Customer Reviews

StarTech.com Value 1 Port PCI Parallel Adapter Card (PCI1P)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Use this card to add a parallel port to your computer. I needed this card to supplement my single parallel port and support two older printers on my home server. Hardware installation is simply inserting it into an empty PCI slot. Windows 2000 recognized the port on power-up after installation and it became immediately available; no driver installation or configuration to mess with.

I couldn't get this to work with Windows 7. No matter what I tried it just
wouldn't work. I had to return it. Instead I am going to convert my printer
cord to a usb plug to solve the problem using the printed with Windows 7.
On Amazon it says this port card will work with Windows 7, but when the
package arrived it didn't say anything about working with Windows 7.

Installed a couple of these in a pair of new Dell Vostro 200s. Running XP Pro with service pak 3 and IE 7.0. Seem to work fine with our older DOS programs that are very inflexible about where they will send output.

Installation was a little tricky. Came with an install disk marked version 6.2 but the subdirectories on the disk dont match the install book that came with the board. After a little experimentation I found the best way to install was to put in the board and attach the printer. Turn on PC and Cancel out of auto detect and go to Control Panel - Add hardware. When the install driver screen comes up, go to search specific location and tell it d:\io\pci io\whql driver for 2k_xp_2003. It will install and activate the port.

When installed it will be set to lpt3 so go to Control Panel - System, and select Hardware then Device Manager. Look down the device list for ports and double click on the PCI EPP/ECP Parallel port. On the device tab that comes up go to port settings and choose - Never use interupt, and then choose - Enable PnP detection. Set the port to LPT1 if desired.

Next go to Printers and Faxes off of the Start menu and choose add printer. Select the port you used above and then choose your printer and intall as usual.

Anyway, thats what worked for me. So far so good. Good luck.

There is some conflict so that with XP it reboots the computer. I switched PCI slots same results. Too much time spent trying to make it work. It is too cheap to ask for a refund so bottom line a waste of money.

I tried a parallel to USB cord that was "guaranteed" to work with my HP 4plus printer to my new Dell Vostro. It did not, so I installed this unit and all my problems were resolved. I personally and professionally think that a parallel to parallel connection is far superior. But since the new machines do not have a parallel port it is well worth the few dollars to buy this unit. And installation was simple.

The drivers (both web page and from the CD) worked, but everytime I rebooted, my Asus PB5 Deluxe, XP SP3, blue screened when the HP 6L LaserJet (parallel) was polled. I had to use safe mode to disable driver before system would boot properly. I tried many settings. My final solution: once the driver is enabled, go to device manager, click on the Ports, then right click Parallel Port. In Properties, click Port Settings. Click on "Use any interrupt assigned to the port", don't select "Enable Legacy Plug and Play Detection". These settings worked for me.

I am an experienced IT tech, and I found this impossible to install on my customer's PC running Windows Vista 64 bit. It may work better on other versions of Windows (but I wouldn't count on it). Tech support is by email only, and they eventually replied to my extremely detailed note with a fix that involved opening the hardware device manager and updating the driver in a very specific way from a version on their web site. I had already tried downloading the newest driver from their site, but that didn't help unless you also skipped their installer and did some manual override. The drive that came on the CD with the unit didn't work at all (even though it had a specific section for Vista 64 bit). I titled the review "works, sort of" because even after applying their fix, the device manager showed an error. Despite that, the printer port did, in fact work.

Buy this only if you can't find a better option. Personally, I'll avoid this brand in the future.

I installed this card on a new customer system so that the customer could print from a DOS app. It worked but after a reboot it no longer worked. I tried everytinging and after changing one of the port settings it worked again. I showed the customer how to fix it and she is happy that she can print from her DOS app.

This PCI card does exactly what it says it does. I bought mine to connect my LaserJet4+ to my Dell which lacks a parallel port. When installed mine defaulted to LPT3, I assume to avoid conflicts with any factory ports. This card is very small and does not block airflow over a card above or below.

Worked fine. You do need the CD to install a driver and since it is a CD for many of their products it's not obvious.