Two (2) LPT-1 ports showing in Win7Pro

[JDD]

Hi!

I have two LPT-1 ports showing under Device Manager of my Win7Pro pc.

Any printer I plug into that LPT-1 port does not work.

Whats going on?

What to do?

Thanks!

 

[The Mekon]

Sounds as though you have a plug-in adapter which is providing the LPT2 and LPT3. If they're not in use, try disabling them in Device Manager. Also, have you configured the driver for your printer? Sometimes, a printer needs to be told what port to use. You say 'any printer': different printers will often require different drivers.

The Mekon.

 

[JDD]

Sounds as though you have a plug-in adapter which is providing the LPT2 and LPT3. If they're not in use, try disabling them in Device Manager. Also, have you configured the driver for your printer? Sometimes, a printer needs to be told what port to use. You say 'any printer': different printers will often require different drivers.

The Mekon.

Hi!

Thanks for your thoughts!

The motherboard of this Acer Veriton VM4630G-i7477X pc running Windows 7 Ultimate
with 32GB RAM did not have even one LPT port. I had 3 very old Okidata laser printers
that were parallel-only so I needed 3 parallel ports.

You are right: I do have a SIIG JJ-E02011-S1 CYBERPARALLEL DUAL PCIE ADAPTOR

I also have a PCI-Express Hot Parallel Port DB25 Card Chipset 2x Dual RS-232 Serial Port

So between these two cards I got the 3 LPT's I needed back in early 2014.

I have config'd printer drivers: Start > Devices and Printers > Add a printer
and searched for my Okidata models etc.

Re: "Sometimes, a printer needs to be told what port to use."

All these printers were working for years - all 3 LPT's were working just fine. I did not
have to set an IRQ or anything. I plugged in the cards, knelt and prayed, and the miracle
happened: they worked!

I don't know when it happened that LPT-1 went down because for the longest time
I wasn't using the (ancient) Okidata OL800 and two OL810's. But one day I tried to use
the LPT-1-Oki and it would not work. Swapping this printer onto LPT-2 and it worked.
So, its not the printer, its an LPT-1 port issue.

(Yes, I am aware that "different printers will often require different drivers" )

Another forum advised that I uninstall all LPT's and reboot.

Here's what that resulted in:

(sigh) now I've got 4 LPT's?? (groan)

The LPT-2 and LPT-3 printers are still working and I use them, but LPT-1 is dead.

I have no clue about LPT-4 !

I've tried uninstalling LPT-4 and rebooting: it comes back.

I tried uninstalling LPT-1 and rebooting: again, all 4 LPT's came back.

With this expanded background and new information, what do you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[The Mekon]

I suspect that Windows last looked at the LPT arrangements in your PC and said "O.K.: I'll remember those settings' at the next power up & then doesn't look again to see if things have changed in the meantime. In other words, it has got confused. (Sound familiar? ) Win_7 has a lot of 'intelligence' built-in & does all sorts of things under cover from its user. So now it isn't reporting the 'truth'. I reckon your best bet is to effectively tell Windows to 'look again' so that it resets those LPT arrangements to a 'default' state.
I believe that the best and sure-fire way of doing that is to switch the PC off; remove all the LPT cards; boot up and let Windows fully load. Windows should then find the 'new' LPT settings (i.e. none). Re-boot and check if that is indeed the case. If it isn't, then I don't know. If it is, then power down, add the all LPT cards you want to use and re-boot. Then check if Windows is telling the truth. If it is, problem solved. If it isn't, then again. I don't know.
By no means am I a 'Windows 7 guru'. So the above may be rubbish. But no harm should occur to Windows if you try the above. My above idea is simply based on experience of work on PCs with an OS prior to Win_7.

Al.