Does the amount of memory on a computer affect the ability of the printer to work? -

I m trying to connect a new Canon printer to an old HP Pentium computer. All was okay until the last step. Even though there isn t enough memory to support DSL, can the ports themselves still be activated?

The problem your having could be one of three things. The first is your computer may not have the right printer files need to run it correctly. You can check by going to Canons web sit and getting the exact update for that make and model. Secondly, your computers internal buss speed, that is how fast info travels, could be lower then what is needed to run printer info to the printer. And lastly your computer could be just be too old to run new equipment.

It would help it you said how much memory you have. Are you connecting with USB? parallel port? using XP? 98?

Memory on a pc can be RAM or Harddrive space, what you provided is the latter, which is not so important fact in whether a printer can work with the pc. For a pc to work with a printer, it has to meet its system requirement, as most advance printer now have huge software, and complex algorithms, so it requires pc to be as advance to work together, harddrive space provide the space for the software to install and run, while the RAM on pc is require for day to day operations. To see if your printer require a better pc, go to their site/manual and check the spec. if your pc is below the prerequisite level, you probably have to upgrade it or buy a new pc, sound crazy, but its life.

ram dose help as when you are spooling a file you use a fair bit of ram, depends on what you are printing. i was using a laptop sending large graphics over a network, i doubled the ram and it did speed up the printing process.

In theory, it can. A computer has to have a certain amount of memory to perform even the simplest of functions. But if you can t print, then you probably really need to defrag, or get a bigger hard drive.