Printer Question RE: FSX & Plan G

[JoTayhen 6]

Hi all, I hope this is the correct forum for this question. If not Admin, please move this post. I have been putting up with an old Lexmark X5150 All-in-one, ink jet printer for several years now and it is no longer supported by Lexmark as far as new Windows 7 64 bit drivers are concerned. As a result, I am unable to print either the Navlogs generated by the default FSX flight planning tool or the flight plans generated by Plan G. When I click on the "print" key offered by the FSX navlog screen nothing happens. A check of the printer que shows nothing listed. I am guessing it is not a problem linked to FSX however it might be. When I attempt to print the "print preview" screen in Plan G I get a message that states some invalid entries have been detected and so nothing gets printed there either. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and I would love to get a moderately priced ink-jet printer that works well in a 64 bit environment. I am guessing that is my problem, if you all have any suggestions please pass them on. I have gone to the Lexmark site and they offer a "minimum" driver for the Lexmark X5100 series that they claim works in a Vista 64 bit environment. I uninstalled my old print driver, installed the "minimum" driver. Same problem. I can print other, non FSX or Plan G material using both this new driver and the older driver I had previously installed but, with either one, if I try to print more than one job at once, I must literally turn off the printer and then power it back up again in order to get the second job printed. Any suggestions and/or advice would be appreciated. If you have a moderately priced ink jet printer that works well in a Windows 7 64 bit environment and you are pleased, I would love to hear from you. Thanks! John

[cmeeks 8]

Not sure whether you need color or not. Have you considered a laser printer?

[Guest jahman]

Your printer driver may not be available because it might have been replaced by a standard driver that you ought to use instead. Have you tried the "Add new hardware" option in your Control Panel? Cheers, - jahman.

[JoTayhen 6]

I haven't considered a laser printer, Corey. Not sure why - just thought they were much more expensive and I really don't have anything significant to print - just use it for recreational stuff so to speak. Just out of curiousity, what printer do you use and how well do you like it? Also, are you able to print the FSX navlogs? If you also have Plan G, are you able to print the flight plans? Thanks! John

[JoTayhen 6]

Hi Jahman! I actually had this printer years ago and was using in on a 32 bit Windows XP OS. Everything worked fine. I purchased a new computer about 2 years ago and attempted to bring the old printer along for the ride. It has proven itself bulky on the new Windows 7Home Premium 64 bit OS. When I installed the old printer on the new machine I used the "add new hardware" function and I couldn't get the "in-house" windows drivers to play nicely with the old printer. That led me to the Lexmark site for a driver that might halfway work. That's where I am today. I may not be understanding your question but I believe you are asking if I tried un-installing the printer, removing the old driver and then letting the OS through the "add hardware" feature re-install the printer using the default windows drivers. I have done that and my problem persists. Thanks for coming back to me, Jahman! John

[vgbaron 3,504]

The Brother laser printer is fast and inexpensive. Inkjet printers are the highest cost/page of any printer. If you don't require color, a laser is the way to go. Vic

[dazz 69]

Inkjet printers are the highest cost/page of any printer. If you don't require color, a laser is the way to go.

Not really if you pick the right printer with the right cartridges. And you get color too

[JoTayhen 6]

Hey Vic, I do not require color. I'll look into the Brother laser printers. I'm assuming you are not having any difficulty printing FSX and/or Plan G stuff, if you do? I appreciate the tip! John EDIT: By the way, I'm searching for compatible printers right now and I am somewhat surprised that there are not more printers that list a compatibility with the windows 7 64 bit OS. Take a look on CNET and do a search for printers that are compatible for that OS and you really do not see much.

[cmeeks 8]

I've had HP in the past, however they recently screwed a bunch of people like me who had 5-year old printers that worked like brand new by not releasing functional W7 drivers. HP has generally been king of laser printers in the past, but I swear this move was to force customers with perfectly good printers to buy new ones that are much more expensive per page. I switched to Samsung and couldn't be happier. It's every bit as reliable as my HP was and cheaper per page. I've been using a Samsung ML-2851ND for about 2 years now. My wife and I are both graduate students, we print LOTS of stuff, and the 5000 page toner cartridges (~ $85) provide pretty amazing per-page value. We've never experienced a paper jam even while printing double-sided jobs - not once. If your print load isn't quite as high as mine and you don't need automatic duplexing or a massive 5000-page toner cartridge, you might take a look at the Samsung ML-2525W. Both these printers are network enabled, so you either hook them up to your wireless router via ethernet cable, or wirelessly with the ML-2525 and you add them as a network printer from your computer. Voila - wireless printing without the need to leave another computer on! I didn't even have to install anything from the disc - windows instantly saw the printer and already had the drivers necessary to install it. Toner is pricey yes, but I've used both inkjets and laser printers and the price of ink stacks up when you have to replace it several times a year. And the speed of laser printing! It's amazing!

[vgbaron 3,504]

Hey Vic, I do not require color. I'll look into the Brother laser printers. I'm assuming you are not having any difficulty printing FSX and/or Plan G stuff, if you do? I appreciate the tip! John EDIT: By the way, I'm searching for compatible printers right now and I am somewhat surprised that there are not more printers that list a compatibility with the windows 7 64 bit OS. Take a look on CNET and do a search for printers that are compatible for that OS and you really do not see much.

I print P-G plans all the time with no issues and I run w764 also.

Not really if you pick the right printer with the right cartridges. And you get color too

Even with the new generation of inkjets and cheap cartridges - the cost per page is higher than a laser printer. Especially if you do not do much printing - the cartridge waste is high there also. Only advantage is color. Vic

[Charlatan 68]

Any Epson inkjet is what you want. Cartridges cost buttons for the compatibles

[dazz 69]

You can get ink cartridges with a much much better $ per page ratio than any laser printer

[Guest jahman]

Especially with the Epson printers that have 4 separate cartridges for your CMYK colors as opposed to HP that make you chuck (or refill) the CMY catridge just because one of the colors ran out. BTW I'm running a really old HP All-In-One DeskJet with the standard driver that ships with Vista and it works fine. Cheers, - jahman.