Question Can I upgrade this old printer?

[hmunster123]

This is a past post from a few years ago: I have a Dell 3130cn Color Laser Printer but it's not being recognized anymore on my HP laptop running Windows 7. I put in new toner but that is not the problem because it still won't work. I uninstalled the driver from Dell and reinstalled the same driver but printer still does not work. The printer does turn on and I don't see any error messages on the display, I also restored the defaults on the printer.

I have loaded the software a few times, and it will work for a few days then the computer no longer recognizes the printer, I've tried it on 32 and 64 bit laptops.

My new question is this: Can I refurbish it? It's a nice color printer full of toner. Would I have to swap out the motherboard, how much trouble would it be to upgrade, if it's possible? Thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

How is the printer connected?

USB? Network (wired, wireless), shared by another computer?

The described problem ("works for a few days") suggests to me that the connectivity is being lost for reasons unknown.

Are any other computers using the printer? Do those computers stop recognizing the printer?

Does the loss of recognition correspond with some change in application use?

Take a look in Reliabiltiy Monitor. There may be some error codes, warnings, or even information events being captured just before or at the time of the printer's disappearance.

More information needed.

 

[hmunster123]

No one is sharing it, just me. It's wired, but I've also used it with a wireless connection, it still has problems. How do I locate the reliability monitor? Thanks. The loss doesn't seem to have anything to do with applications.

 

[Ralston18]

Type "Reliability Monitor" (without quotes) in the search box usually located in the lower left screen corner.

That brings up "View Reliability History".

Look for any entries about the printer or printing. Errors, warnings, or informational?

You can also use Event Viewer in much the same way.

However, Reliability Monitor/History is much more end user friendly and presents a timeline format that can reveal patterns.

Event Viewer requires more time and effort to navigate and understand.

How To - How to use Windows 10 Event Viewer | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

No need to rush through it - just take your time and read carefully.

 

[hmunster123]

Sorry, forgot about this thread. Printer is still sitting in my workplace, gathering dust. I'm about to install AnitX on my laptop, not sure if it will let me download older printer drivers. I would love to be able to use this printer, I never did look at the reliability, I will.

 

[BFG-9000]

Well at least it's not a host-based printer, and understands Postscript 3 and PCL 5e/6 printer languages.

While it did ship with Linux drivers 17 years ago, I'm not sure if there are any newer drivers available, plus the OEM Lexmark got absorbed into Xerox who infamously never update their drivers. But then I am using similarly old Win XP-64 drivers for many printers in Windows 10 and 11 and they work fine. I always choose the most minimalist driver-only package without all the junk software or system tray icon, and even then they usually have more features than the Print Class Drivers such as Universal Print Driver.

Even though without the software the printer can't do things like nag you to order toner, you should still be able to send a print job to the printer. It's not a scanner so doesn't require 2-way communication.

 

[hmunster123]

This is all I see, I know they used to have a lot more drivers but I guess they were removed

https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/dell-3130cn/drivers

 

[BFG-9000]

They used to link to instructions for installing to vintage Linux like these but perhaps they felt they were too outdated Things haven't changed that much in the Debian underlying antiX, but it has also added a GUI system-config-printer tool which can be called up from terminal or Control Center. It should easily find your printer on the network so give it a try and maybe it will have a universal driver that will work. The printer is probably too old for driverless printing.