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IrDA Printer won't work in Windows 98

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7 replies

by qldtechie 1 view

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My friend complains that his Canon BJC-50 printer won't work via IrDA in Windows 98 running on a Compaq Armada E500 Series Notebook.

However, it will work when Win 95 is installed to his Notebook PC, but he then lost his DVD and other Multimedia functionality.

I have suggested upgrading to Windows XP Home.

Can anyone advise me on whether this will be a good solution to his problems?

7 replies

by uch

Upgrading to WinXP is not necessary. Since the CompaQ Book has an IrDA; Win98 will support it. Thus, improper configuration is the cause, try harder & it will work.

by ann777

Upgrading to another OS is not needed for just the fact that the infrared port won't work in win98.

Essentially, he will need to go to the compaq site and make sure that the drivers are updated for win98. Then I recommend that he or you bootinto safe mode and remove the infrared drivers and then shutdown. Then power up and be ready for Win98 to recognize and have the drivers ready to install. There shouldn't be any problem. If a problem still exists.... then I'd recommend looking atdevice manager for conflicts.

Potentially you might have to uninstall the printer and remove everything from the registry as well. and then reinstall the printer for win98 as well.

by shanghai sam

No, Installing XP may or may not fix the problem and it could be incompatible or have bigger problems. Windows 95/98 should work if configured properly and with good drivers.

I believe you have either
1. IRQ or Memory Address Conflict
2. Bad(poorly written) drivers

It is most likely that the Multimedia and the IrDA share an IRQ or memory location. You may be able to fix this by manually changing the settings from the Device Manager. Some devices are not very flexible so it might be difficult.

Keep in mind that most devices can share an IRQ with 2 other devices, however sometimes they are incompatible with the particular device they are paired with. Moving either or both device(s) may fix the problem. You may also freeup an IRQ by disabling a port, internal modem, or other (non-system device that is holding an IRQ.

It is also possible that one of the drivers is the problem. It is rarely a bad idea to check for a driver update. If you are going to update drivers, I suggest downloading the new ones and then booting to safe mode and deleting all instances of each device via the device manager. When the computer reboots it will reinstall each device and give you the opportunity to install the new drivers.They might even install with compatible settings and save you some work.

If you are not familiar with the device manager and changing settings, comment back.
Good Luck !

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