Printer Not Showing Up in Devices and Printers

BlueDog888 · 03 Mar 2014

Hi Guys,

Have noticed others have had this issue but haven't found the answer yet - hence trying with my own thread.

PC has Core i7 950 3.1 Ghz X58A-UD3R mobo, Win 7 home premium 64 bit. Printer is Brother HL-2240D mono laser, connected to PC through USB. The printer software loaded normally and messaged 'device ready for use' or words to that effect. Drivers are up to date. OK....the printer works normally for most stuff: emails, word docs, Adobe etc, but will not print webpages. I have to copy text from the webpage and dump it into Word or notepad to copy it.

I thought I might need to do something in Control Panel/devices and Printers to sort out the problem; however when I select D & P all I get is a blank pane. Also, no printer shows up in Device Manager.

I tried a different Brother HL-2240 with the same result. Also, tried my printer on a friend's computer running Win 7 Professional and the printer appears in D & P and will print pages directly from the web.

Have contacted Brother support, but they ran out of ideas saying it's probably a Win 7 problem. So now I'm hoping you guys can suggest a solution. The two issues (unable to print from web and no-show in D & P) may or may not be related but hey, it's worth a try to get the device to at least show up in the right place.

Layback Bear · 03 Mar 2014

Welcome to our forum BlueDog888.
I'm not sure what a D&P is.
Can you print this page we are posting on at this time by just going to top of page and select File/Print?

BlueDog888 · 03 Mar 2014

Hi Layback Bear, thanks for your help.

My apologies; D&P = devices and printers (I was a bit lazy there).

I assume you are referring to File/Print on the Firefox menu toolbar? Doing so just places it as a cued document in the printer status pane. However if I copy by highlighting the text and paste the text in Word it will print OK from there.

Layback Bear · 03 Mar 2014

Nothing at all shows up in Devices and Printers or just not the printer?
My printer doesn't show up in Device Manager for what ever reason.

You could do this tutorial by Brink. It might help and can't hurt.

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Edit:

Look under Imaging devices in Device Manager.
Make sure the printer is hooked up and turned on.
If it is there right click on it and select Update Driver.
You will find a choice to go online looking for new driver and looking in computer for new driver.
Also use a usb 2.0 port not a usb 3.0

BlueDog888 · 04 Mar 2014

Thanks Layback Bear,

Have installed a Canoscan Lide 600F scanner, but that doesn't show up in Devices and Printers either.

Carried out Brink's tutorial. Result: "Windows resource protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log". Unfortunately I am not sufficiently computer-savvy to understand what this means or implies.

Re Device Manager not showing the printer; I checked another Win 7/Brother HL-2240 combo and found it doesn't list it either. My system doesn't show Imaging devices so I couldn't follow your last procedure.

Layback Bear · 04 Mar 2014

Could you post the logs of sfc /scannow as per tutorial.
This problems needs to be taken care of first. We must have Windows 7 System Files to be correct.
You post the logs and I will request the proper members to take a look at them.

BlueDog888 · 04 Mar 2014

My apologies Layback Bear, I missed the tutorial step requiring repeat of the scan. Have done so and now the system is clear with no integrity violations.

Layback Bear · 04 Mar 2014

Make sure you reboot again.
Are you still having printer problems?
Can you see the printer in Devices and Printers?
Can you see the printer in Device Manager?

Slartybart · 04 Mar 2014

Clear or complete any pending print jobs from all printers

Disconnect all USB printers

edit: Enter the following in a Windows Explorer address bar

%WINDIR% is an environment variable that resolves to C:\Windows... the Percent signs are important.

%WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers

Delete all files in the printer spool folder

Download and unzip DriveTools: v 0.8.1
You'll want to launch DriveCleanup from the x64 folder after extracting all files (unzipping)
This is a handy utility that cleans up ghost USB entries in Device Manager (devices not present)

Since you disconnected the USB printers, these will also be considered ghost entries and will reinstall the when re-connected

Then, in the Start menu search box, type:

Services.msc

Press enter to launch Services

Scroll down to and select / highlight Print Spooler
Make sure that the Status is started and the Startup Type is Automatic (set it to Automatic if it is another type)

In the upper left area of the Services window, click Stop the Service
Restart your machine.

Connect one printer, power on the printer, wait for the Device Ready window, and check Devices and Printers.

.

BlueDog888 · 04 Mar 2014

Hi Guys,

Layback Bear: still no joy. Neither printer nor scanner shows up in Devices and Printers.

Slartybart: thanks for your detailed input. Followed the procedure to the letter but nothing shows up.

Have also followed other leads for similar threads shown at the bottom of this page, but to no avail.

Perhaps it's time for me to accept the fact that they simply won't show no matter what I do, and be grateful that they work all the same.

Still, it would be nice to be able to print webpages.