More fun with legacy devices - Star TSP100 Receipt Printer

These little printers have served us very well, and even better ours connect via USB.  Over the past two years I have started to upgrade the PCs that use these printers to Windows 7 and the installation CD only goes up to Windows XP.  Star Micronics still supports and produces this printer line, so newer drivers exist, and I went ahead and downloaded the most recent version of the drivers at that time (5.1 or 5.2).

This worked fantastic when tested.  Only one problem, after a handful of prints (you know, some point after I was done testing), it would simply fail to print and the job queue would fill.  If the printer was powered off, then turned back on it would resume printing.  So I contacted Star Micronics help and got the following answer.
"You need to downgrade the software to version 4.  Turn the printer off and go into control panel and programs and features.  Also close everything else out.  Uninstall the tsp100 setup.  Go into devices and printers and make sure the driver is gone from the list.  Also highlight any printer and choose print server properties at the top and click drivers and make sure there is no tsp100 listed there either.

Go into the c drive and program files and remove anything that says star micronics and then restart the copmputer.  Use the link below and click tsp100 drivers and download the 64 bit option and save to the desktop.  Unzip the folder and run the installer.  Then connect the printer to a different usb port and power on and windows will detect and install."
And like that the problem was fixed.

So fast forward to approximately now.  Drivers are now at 5.3 and compatible through Windows 8, so we thought maybe the updated drivers would have fixed whatever caused the issue with the earlier release.  If you are also thinking this but have yet to install anything, stop now.

1. Uninstall any and all drivers for the printer.  If you are unfamiliar with uninstalling software and hardware go to Control Panel, then Programs, then Uninstall a Program.  Select the program in question from the list (TSP100 Setup Version 5.3.0) and hit Uninstall.  You may have to restart your computer.
2. Download futurePRNT V4.0 from Star Micronics Support Database.
3. Extract the folder tsp100iiu_v4_0_0 to where ever is convenient
4a. In the tsp100 folder select Autorun and go through the installation
 OR
4b. In the tsp100 folder go into Windows, then Installer, and run setup.
5. First connect, then power on the printer.  Allow the computer to process the new device.
6. If for some reason the printer registers as an "Unspecified" in Printers and Devices, right click and choose Troubleshoot.  The first option should be to install drivers which should fix the problem (you do not need to set the printer as default.


Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 1, 2014 at 6:10 PM

    Thank you for the post it was very helpful. In the event that someone finds this blog like I did, it might also be a helpful tip to know to disable internet connection when plugging the printer in so that the newer version of the driver does not accidentally get installed from Windows Update. In our case, we found that the newer 5.0 version of the driver continued to get installed even after installing the 4.0 driver. The culprit it would appear was Windows looking to Windows Update for the driver. Disabling the internet and manually picking the driver from the extracted 4.0 folder after the printer comes up "Unspecified" seemed to solve the issue and allow the 4.0 driver to install.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TMarch 4, 2014 at 12:46 AM

      Interesting. I didn't encounter that but very good to know to look out for it. Thanks for you addition. I'm thinking someone will find this blog b/c this post and the one on dealing with barcode scanners and PS/2 to USB adapters are the ones that people visit the most. So hopefully that helps out.

      Delete
  2. UnknownMarch 17, 2015 at 10:39 PM

    Oh thank goodness. I can usually tell a driver issue when I see one, but I wanted to go all "Office Space" on this little printer...

    ReplyDelete

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