disk for the printer you're trying to share. Try to print a test page, and let us know if it works.

 

[Q]

I deleted it and reininstalled it yesterday, making sure it was installed as a network printer. I just gave it the path you specified and it still does the same thing

 

[Gonzo]

do they see & "talk" to each other, except for the printer?

 

[Q]

no, they haven't been speaking....xp is all pissed off about the router

 

[Gonzo]

Start with Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/View...uncheck the last entry "use Simple File Sharing". Apply.

Now, create a new user, with Admin abilities, of EXACTLY the same name & password on both computers...

restart both, using your new names/password & you should be able to talk to each other & use your printer

 

[Q]

Okie dokie. I'll do that first thing in the morning.

 

[Gonzo]

well?