Brother MFC-4550 Plus driver not working with Vista

Any ideas on how to get the Windows Vista Home Premium(64-bit) "built in"
driver for a Brother MFC-4550 Plus to work ? I have called Brother and
they throw up their hands and say it is Microsoft who needs to resolve this
problem - Brother also says that the MFC-4550 Plus needs the "BMFC virtual
port" for this to work.

 

I'll send this to the Brother driver developer here. I take it the BMFC
port was not created when you plugged the device into the USB port.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

Thanks Alan! You are correct. The BMFC port was NOT created when I plugged
the device in - however, the Brother MFC-4550 Plus is a PARALLEL port
connection.

 

Brother sent me mail that they do not support this device on x64



From: Satoshi Matsu (Brother Japan)

Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:45 AM

To: Alan Morris

Subject: RE: Brother MFC-4550 Plus driver not working with Vista



Hi, Alan-san.

Currently, We have no release plan of multifunction MFC-4550+ driver for
Vista 64bit

because of hardware compatibility issue.

It's old device.

"BMFC" is our own solution for multifunction via parallel.

Best regards.

Satoshi Matsu



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

It is a fairly old model :-/

Similar experience upgrading Brother Software (W3.1 -> W95) for my
MFC 4500ML that used the Serial Cable for the Fax and Control
Settings
I had even paid for the upgraded Fax/Scan package :-( on W3.1
The Fax and Scanner part were Brother proprietary and I could not use
Win-Fax or others. The (upgraded version) Canadian company was
un-responsive to bugs (FAX failed when program was installed on a
drive other than C: . Found remnants of the temp files (in C: root)
from a failure). Toughy lucky on $90 software upgrade.
Everything works for my networked MFC-8820DN from Vista except the
Fax. That I can do from any W98, W2K or XP machine on my network if
not using a hard copy original.
The MFC 45series is still a good printer. Just use HP Lj 2 drivers.
Steve U

 

Thanks Steve. Are you recommending any of the HP LaserJet 2000 series of
drivers for my MFC-4550 Plus to be able to print ?

 

Thanks Alan. But why would there be a Brother MFC-4550 driver that came with
the Vista Premium 64-bit OS and why would Brother's website claim that the
driver for this printer was a "built-in" in the OS ?

 

Thanks Steve. I have now tried the HP LaserJet IIP Plus driver and it
prints, although it takes a very long time getting to the printer - I hope
this can hold out for me until as such time as MicroSoft or Brother put out a
genuine Brother driver that works for the MFC-4550 Plus on the Vista OS
(wishful thinking ?)

 

I think the driver works but it's their BFMC port software that does not
work on x64.

I bet this will install fine on an x86 Vista machine. I assume the driver
they pick is the 4550. I assume the device prints using the IIP by
selecting the LPT Port.

The driver is marked with ExcludeFromSelect. This setting hides the driver
from the list you see

"Brother MFC4550/4550J" =
MS_BRM4550.GPD,LPTENUM\_Brother_MFC_45503455,Brother_MFC4550/4550J ;
Hardware ID

[ControlFlags]
ExcludeFromSelect=LPTENUM\_Brother_MFC_45503455


Let me know if you want to attempt to install the driver software on your
x64 machine.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

Thanks Alan. Do I need to do something different ? When I first utilized
the Brother MFC4550/4550J driver a few days ago, Vista Premium would see the
printer and send my print job to the printer but it would hang - the printer
display said "Remained Data" - I tried numerous ways and times with the
Brother support folks who then concluded to me that the problem was not
theirs as it was a "built-in" driver and needed to be reported to Microsoft
and that the BMFC virtual port should be showing up.
I am willing to try anything - if it doesn't work at least now I know I can
print using the HP LJ IIP driver even though it is quite slow.