A Dell A920 Printer is connected to my old laptop running XP. I am using
another laptop running vista. When I try to use the printer on the XP via
the vista computer I am unsuccessful. I have tried reading through the
forums and this is what I've done so far.
1. Updated both drivers on both computers.
2. Tested the printer out on both computers via usb (and worked)
3. Set up a Local Port on the Vista machine and then changed it to
\\computername\printername.
4. Have both computers in the same workgroup and can share files/media with
no problem.
5. Turned off all Security related programs except windows defender and
enabled printer sharing.
6. Pinged each computer with good results.

It seems to all work right up until the point where I try to print and then
get a message saying "communication not available". I've very baffled.

Here is what the event log says:

EventID 54

[ Qualifiers] 49152

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

Don't know what that means, but hopefully someone else does! Please help...

whose popping the "communication not available" dialog?

Is event 54 a printing event or network related?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"B Whit" B wrote in message
...
A Dell A920 Printer is connected to my old laptop running XP. I am using
another laptop running vista. When I try to use the printer on the XP via
the vista computer I am unsuccessful. I have tried reading through the
forums and this is what I've done so far.
1. Updated both drivers on both computers.
2. Tested the printer out on both computers via usb (and worked)
3. Set up a Local Port on the Vista machine and then changed it to
\\computername\printername.
4. Have both computers in the same workgroup and can share files/media
with
no problem.
5. Turned off all Security related programs except windows defender and
enabled printer sharing.
6. Pinged each computer with good results.

It seems to all work right up until the point where I try to print and
then
get a message saying "communication not available". I've very baffled.

Here is what the event log says:

EventID 54

[ Qualifiers] 49152

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

Don't know what that means, but hopefully someone else does! Please
help...

Ok, I think I was jumping the gun on the event error. I just tried printing
again and found that the event 54 error did not show up, so that must have
been something else. However, now that I read the pop up closer here is what
it says exactly.

BriansComputer - Peer-to-Peer

Communication Not Available

The printer cannot communicate with the computer.

Try these solutions:
-Ensure the printer is powered on
-Disconnect and reconnect the printer's power cable.
-Disconnect and reconnect the USB cable.
-Check your Firewall settings to ensure printer communication is not blocked
-Restart your computer.

Now of course, I have tried all these steps, some of them several times.
Still no luck. It looks as though the dell printer is the one popping up the
error (just guessing from the way the pop-up error looks, very similiar to
the printer's preference and setup pages). Hope that helps!

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:

whose popping the "communication not available" dialog?

Is event 54 a printing event or network related?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"B Whit" B wrote in message
...
A Dell A920 Printer is connected to my old laptop running XP. I am using
another laptop running vista. When I try to use the printer on the XP via
the vista computer I am unsuccessful. I have tried reading through the
forums and this is what I've done so far.
1. Updated both drivers on both computers.
2. Tested the printer out on both computers via usb (and worked)
3. Set up a Local Port on the Vista machine and then changed it to
\\computername\printername.
4. Have both computers in the same workgroup and can share files/media
with
no problem.
5. Turned off all Security related programs except windows defender and
enabled printer sharing.
6. Pinged each computer with good results.

It seems to all work right up until the point where I try to print and
then
get a message saying "communication not available". I've very baffled.

Here is what the event log says:

EventID 54

[ Qualifiers] 49152

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

Don't know what that means, but hopefully someone else does! Please
help...

See if you can disable bidirectional on the printer properties Ports tab.

It sounds like the Dell device is attempting to communicate locally (due to
the \\remote\share ) Local Port.

You would need to ask Dell if the software can't be disabled using one of
the printer settings.



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"B Whit" wrote in message
...
Ok, I think I was jumping the gun on the event error. I just tried
printing
again and found that the event 54 error did not show up, so that must have
been something else. However, now that I read the pop up closer here is
what
it says exactly.

BriansComputer - Peer-to-Peer

Communication Not Available

The printer cannot communicate with the computer.

Try these solutions:
-Ensure the printer is powered on
-Disconnect and reconnect the printer's power cable.
-Disconnect and reconnect the USB cable.
-Check your Firewall settings to ensure printer communication is not
blocked
-Restart your computer.

Now of course, I have tried all these steps, some of them several times.
Still no luck. It looks as though the dell printer is the one popping up
the
error (just guessing from the way the pop-up error looks, very similiar to
the printer's preference and setup pages). Hope that helps!

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:

whose popping the "communication not available" dialog?

Is event 54 a printing event or network related?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

"B Whit" B wrote in message
...
A Dell A920 Printer is connected to my old laptop running XP. I am
using
another laptop running vista. When I try to use the printer on the XP
via
the vista computer I am unsuccessful. I have tried reading through the
forums and this is what I've done so far.
1. Updated both drivers on both computers.
2. Tested the printer out on both computers via usb (and worked)
3. Set up a Local Port on the Vista machine and then changed it to
\\computername\printername.
4. Have both computers in the same workgroup and can share files/media
with
no problem.
5. Turned off all Security related programs except windows defender
and
enabled printer sharing.
6. Pinged each computer with good results.

It seems to all work right up until the point where I try to print and
then
get a message saying "communication not available". I've very baffled.

Here is what the event log says:

EventID 54

[ Qualifiers] 49152

Level 2

Task 0

Keywords 0x80000000000000

Don't know what that means, but hopefully someone else does! Please
help...