🚀 go-pugleaf

The solution was reinstalling windows.
Bidirectional communication works with my old 386 computer.

The lesson: don't search, just reinstall, start from zero

Thanks all for the advice.

Jef

PS the "help" from HP:
--------------------------------------------------------
Hello Jef,

Thank you for contacting Hewlett-Packard's Customer Care.

The minimum system requirements for the HP DeskJet 610C Series printers
are listed below:

Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows 98
* 486, 33 MHz (or faster) processor
* At least 8 MB of RAM
* 10-20 MB free hard-disk space

Unfortunately, the computer does not meet the necessary system
requirements for installing the driver and running the printer.


Please visit our Hewlett-Packard Customer Care web site at
http://www.hp.com/support/deskjet for additional technical and
troubleshooting information and the latest printer software updates.

Once again, thank you for contacting Hewlett-Packard's Customer Care.


NOTE:  Our advice is strictly limited to the question(s) asked and is
based on the information provided to us.  Problems and solutions may
depend on the nature of your system environment and various other
parameters that are unknown to HP; therefore, HP cannot assume any
responsibility or liability.  Please be advised that technical
information changes as new data becomes available, therefore, HP
recommends that you check back at our Customer Care web site located at
http://www.hp.com/go/support regularly for possible updates.
Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special,
incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this
information.



Original message follows:
-------------------------

Webform_Submit_Time : Mon Nov  6 10:33:23 UTC 2000
month : nov [111]
day : 03 [26]
year : 2000 [14]
serial_number : xx
operating_system : Other [1000]
other_operating_system : win 3.11
connection : parallel cable [15]
first_name : xxx
last_name : xxx
Email : x
phone_number : xxx
Country : belgium [BE]
Template : NEW_DESKJET [327]
Product_Name : HP DeskJet 640C Printer [20187]
Webform_URL : /cgi-bin/index.cgi?Template=NEW_DESKJET
Language : English [en]

problem_description : I have to install a HP640C on a 386DX/40 with
windows 3.11.
The problem when installing the driver is:
- the installation program did not find the printer on lpt1 (or the
other
parallel ports LPT1 to lpt3).
I checked the ports in windows, seem to be ok
- a second problem is that bidirectional communication is not working.
Disabling bidirectional communication does not help.
What does work:
- printing from dos with the dos  command "print autoexec.bat" for
instance.
This means that the cable is good.
- installing the printer on a P3 with win98: everything works
- there was a laser printer connected before this deskjet: worked good.

Urgent please, otherwise I have to suggest my customer an other
solution.