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SteveGruch

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Scanning not working on OfficeJet G Series all-in-one printer on HP Jetdirect 300X print server on Windows XP/2000

This is a long story but I will make it short. I have had this printer for 3 years and the drivers and support have been nothing but headaches and time sinks. If you search on the net you will see countless problems in this regard.

The latest release by HP that was advertised to fix all the issues was Version 3.10 released in 2003. Subsequently a patch was released for XP:  'hpcmpmgrFix.exe'  2004-07-28 Version: 2.1.5

This printer was advertised as a networkable printer yet all the issues arise when it is networked. HP Support doesn't help - they try and con you into thinking their software works but it doesn't.

I have agonized with these issues on several computers and even on fresh installs of Windows XP all with similar results. I have a good background in printing and networks and understand how a printer needs to be installed. Yes, anti-spyware and anti-virus were off during installation.

Once you install from the CD your problems begin. The software crashes and doesn't print. You would think HP would at least get this much right. I worked around this by deletiing and reinstalling the TCP/IP port. Then it will print. However, it will not scan - TWAIN errors. I traced the problem file down to 'hposts07.exe' - this file causes miscommunication and crashes on XP.

In the past with the older drivers I was able to scan, however the older drivers would act up frequently and peg CPU usage at 100% - particularly on Win 2000 - even when no printing or scanning was initiated.

My question is, has anyone found a way to get this printer to scan on a network? If so, how did you get it to work? To scan, I typically would do a File > Import in Photoshop. HP places two files in the Windows\Twain_32 folder for scanning.

Avatar of pysches
pysches
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check out the web server of the jetdirect box, it should have an option for scanning via the web interface,....

this only has limited functionality though and will only scan one page at a time, if you dont have the scan option make sure the firmware on the jetdirect is up to date....

should be around 08.49 or so, if not upgrade it..

any further questions please ask..
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SteveGruch

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Pysches,

Thanks for your tip - I didn't realize the JetDirect's web page would allow scanning. One page at a time would be sufficient for my needs.

Well, I tried it and the results are erratic. When I can get to the web page, the scanning works fine. But getting to the web page is an issue.

I have the latest Java2 (JRE) 1.4.2_05 installed and I updated the JetDirect firmware to 08.49. I tried it in both IE6 and FireFox web browsers. Ping, Tracert and Arp all show the JetDirect responds fine. Tracert shows the workstations go directly to the JetDirect 300X and not indirectly through the DSL router. Telnet or printing out the JetDirect configuration page, both show all settings are okay. All locations are connected through a 100 mbps switch. However, even though the network appears to work flawlessly in all other respects, the JetDirect embedded web page has issues.

When the embedded web page does load, it takes a minimum of 90 seconds to load - very slow. When it doesn't load, there are java errors, or it just stalls, and I need to re-hit the refresh button several times. It seems to load more consistently, if I have the Java Console open and press '5' to start live logging - don't understand why this would help. It seems to load with less attempts on my servers (Win 2003 and 2000) than on my Win XP Pros or Win 98SE. I've tried varying the idle timeout setting to no avail. On average, it takes 10 minutes of monkeying with it each time it to get the web page to load for scanning - not practical.

PS, the older HP software works fine on Win 98SE, but most of my computers are Win XP Pro (being spoiled on XP, can't stand to work on the flaky Win 98/ME). The new HP software made for XP/2000 doesn't work. If I install the HP driver manually without all the other HP software, I can print - however, I can't scan. (Of course, it won't scan anyway, even if I install all the HP software). My objective is to be able to scan from the XP workstations.

Any ideas on how to get the embedded web page to work better or how to get the HP XP Software to work on XP? I have been all throgh HP's site and nothing there helps.

Steve
THE EWS itself will not work with firefox browser...

it only has minimal functionality...

try this software download..

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?product=61562&os=228&lang=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&softwareitem=oj-6108-3

and choose a network install..

OfficeJet G Series Driver Version 3.10 Installation Instructions for network connections using a HP Jetdirect box follow:
Download the web package driver file.
Connect the G series to the Jetdirect box and the Jetdirect box to the network.
Temporarily disable antivirus software.
Exit any running applications, games, utilities, and multimedia applications.
Uninstall the previous version of the HP driver software if any is installed. The Windows XP mini-drivers do not need to be removed.
Run the downloaded .exe file. Follow the screen directions presented during the software installation until you reach the dialog titled "Setup Type" .
Select the option for "Networked".
The HP network installation wizard will start. Follow the instructions in the dialogs that follow to search for the HP officejet G series on the network and install the drivers.
The desktop icon will be created, and the HP system tray icon will appear in the lower-right corner of the taskbar. The HP Fax Setup Wizard or Electronic Registration will appear depending the features of your HP OfficeJet G Series device.
Complete the HP Fax Setup Wizard, if it appears.
Complete the Electronic Registration, if you have not already done it once.
When the "Congratulations!" dialog appears, select [Skip Tour], since it is not included in the web driver package.
Upon completing the software installation, enable your antivirus software.
View the Readme file or the Onscreen User Guide for further information related to the operation of this driver software. If you chose the default installation location then the Readme.html file will be located in the path:
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\AiO\hp officejet G series\Help


this should work....

Pysches,

Thank you for your response. The link you listed has the same version of software that I have on my HP CD, i.e v3.10. Is it any different from the CD version? The weblink seems to indicate it is the same.

I have been through these same steps you listed, over and over on several XP computers. It gets as far as step 8 but does not present the fax wizard. It says to restart. After restart, the icon in the system tray (this starts 'hpoavn07.exe')  has a yellow explaination mark and says "hp officejet disconnected" indicated a lack of communication. However, I can ping or tracert to the IP address of the JetDirect from that same computer.

There is one thing I thought of that I have not tried. My several computers are all connected through a 100mbps unmanaged automatic 16-port switch. Yes, I have tried reseting the switch and tried different ports.  Perhaps the OfficeJet software can't talk through a switch and needs a hub instead. Of course, that does not explain why the HP software works on my Win 98se computer that is on the same network going through the same switch. Nor does it explain why if I install the printer drive manually, I can print (but of course can not scan). Perhaps the XP scanning software does not like switches, but the Win 98se scanning software is okay with switches.

Just to rule this out, I will temporarily try substituting a hub for the switch. However, I need to image my system first. I do not want to install all that HP software with it's hundreds of registry entries on my computer without a recent backup I can restore back to. Once the HP software gets on your computer, it is sometimes impossible to remove, even with uninstallers HP provides on their website. The HP Software has ruined several of my systems in the past and it took me days to get back to where I was before the installation. "System Restore" didn't help.

I also have a DSL router connected to that switch for my Internet connection. When I do a tracert, the XP computers each go directly to the JetDirect, ie it does not indicate the signal is going through the router, which is what I would expect.. Some articles on the HP website indicate that going through a DSL router might cause communication issues.

Some other HP articles also suggested running the XP HP software in "Windows 2000 compatiblity mode" on XP. I tried that but that didn't work either.

Steve
I have reached the conclusion that despite HP's claims, the OfficeJet G series will not work as a network multifunctional printer (Print, Scan, Fax) on Win XP or Win 2000. It does however work on Win 98. If you manually install the drivers on Win XP and Win 2000, it will print on a network, but you can not get it to scan or fax.

If the printer is attached locally to one computer, my guess is that it will work. However, it is advertized to work on a network, but it does not, except as I've indicated.

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This from the US HP site:

<<Unable to start driver for Hpoinw07.exe error message

This message normally occurs after upgrading to Windows XP without uninstalling the all-in-one software. Uninstall the HP all-in-one software and then install the drivers for Windows XP. >>

Any help?
None of these computers were upgraded. They were all fresh installations of Windows XP.
Tried installing the NETBEUI protocol on the XP machines?  If that's the problem then it would explain why the Win98 machines can talk to it and XP can't - it's native to Win98.  You can go to the properties of your NIC and add a protocol, then click "Have Disc" and install it from the WinXP CD: it's in the ValueAdd->MSFT->NET->Netbeui folder if I remember correctly.  I'd be interested to know if that fixes it - I've got a very similar problem, although not with the same printer.  Unfortunately all my Win98 machines have processors too puny to install an OfficeJet 7100 so I can't test my theory!
Installing NETBEUI sounds like it would be worth trying. At present, however, I do not have the time to risk needing to reimage my computer if it doesn't work. The uninstall on the HP software does not work and hundreds of entries are placed in the registry and the software does get in the way of other processes. A few months back I put many days into this printer issue without success. Perhaps down the road, when I have some more time, I can try this. Thanks for your input.
No worries!  Good luck...
I just got the same error message you got and after extensive testing here are my results - hope they help.

1) The HP software won't install properly on anything with a processor <1GHz.

2) It won't install properly unless NETBEUI is installed.

3) Even with a more powerful processor the software takes an INORDINATELY long time to finish installing after the reboot it wants to do at the "end" of the network install process (it's by no means really the end).  A 3GHz machine took 5 minutes to boot!  I thought one machine had frozen and interrupted the process by forcing it to shutdown, resulting in the symptoms you note above and a long swearing trawl through the registry to remove the thing before trying again.

Now I've got to persuade my clients they need to upgrade 5 PCs if they want to scan over the network - fingers crossed!

Cheers,
Matt
Matt,

I checked my Win 98 2nd edition. I only have TCP/IP installed and not NETBEUI, and it is 667 MHz with 768 MB RAM with ACPI Bios. The HP OfficeJet G85 software works and I can scan into Photoshop without any issues over the network. [The network issues arise when trying to install the latest HP software on Win XP or Win 2000]. Boot time is normal - ie it is not slow.

An alternative to upgrading 5 PCs would be to partition and install Win 98 2nd Edition in addition to the OS they are currently using. Then when they want to scan, they could boot to the Win 98 partition. You could setup a third FAT partition to transfer the scanned data between the two operating systems, or have them save to a network share.

The absolute best partitioning software I have ever used is BootIT-NG http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html 

In fact, I have a "Quick Start Guide" on their website that eliminates the steep learning curve at  http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/support.html
With this Quick Guide, you can partition and setup the boot menu in less than 15 minutes.

I prefer to use two separate boot partitions rather than dual-boot. Dual-boot has too many headaches.

Another option would be to use vmware to install a virtual win 98 2nd ed OS inside their current OS and scan from there. That would allow them to scan without re-booting. I have not yet tried this with vmware. If you do try it, let me know how it works out for HP scanning. http://www.vmware.com/ 

Either of these options would be much less expensive then buying new PCs.

It is unfortunate that HP didn't do their job in creating usable software for Win 2000, Win XP, hence the work arounds. [And the HP execs are probably scratching their heads wondering why they are currently having finanical problems? Duh!]

Enjoy,
SteveG
Hmm... interesting.  Thanks for all that (BootIT-NG looks just the thing to have in the old toolbox.... VMware's amazing but a bit pricey for the amount I'll use it!).  I'll get back to you if I discover anything new.

Must be nice to get paid 6-figure salaries to stand around a boardroom scratching your head, eh?

Cheers,
Matt
Good news! I finally found a solution to the scanning problem on the Win XP networked HP Officejet G85 printer on a JetDirect 300X printer server.

Previously, using the JetDirect's web page to attempt scanning an image [accessed by typing the printers IP address in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox] would not work - it was extremely slow, gave numerous Java errors and crashed. However, that was with XPsp1 with the Sun Java2(jre)1.42_05  which was the latest version at the time. With today's current version XPsp1 or XPsp2 with Sun Java2(jre)1.5.0_02-b09, the web page now works fine and scans can be easily obtained. By clicking  the radio button for "Custom Settings" resolution and color depth can be set for the scan. I found the best results by using TIFF format [JPEG and PDF are the other options] then later editing the scan as needed in Photoshop. My conclusion is this did not work previously due to bugs in Java which have apparently been fixed in this latest version.

However, on one Win XP computer, Java errors still prevented scanning. The errors in the Java Console were all in the category, "java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError." I eventually figured out that this meant it could not find the < QTJava.zip > file which belongs in the < c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\lin\ext > folder.

To fix this, I did the following:
1) Using the  "Add or Remove Programs" Control Panel, I deleted all previous versions of Java that were installed except the current version < Sun Java2(jre)1.5.0_02 >
2) Next, in the < C:\Program Files\Java > folder, I moved the < QTJava.zip > file from the old remaining < jre1.4.2_05\lin\ext > folder, to the current < jre1.5.0_02\lin\ext > folder, then deleted all folders in the < C:\Program Files\Java > folder except for the current < jre1.5.0_02 > folder.
After these two steps, the Web scanning worked fine on this computer.

In conclusion, to get the JetDirect 300X networked HP Officejet G85 to print and scan, do the following:
1) Install the latest JetDirect firmware on the JetDirect 300X - my version is H.08.49.
2) Do not use the crappy HP Software [HP CD v3.10 plus "A140609_ENU_XP_NW.exe" patch]. It doesn't work and it will cause problems on your Win XP computer - requiring reinstallation of Win XP.
3) To print, use "Printers and Faxes" > "Add Printer" > "Local Printer" > "Create a new port" > "Standard TCP/IP port" > type in IP address of printer > select which of the 3 parrallel ports the printer is connect to on the JetDiret 300x > select the "HP OfficeJet g series" software > give the printer a name > Select 'Do not share this printer' > Yes, print a test page > Finished.
4) Note: in (3) above, you need to use "Local Printer" even though this is a network printer. This is a bit of awkwardness in the printer wizard. "Local Printer" allows you to create a new TCP/IP port which is what you need to print to the networked printer.
5) To scan, install the latest version of Sun Java from http://www.java.com into your web browser. Then in the address bar of your web browser, type the IP address of your networked OfficeJet printer. It will take about 20 seconds for the JetDirect web page to load. Then, press the "Scan" button on the web page. It will take another 20 seconds for the scan page to load, then click "Custom Settings" and select your Resolution and Color Depth, then select the Image Format [ TIFF recommended ], then click the "Scan Preview" button. Once the preview comes up, use your mouse to draw a rectangle around the area of the scan preview you want, then click the "Download Scanned Image" button to get your scan. It will either save to a file or open in a Quicktime browser window depending on how you have your computer configured. If in a Quicktime window, you can save it to a file by right-clicking the resulting image and selecting "Save as Source."
6) Note that using the web page to scan only allows you to scan one page at a time - ie the document handler on the Officejet G85 is not accessible through the web page. This is not a problem for me, but may be a limitation for some applications.
7) If step (5) does not work, see how to fix it in the section above by moving the < QTJava.zip > file.
8) I tested this procedure on Win XPsp1, Win XPsp2, Win2000 server and Win2003 server on a 100 mbps network. The processors were Pentium 3 and ranged 667-933 MHZ. RAM ranged from 512 mb to 1 GB.  It works fine on all of these systems.

In conclusion, it has taken about 4 years, but finally the HP OfficeJet G85 will work over a TCP/IP network using the steps I outlined above.
Avatar of Asta Cu
Top Notch information, which can help others.  Fantastic...  !

Keeping older versions of JRE appears only of value for interfaces written specifically for those versions, IMHO; which doesn't appear to be your case.  http://java.com/en/download/faq/5000070300.xml  is informative as well.

Best of luck to you, and again, thank you for adding value here to help others.
Wahay!  Nice one Steve.  That deserves some points, surely - can you give yourself points in this crazy place?
Thanks. I have received a lot of help over the years online from some great people and like to pay back and pass along the good will when I am able.

Steve
This is a zero point question,so I assume you've been refunded, which is "right on" ////  so will ask a Moderator to PAQ/close this where it can help others.  The system does not provide for a way for Asker to receive expert points for questions they ask.  Again, SteveGruch, thank you for adding great value here.  It can, indeed, help others.  It's been my pleasure reading this and working in collaboration mode with all.
Best wishes,
":0) Asta
I found fix.

With Windows XP SP2 the J3263A Jetdirect 300x will not work with firmware H.08.49
, the latest version, installed. I am not sure about the versions in between but H.08.40 will work with the downloaded G95 software/drivers. The firmware can be downgraded using v3.04 of the download manager.
After I fixed the firmware in my 300x it installed, first time after two days of trying.
see     http://www.campinghounds.com/links/Networking%20HP%20G85%20Printer/index.php
Fantastic!