Problem with Dell 944 Photo All-in-One Printer on W7

[sorent]

Hi,

I have tried to install my Dell 944 Photo All-in-One USB connected Printer locally on a HP Pavilion Elite with Windows 7. It does not work. The driver installation seems to fail.
There is a compatibility statement that it should work:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/co...rinters & Scanners&sc=Multifunction&os=32-bit

I downloaded the driver from Microsoft Update Catalogue:
http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/search.aspx?q=3a684c9f-ada8-4e90-ab72-e91cc64f2f8d

I just can't figure out what's wrong. Anybody that knows ? The printer works fine when connected to my old Compaq Presario 8000 with XP.

(Before trying to connect the printer locally to the W7 PC I tried to share it from the XP PC to the W7 PC, with no success ... sharing files/folder between the XP and W7 works fine.)

 

[catilley1092]

Welcome to the forums, sorent! Printers can be a pain in the butt, as you already know. I have a Dell 720 photo printer that took me two months to find an answer for. It was meant to run on 32 bit XP and my system now is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. I found the answer to get my printer going on Microsoft Answers, on their forum. Your printer is a little newer than mine, so an answer should be somewhere. Have you tried some key search words, using the search engine of your choice? For example type "Driver for Dell 944 printer for Windows 7". That's exactly how I found my driver. Keep searching in your spare time, and don't give up. In the meantime, while awaiting an answer here, the above site may help you. That's interesting about the compatibility statement, usually it's reliable. Have you tried to run it in compatibility mode?

 

[Nibiru2012]

Go this this link at Dell, they only have a Vista 32 bit driver available for your printer. I hope you have Windows 7 32-bit installed or you may have problems.

But the Vista drivers DO work in Windows 7! I just installed a 64-bit driver for a Dell Photo 920 AIO printer this afternoon for a friend.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...bIndex=&scanSupported=False&scanConsent=False

 

[catilley1092]

That's what I had to do, was find a 64 bit driver for mine. But the Dell site didn't list one for mine, however, it was a Dell (or Lexmark) driver. Lexmark makes a lot of Dell's printers, or at that time (2004) they did anyway. The driver that was found for mine must have been made for something else and luckily, I found it.

 

[sorent]

My conclusion is that Dell 944 Photo All-in-One printer is not (yet?) compatible with W7:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...806160520C41E59DE040AC0A66E924EB&docid=362037

Neither drivers for W7 or Vista is likely to work. Is there a way to get to know any plans for developing a W7 dirver for 944 ?

 

[catilley1092]

My conclusion is that Dell 944 Photo All-in-One printer is not (yet?) compatible with W7:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...806160520C41E59DE040AC0A66E924EB&docid=362037

Neither drivers for W7 or Vista is likely to work. Is there a way to get to know any plans for developing a W7 dirver for 944 ?

You can check on Microsoft Answers to see if there is a similar post for the driver. Also, what bit version is your Windows 7 (32 or 64)? You have to get the right one for your printer to work. Sometimes it takes a while to find a driver, yours is newer than mine, so don't give up. P.S. There is a 64 bit driver that is said to work for Windows 7. Bing search "R146813" w/o the quotes, it is the very top link on the page.

 

[sorent]

I do give up. I want a working printer NOW. Ordered a new network enabled printer. I'm still interested if/when a W7 (64 bit) driver is available for 944 (makes it easier to sell it).

 

[Nibiru2012]

That's one reason why I NEVER buy anything with the DELL name on it.

 

[catilley1092]

The problem with Dell products is that they manufacture nothing themselves. They either get a company such as Lexmark to make their printers, and as far as their computers go, they are assembled with all kinds of parts from various companies. I know this, because until recently, all I ever owned were Dell laptops and printers. They do assemble good computers, but their customer service leaves a little to be desired at times. I switched to HP on my last purchase because I couldn't find the deal I wanted with Dell. So far, I haven't regretted that decision.

 

[Nibiru2012]

The problem with Dell products is that they manufacture nothing themselves. They either get a company such as Lexmark to make their printers, and as far as their computers go, they are assembled with all kinds of parts from various companies

This is basically true of ALL system builders such a HP, Acer, Lenovo, DELL, etc. Some of them MAY use their own proprietary parts, but generally they outsource everything,

It's the driver support that makes a huge difference with them. I always build my own systems because I KNOW the quality of the parts I am using. I know the reputation of the parts being used. If a person can basically change the oil in their car, they can build their own system, it really IS that easy, believe me.

If I were to purchase a built system, I would go with Lenovo or Acer before any of the others, mainly due to their quality of build and fewer problems.

Here in Austin, TX where DELL is located, very few people buy them because of ALL the problems associated with DELL. When I worked for Fry's Electronics for 4 years over 60% of the computers in the repair shop were DELL. The techs hated working on them because DELL used such low quality hardware, especially the power supplies and motherboards.

 

[catilley1092]

Their Latitude laptops are decent, I owned a total of four of them and had few problems. I still have a D610, it's an excellent second computer for when I go into the sunroom or outdoors when it's warmer. They were built for business customers and has a excellent track for reliability. The only problem that I had with them were the hard drives eventually needed replacing, but after five to six years, that's normal with a lot of them. The C640 that I had lasted for eight years before dying, the heat finally killed it.