My cousin recently got ahold of me, saying that he was having trouble with his Brother FAX-2840 fax machine/laser printer. It still worked fine as a fax machine or copy machine, but he couldn’t print to it from his Windows 10 computer. He has a business where he needs to be able to print forms and receipts for customers, so it’s a big deal when he can’t print. This particular printer only has a USB port for PC connectivity. It’s connected directly to his computer. I went through all the basic troubleshooting with him:
“Did you try unplugging and replugging it? Did you try a different USB port on the computer? Maybe the computer needs a reboot?” None of that fixed it. I stopped by after work to take a look, hoping that it was just some simple glitch that I could resolve.
When I arrived, it quickly became apparent that this was more than a glitch. Whenever I plugged the printer into his computer, a message popped up saying: The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.
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