Hi! I hope you can help me. Please note that I have a Windows XP computer (Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 3, 32-bit). When I initially installed a Brother printer (model# MFC-J475DW) in Dec 2013, I had no problems printing documents. My problems started about 2 days ago. I got an error message after I opened a MS Word document (.doc) and clicked the Print button to print a document. The Printer "Name" field was empty. I clicked the dropdown box in that window and saw 3 options:
1 - Brother MFC-J475DW Printer
2 - Brother PC-FAX v.3.2
3 - PaperPort Image Printer
When I selected "Brother MFC-J475DW Printer," a Microsoft Word dialog box appeared, saying the following:
"The printer has not yet responded, but the Microsoft Office program may be able to proceed without printer information. Do you want to continue to wait for the printer?"
I can either click on a Yes button or a No button. Either way, I'm brought back to the Print page. When I click on the OK button to start printing, another error message appears:
"Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup. Try one or more of the following:
*Check the printer by printing a test page from Windows.
*Make sure the printer is turned on and online.
*Reinstall the printer driver."
I have a choice to click either OK or Web Help. I click the OK button to close the box, then return to the Print page. When I click on the "Find Printer..." button, the Find Printers window appears for a moment, then is replaced by this error message:
"The Directory Service is currently unavailable"
On Friday (Mar 21), when the error first occurred, I was able to print a letter in MS Word after un- and re-installing the Brother printer and its drivers. The problem reappeared the next day (Saturday). I don't want to do that every time to print a single
page, so would you please recommend a solution?
By the way, I am able to print a test page from the printer in Control Panel, and I can print from a Notepad document. Also, when I go to the Control Panel, select "Printers and Faxes," then right-click on the printer (Brother MFC-J475DW Printer),
then select the Ports page, there's a check mark next to USB001 (not LPT1 or COM1). When I click on the "Configure Port..." button, I get this error message:
"An error occurred during port configuration. This operation is not supported."
Earlier today, I got a reply from brother.com's tech support (thanks to the 1 year warranty). They said the problem is on my PC, not their printer. However, they provided links to completely uninstall the printer, then reinstall it. I did just that, but the problem persists. I'll download OpenOffice.org's Office Suite to see if I can print documents with their software instead of MS Word. Until then, I await any suggestions.
I hope this info is helpful. Thanks in advance for your help.