# Can't connect to wireless Printer



## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Hi, 1st post so I hope it's in the right place.

I have a new Lexmark X4650 wireless all in one printer but cannot install it properly on my Vista Home Premium Acer Laptop. I have successfully installed the printer on another laptop with no problems so the printer is set up and can see my home network from there.

On the problem laptop the installer works apparently fine but the laptop won't 'see' the printer. 

The laptop is a bit old, 1.6 processor, 1gb mem, Vista home premium, AVG free, Comodo free firewall. I have configured Comodo to see the printer IP address as safe.

If I use the Vista 'add printer' option I reach the point where vista says 'installing printer' but always ends saying 'the printer installation failed. operation could not be completed, error code 0x00000643.'

I have just connected via USB and allowed windows to install the software. All went well until windows wanted Lexmark CD. I inserted the CD and it ran Lexmark setup/install which seemed to work except for the very last part - connect via wireless! Printer now works if connected via USB but I can't connect to it via wireless from this laptop yet it works for the other one. With this laptop I consistently get the same error when adding printer the printer "installation failed. operation could not be completed, error code 0x00000643."

When I run the wireless Lexmark setup utility it won't see the printer, even when I manually type in the IP. However, I can see the printer when I type the IP into my web browser so presumably the printer is properly on the network.

Any help much appreciated


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Go to Control Panel, Windows Updates and do every update there (except for languages etc) as this is a registry error fixed by several possible missing Windows updates.


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks Rich, I have automatic updates selected and just 2 hidden ones not installed - windows live essentials and office live add-in 1.4. Do you think I need to install these?


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

fryups said:


> Thanks Rich, I have automatic updates selected and just 2 hidden ones not installed - windows live essentials and office live add-in 1.4. Do you think I need to install these?


No fryups, what I saw was possible .net framework update issues and also a few others but the ones left for you will not help you. I hope you haven't run any reg cleaners on this pc, as it is a registry issue.?


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## nevarDeath (Dec 31, 2008)

I would disable your anti-virus and firewall completely, then try again. I work tech support and have quit messing with exceptions (or marking as 'safe') as my first resolution. Things don't always work right for some reason. Just disable them altogether and if that fixes the problem, then you KNOW what it is and can concentrate on your exceptions after the fact


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks to both of you. No, I haven't used reg cleaners but I do use cCleaner.

If I disable firewall and antivirus can I safely go online? I have COMODO free and AVG free. Router is Belkin 54G


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

fryups said:


> Thanks to both of you. No, I haven't used reg cleaners but I do use cCleaner.
> 
> If I disable firewall and antivirus can I safely go online? I have COMODO free and AVG free. Router is Belkin 54G


If you did not turn off the reg cleaner in ccleaner then you used a reg cleaner and we may not be able to help here then.


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## nevarDeath (Dec 31, 2008)

IMHO CCleaner is the only reg cleaner that is worth a crap. It should ask you everytime you do a registry clean if you want to make a backup before doing so, Do you always do that?

Disabling your anti-virus and firewall does leave you unprotected, but it's quite unlikely you will get anything if all you're doing is installing a printer for a short amount of time. Don't go to any websites and close any P2P or instant messenger programs while they're disabled. Just make sure to re-enable them after installation completes (if disabling them helps) or after it tells you it can't find the printer.


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Guys, you are losing me. I have not used the 'Registry' button on cCleaner and in 'advanced' have the 'prompt to backup registry issues' checked. Beyond that I'm not aware of actually deleting registry entries (knowingly). I did a scan for issues and there are pages of them but didn't do anything more. Most are associated with old removed software.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

fryups said:


> Guys, you are losing me. I have not used the 'Registry' button on cCleaner and in 'advanced' have the 'prompt to backup registry issues' checked. Beyond that I'm not aware of actually deleting registry entries (knowingly). I did a scan for issues and there are pages of them but didn't do anything more. Most are associated with old removed software.


If you don't uncheck the registry entries, you "cleaned" the registry every time you used the program, and registries not only don't need "cleaning", they usually don't survive the process.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

nevarDeath said:


> IMHO CCleaner is the only reg cleaner that is worth a crap. It should ask you everytime you do a registry clean if you want to make a backup before doing so, Do you always do that?
> 
> Disabling your anti-virus and firewall does leave you unprotected, but it's quite unlikely you will get anything if all you're doing is installing a printer for a short amount of time. Don't go to any websites and close any P2P or instant messenger programs while they're disabled. Just make sure to re-enable them after installation completes (if disabling them helps) or after it tells you it can't find the printer.


I have to disagree as before I knew the reg cleaner was in there I hosed 2 systems that I could not repair and I did not backup the registry because I did not know it was doing it, but how would you get back to use the restore if the registry was hosed and no boot was possible? Was not a problem for me as I use Acronis weekly and have hourly file and data backup, but I did not appreciate it. Besides with these huge hard drives, there is no need to clean them off anyway as most users use about 10% of availability. Sure in the days when we had 8.45 gb hard drives it was another story.


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

OK, so is there anything I can do?


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## nevarDeath (Dec 31, 2008)

fryups, I would disable all my security software for 10 minutes and see if it can find your wireless printer with that software disabled.



Rich-M said:


> I have to disagree as before I knew the reg cleaner was in there I hosed 2 systems that I could not repair and I did not backup the registry because I did not know it was doing it, but how would you get back to use the restore if the registry was hosed and no boot was possible? Was not a problem for me as I use Acronis weekly and have hourly file and data backup, but I did not appreciate it. Besides with these huge hard drives, there is no need to clean them off anyway as most users use about 10% of availability. Sure in the days when we had 8.45 gb hard drives it was another story.


I'm not 100% I follow this comment. When you use CCleaner you know what it's doing, it's very upfront. It has different parts in the program. You can just do temp file deletion or you can do Reg cleaning. Both sections have an "Analyze" button and a "Clean" button. You can see the errors it finds and not correct them (by using Analyze button and not clicking "Clean"), or even choose individual errors to fix or not. I'm at work or I would show you a screenshot. It's nopt one that just does everything for you. Andeach time you click the "Clean" button for the registry, it asks you if you want to make a backup first. Since he has never clicked the registry button, there is no way he has used it to clean the registry.

If you hosed it and couldn't boot due to a registry cleaning gone bad, there's no easy way for an end user to fix it. You need a Windows ERD disc, or bootable linux disc to restore a backup of the registry.

Also I don't know that registry cleaning actually helps anything. What I do know is Staples uses it hundreds of times a day. It's part of their PC Tune-up service done by in-store and remote techs everyday, and they don't have computers stop booting all the time because of it.

I think we might have misunderstood each other somewhere


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

A good read: *Ed Bott:* "Why I don't use registry cleaners"

Another opinion from a Microsoft MVP: Thoughts about Registry Cleaners and System Tweaking Tools


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks all - so it looks like I inadvertantly got it wrong with cCleaner, hindsight is a wonderful thing! Anyway, if I understand your advice, you reckon I should disable both firewall and antivirus, then try a reinstall? Is that best done from disc or let windows find drivers when connected with USB? In my 4 attempts so far the only complete install was via USB, leaving the printer OK via USB but not working via wireless on this computer, but fine on other one!


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## nevarDeath (Dec 31, 2008)

Yes, if I was in your shoes, here is what I would do:
Uninstall all the printer software. Should be able to go to Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. and uninstall all the lexmark stuff.

Restart your computer. This may not be necessary, but I would just to cover my bases.

Disable your firewall and antivirus

Run the installation again from the installation CD

If it goes successfully, make sure you can do a test page AND print from Notepad or Word.

Re-enable your firewall

See if you can print a test page, if not then the firewall is your problem and you should focus on making exceptions (or adding it to your safe list) until you can print

Re-enable your antivirus

Doubt that will cause a problem, but check and make sure you can print a test page again. If you can't, then check with your AV company and see how their product blocks that communication.

If this doesn't work, then it's a registry or windows update issue as stated above. It's just my personal opinion that firewall/AV software is the more likely and simplest cause to rule out before getting all messy with updates and registry settings


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## fryups (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks, I'll try that but won't be able to report back until the weekend!


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