MX870 driver misbehavior: any solutions?

[Orthoducks]

I have an MX870 printer. The printer itself is great, but the Windows driver is so badly behaved that it makes the printer very difficult to use. I'm posting to ask if anyone knows how to get it under control.

The problem is that the driver gets installed in triplicate, so I have "Canon MX870 series printer," "Canon... printer (Copy 1)," and "Canon... printer (Copy 2)." Only one of them works, and which one works is liable to change if the environment changes, for example, if the printer is detached and reattached. Then I have to play a game of find-the-real-driver before I can print again. If I guess wrong and open the Properties dialog, the dialog is disabled and can't be opened again until I reboot.

I installed the latest driver today to see if it would fix the problem. It had no effect at all.

I've lived with this for a couple of years, but I'm now detaching my laptop computer to take with me on a regular basis, and I have to play find-the-real-driver several times a week. I can't afford the time it takes. If I can't make the driver behave I'm going to have to replace the printer.

[Jason]

Hi, Orthoducks!

To have a better understanding of your issue, please let everyone know the version of Windows you are using.

 
If this is a time-sensitive matter, our US-based technical support team is standing by, ready to help via Email at http://Canon.us/SupportCF
 
Thanks!

[Orthoducks]

Windows 7 Professional.

[Patrick]

Hi Orthoducks,

Please try removing the driver using the following steps:

 1.  Turn your PIXMA MX870 off.

 2.  Click the Windows Start button.

 3.  Click on Control Panel.

 4.  Click on View devices and printers under the Hardware and Sound heading.

 5.  Right click the PIXMA MX870 and left click Remove device.

 6.  If a User Account Control message appears, type in the password, and then click Yes.

 7.  Remove all of the PIXMA MX870 from this window.

 8.  Click once on the Microsoft XPS Document Writer and then click Print server properties at the top, in the menu bar.

 9.  Click the Drivers tab.

10.  Click Change Driver Settings.

11.  If a User Account Control message appears, type in the password, and then click Yes.

12.  Choose the Canon PIXMA MX870 and then click Remove... .

13.  Choose Remove driver and driver package, and then click OK.  Follow the on-screen instructions.

14.  If there are any other PIXMA MX870s in the list, remove those as well.

15.  Close all of the open windows.

The printer driver is now uninstalled.

Please follow these steps to reinstall the driver:

 1.  Visit Canon's website at: http://usa.canon.com/support

 2.  Type PIXMA MX870 in the "Enter a Model" box and click Go.

 3.  In the Drivers & Downloads section, please click the Select button next to the MX870 series MP Driver.

 4.  Click the Download button.

 5.  If a Save dialog box appears, click Save.

 7.  Once the download is complete, open your Downloads folder.

 8.  Double click [mp68-win-mx870-1_06-ea24.exe].  Files will extract.

Follow the prompts and the installation will complete.

[Orthoducks]

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply. My time is heavily committed, and it is difficult for me to fit in unscheduled activities like solving problems of this nature.

I need to explain something that seemed superfluous when I first posted, but now is significant. I gave you the impression that I have this problem on one computer. In fact, I have it on two. One is my personal computer; the other is a laptop issued to me at work. I installed the driver on these machines over a year apart. They have nothing in common except that they both run varieties of Windows 7.

Since installing the driver on my work computer yielded exactly the same problem as installing it on my personal computer, I see no reason to expect that uninstalling and reinstalling it on either machine would produce a different result. I can't justify taking the time to do this if it will not yield either a solution or useful information.

If you can offer a plausible reason why I should hope for a different result if I uninstall and reinstall, I'll do it. Otherwise, I must ask you to try again.