I have a PC (a Fujitsu Siemens with a CW-35L main board, running MS
Windows ME) that is connected to a HP Deskjet 5550 printer via a
parallel port (LPT1) on the main board.  Every time I power on the PC,
the printer gets some weird signal from the PC that makes the printer
load a sheet of paper (without actually printing anything on it).  If
the printer is turned on when I turn on the PC, this happens
instantly.  If I turn on the printer at a later time, the problem
occurs immediately after the printer is turned on.

This is annoying, as I have to remove the paper (by pressing the "feed
sheet" button) and replace it in the paper compartment every time I
have turned on the PC.

Please show me a way of eliminating this problem.  Connecting the printer
via a USB port is not an acceptable solution.  I think the best way of
solving this would be to find some way to "clear" the printing buffer
when Windows loads.

I have tried to tweak the computer's BIOS settings, this
has been unsuccessful.

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Clarification of Question by blazius-ga on 15 Jan 2004 00:26 PST

I have found a solution to the problem myself - se comments below.

Here's a newsgroup post that describes a similar problem and some
suggested solutions:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&th=38bf8866fb5e41af&rnum=5

This link is included in one of the newsgroup posts:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/multifunction/support_doc/bpu00323.html

The link is no longer functional, but here is an archived copy of it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20001205054700/http://www.hp.com/cposupport/multifunction/support_doc/bpu00323.html

Another thread from a newsgroup:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&th=aff2aad2da4feb3b&rnum=4

This newsgroup post might also be of interest:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&selm=7a1lh5%24d5f%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com

Hello, Pink, and thanks for the useful links!

Unfortunately, I do not believe that my problem is related to the
software in my computer.  The unwanted feeding of paper occurs the
moment the PC is powered on, before any part of the OS has started
loading.  I believe the problem is caused by  the PC's parallel port
emitting "noise" the moment the PC powers up.  As the problem did not
occur when another printer was attached via the same port, I believe
that the HP 5550 is also to blame.

In my question, I stated that exchanging to use a USB cable would not
be an option (as all my PC's USB ports are taken).  I have now found
out that I can swap my printer and an external storage device - both
can use either a parallel cable or a USB cable.  I tried this, and the
problem is gone.  I had to reconfigure the two devices, but that was
easy enough.  It is possible that this swap might affect the transfer
rate between the computer and the storage device, I'll have to try it
for a few days.

Again, thanks for your help!  If there were a way of rating comments,
I'd give you *****.  :-)