I just adore new technology, especially when it can save old technology.
Over a week ago, a lightning strike to the nearby electrical/cable/phone whatever took out my Linksys WIFI, cable modem and caused my laptop to quiver in its sockets. Everything was unplugged, but it seems that the surge came through anyway.
With everything else going on, my printer stopped working. Actually, our old HP5p (purchased in 1995) was still working, I just couldn’t get the laptop to send a signal to the printer. It would keep telling me that the printing failed. I tried replacing the cable with three different cables, but no good. So I went to Office Depot and bought a USB Printer Adapter and bingo, it works.
I got the Belkin USB Printer Adapter which as a parallel printer connection on one end and USB on the other end. Plugged them in and turned on the printer and WindowsXP found it without fuss, drivers, or installations. Wham, I can print again! Awesome.
So the problem is the laptop. Something must have happened with the printer port. I don’t understand because the printer was turned off and the laptop was disconnected from the power. The WIFI and cable modem were unplugged. I have two surge protectors on the laptop and one on everything else. That’s okay, too. Very strange. Maybe it was its “time”. The laptop is just over a year old. Go figure. Time to call Gateway and see if I can get a replacement part for the printer port, or just skip it and go USB.
Ain’t it sweet when new tech solves what could be a very expensive fix! I love it!