Hp Laserjet Will Not Print After Upgrading to Windows 7

You can get into trouble using the wrong or even not supported device drivers. I recently bought an Acer Computer for a customer and upgraded the Operating System from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Everything went well from software installation, data restore up until it came to the point of the hardware section. I installed the printer drivers for the HP LaserJet P1005 but upon reaching the point where one is told to connect the printer, I did the same but the two could not communicate.

This was even after restarting both the printer and the computer. This is the point where a technician starts sweating.

So I had to try another method and what I did was to go the option of add a printer. The printer was added successfully and it was now time to try printing a test page.

After sending the test page, the printer made the usual noise and I crossed my fingers waiting for it to pick the paper. Then silence! No error message on the printer and the computer and no printout.

I decided that after restarting everything would work. After restarting both, nothing. I was getting frustrated and worried that I could have damaged the printer unintentionally.

I had connected the USB cable while the printer was on before seeing a message saying that this could damage your printer. Checking on the printer spooler, the test page indicated that the test page was printing, but at this juncture, I knew otherwise.

Something had to be done because time was running out and the customer uses the printer a lot.

Poor me, I decided to test the printer on the old machine I had removed it from. It worked. So what? It is at that time I realized that I was grappling with a driver compatibility issue.

The drivers I had could not be used in Windows 7. Something I should have thought the first time I encountered the problem.

Immediately I went to HP support and drivers. At first, I downloaded HP LaserJet Host-based Plug and Play Basic Driver and installed. They did not work.

I went back to the site and downloaded the full feature software and drivers for the HP LaserJet P1005. I uninstalled the Windows XP drivers that I had and installed the Windows 7(32 bit) HP LaserJet P1005 full version drivers.

I crossed my fingers and waited. Within a short time, I was requested to connect the printer, I did so and the two communicated. That was it, everything would be fine. Afterwards, I printed a test page and did normal printing.

Everything was okay. I had a big sigh of relief and could manage a smile as I received my check.