Hi, thank you for bringing your question to Google Answers.
From your question it appears that this is purely an information
request, that is, you just want to know what is happening and, since
the hardware works fine, you don?t necessarily care if it gets ?fixed?
unless it is easy and safe.
After 25 years of dealing with PCs I strongly suggest that, unless
this is actually causing a problem, you leave it alone, especially
since ME doesn?t offer real mode support and the problem may not be
fixable without an upgrade to a later operating system. Fooling with a
minor problem can make your printer unusable, especially since this is
probably a driver problem and new drivers are not available for your
printer.
The most likely causes of this are:
>Driver problem
>Unsupported hardware (it may still work but not be fully supported)
>A glitch in the boot up procedure which looks for the driver before
it is installed each time.
>A bug in ME
>An incomplete initial installation of the driver or a problem which
has caused the software to think it wasn?t fully installed.
Troubleshooting the exact problem could be very expensive.
There is lots of information about this sort of problem available
either for your general enlightenment, or if you run into any problem
worse than an unnecessary error message and are willing to risk
disabling your no longer supported printer.
Also, of course, it may stop working on its own and you will have to
troubleshoot the problem then ? it might seem as if you should tackle
the problem before that happens but it may not be possible to fix it
until it actually breaks (if it ever does.)
To learn more you should start with Microsoft?s ?How to Install New
Hardware in Windows? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/142984/en-us
Just in case you didn?t complete every step or are considering
re-installing the printer from scratch (I recommend against this if
the printer still works). This site includes coverage for ME but there
is also a full Windows ME support section
(http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=ph;en-us;6519) and paid support
for ME has been extended through June 30,2006, although free support
ended at the beginning of 2003
(http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean1.) Going through paid support
could cost more than buying a new printer and operating system.
There are 20 Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and how-to features on
problems which might be related to your question but without a lot
more detail I can?t be certain,
http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?query=found+new+hardware&x=0&y=0&catalog=LCID%3D1033&spid=6519&qryWt=&mode=r&cus=False
If you are actually going to try and fix the minor glitch which is
generating this error message you should start with the ?Explanation
of Error Codes Generated by Device Manager?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/125174/en-us
But the message you indicated that you are seeing is not actually an
error code so this applies only after you experience problems with
your printer.
There is a good article on troubleshooting device drivers at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296060/en-us.
Now for something really hard core ? Microsoft has created a Verifier
tool for device drivers ? but they didn?t tell anyone about it because
this program will intentionally cause the Blue Screen of Death and is
intended for advanced users only.
You can find an introductory article on this tool at:
http://appserv.gcn.com/24_25/mccormick/36788-1.html?topic=mccormick
I can?t be certain it is installed on an ME system because it really
isn?t fully supported so Microsoft doesn?t necessarily say where all
it may be installed and I don?t run ME.
It is easy enough to find out if you have it, just go to the DOS
command line and enter ?verifier? without the quotes, and you should
see the Driver Verifier Manager. Be extremely cautious about how you
deploy this tool, it can cause a lot of damage.
What you want to do first is check the Display Information About the
Currently Verified Drivers box.
Before doing anything please read ?How to Use Driver Verifier to
Troubleshoot Windows Drivers,?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;244617
If you don?t find it on your ME system, it may still be compatible and
you can copy the utility from some friend?s XP or Windows 2000 system.
This isn?t explicitly supported for ME but that doesn?t mean it won?t
run.
Be warned, this is really for geeks and may not do anything helpful
even if your problem is due to an old device driver, but your question
did make it appear that you were mostly seeking more in depth
knowledge of Windows problems.
Other solutions would involve a thorough understanding of The Registry
where you may be able locate some information which would tell you why
your system is re-installing the driver every time you reboot, but
editing The Registry is also very dangerous and could easily disable
your system. Also, it may take an expert to interpret all the
possible problems which can be seen in The Registry.
Since you state that the printer does work, I hope this is the sort of
information you were seeking. There are several possible causes of
your problem and again I urge you not to do anything about it as long
as everything is working well. You have both an old printer and an old
operating system with limited and expensive support so the chances of
getting them to work together correctly again once you loose the
proper configuration is small at best.
Google Search Term
"Xerox" "All in One" printer "driver"
also
drivers
You may be able to find an updated driver for your exact printer model at:
www.driverguide.com
www.windrivers.com
www.winfiles.com
www.drivershq.com
www.driversplanet.com
or some other sites.
See also:
?How to use Registry Editor to identify an unknown PCI device?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298837/en-us
And there is a registry tool available at:
www.RegistryFix.com
Good luck. |
