Weird PC boot up problem with Printer switched on

joker77

Hey - need a little advice here on what you think could be causing this strange behaviour!

The PC in question is a Dell Dimension 2400 (I think that's the model anyway!), and the printer is a HP laserjet 1100.

The normal behaviour should be:
PC is switched on
Screen goes to the Dell logo screen
Screen goes black for a couple of seconds
Screen goes to black Window's boot up screen
Screen goes to the blue Window's XP initial logon.

This is all fine if the printer is switched off. What happens when the printer is on is:
PC is switched on
Screen goes to the Dell logo screen
Screen goes black with a cursor flashing up the top left....
And just hangs there......
If you switch the printer off, the normal boot up process resumes.

I've been working with computers for 10 years, admittedly in software rather than hardware, but I've never seen behaviour like this!!!

The PC had a lot of viruses on it when I was asked to have a look, I'm not sure that if these caused this, or if I should remove the printer completely, uninstall all the printer software, and then reinstall it myself.

Any ideas or suggestions?

jcoote

is it a usb printer cos it sounds like a conflict

joker77

Hey jcoote - cheers for the quick reply!

I'm not sure if the printer is USB....

Would this kind of conflict cause Windows not to boot up?

zoro

It's possible that the PC is looking for a USB storage device to boot from. Similar to how it checks for floppy disks in the floppy drive to see if there's a bootable disk there, and CD's too.

Check your BIOS to see it's boot order. If there's an "External" or "USB" option there, change the priority so that it's lower than the HD.

That's only a possibility though, and it depends on your model of printer too.

jcoote

it has something to do with usb methinks...i was thinkin a conflict between the printer and another device...maybe a flat screen monitor,mouse or keyboard...or it could be a boot order problem as zoro suggested...try switching the port of the printer if it is usb..what make/model is the printer

zoro

jcoote wrote:

what make/model is the printer

I'm going to guess that it's one of those new ones that you can load a memory card into to print from, as well as doing so from the PC via USB.

If it is one like that, then the boot order is probably what it is, as those printers allow the memory devices to show up as drives in windows, and it's likely to respond like a drive during boot up too.

If it's not, then *shrug*

Standard Toaster

I had the same issue when I bought a USB optical mouse for a old Gateway here. Same simtoms you describe there....flashing cursor on boot.
Had to use a PS2->USB adapter. Found an updated BIOS on their US site and that fixed the problem.

Now, a quick look on Dell's site:

Dimension 2400

Fixes and Enhancements
The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A02 to create A03:

1. Updated CPU microcode to support latest CPUs.
2. Fixed possible issue with the auto-power-on WEEKDAYS function of Setup.
3. Improved password handling in the BIOS update program.
4. Improved USB booting operations for USB devices.
5. Correct key interpretation in the Boot Sequence menu.
6. Fixed IRQ routing table for Linux issues involving NICs.
7. Insure a successful PXE boot results in diag LED pattern GGGG instead of
GGGY.
8. Fixed issue in CDROM boot support that shows up when booting an ISOLINUX
distribution on a system with only RAID HDs.
9. Updated code to support additional Option ROMs.
10. Fixed IRQ allocation for devices behind 2 PCI bridges.

Might be worth a look. Ensure it's the correct BIOS

joker77

zoro wrote:

It's possible that the PC is looking for a USB storage device to boot from. Similar to how it checks for floppy disks in the floppy drive to see if there's a bootable disk there, and CD's too.

Check your BIOS to see it's boot order. If there's an "External" or "USB" option there, change the priority so that it's lower than the HD.

That's only a possibility though, and it depends on your model of printer too.

You stalking me zoro? Just kidding!

No seriously - cheers for the advice, I'll go into the BIOS and ensure that the HD is a higher priority than external.

On the printer itself, I just had a look on HP and 1100 doesn't look like the one I saw last night, so must be confused about that. I'll check it out to see if it's as you describe.

Cheers The_Edge - I'll look into this BIOS problem as well!

zoro

joker77 wrote:

You stalking me zoro? Just kidding!

No seriously - cheers for the advice, I'll go into the BIOS and ensure that the HD is a higher priority than external.

On the printer itself, I just had a look on HP and 1100 doesn't look like the one I saw last night, so must be confused about that. I'll check it out to see if it's as you describe.

Cheers The_Edge - I'll look into this BIOS problem as well!

Googlage <-- Is yours on that page?

And yeah, I'm stalking you

Tbh, the USB boot thingy was just a guess, and it was the first thing that popped to mind. Best of luck

joker77

Cheers zoro, but no it doesn't look to be a HP 1100. I thought that was what I saw installed on the PC under the list of installed programs, but as I say it's a mates computer so I'm not what the story is.

It's a black and grey HP, sits on the desk but loads from a tray not the top, a laser-jet

I'll double-check with him the model number

LFCFan

I've had pretty much the same problem. I have a self built PC and an Epson Sylus Photo 915 USB printer. When it's plugged in and connected, the PC stops for about a minute just before the login screen comes up. If I plug out the USB connection to the printer, the login screen comes up straight away. This is all long after windows has already been loading so I can't see it being a boot problem. I reckon it does have something to do with the Card reader on the printer though as I've been having all sorts of drivers problems with it and it's never really worked right.

jcoote

try reinatalling the printer drivers or updating them

LFCFan

In my case I have done this on many occassions and I've had the same problem on 3 different machines now