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HP OfficeJet All-in-One 7413 won't print in Vista
I have a HP OfficeJet All-in-One 7413 connected to a home network with two Dell notebooks on the network. One Dell is running Vista Business and the other XP 2. The Dell with XP2 does not have any problems printing to the HP which leads me to belief that the printer is in 100% working condition. However if I print from the VISTA Dell I only get half a page at a time after which the prinout will restart. In the printer screen it will say that there was an error printing and restart going into this continious loop of restarts until it eventually manages to print or my patience run out! If I send the print job directly to the printer this solved the problem for a while but I see that lately this does not help either. On HP's instruction I have reinstalled the HP software for the printer with no difference whatsoever. I am starting to think that maybe there is a problem with the spooler on the Vista Dell or some other mysterious reason that not even HP could provide me with that must somehow relate to Vista. Pleae help!!
OfficeJet printers are notorious for not playing nice on Vista if they're installed via the "Add Printer" method.
Making matters worse, the 7413 is one of the printers known for inexplicably losing proper communications with Vista machines, mid-print-job... just as you're describing. There's a patch, released just last month (April 2009) which fixes it... but that patch won't work unless you have the latest, greatest version of the full and completely software package for the printer properly and fully installed. And therein may lie the rub. You may or may not... especially if you originally used the "Add Printer" method, and then maybe later installed the software. Doing it that way is not the same as installing the software on a computer which, up to that moment, hadn't yet been told that it was connected to the printer, and then letting the installer do all the heavy lifting.
Just to make things easier on yourself, I'd start over from scratch were I you, by doing the following...
Manually delete the 7413 (and any other devices that may have been installed with it) from Vista's list of installed printers.
Go download the REVO uninstaller at: http://www.revouninstaller.com and then install it. It's free, and it's harmless, and the darned thing, bless its freebie heart, actually works... and well. What's nice about REVO is that if you unstall using it instead of Vista's own uninstaller, and if you specify the fourth (bottom-most) of the four uinstall methods, it will hunt down all files, folders and registry entries leftover by the regular uninstaller. And you need that to happen.
After uninstall, verify on REVO's list of installed programs that nothing related to the HP 7413 printer remains installed on your computer... NOTHING. If you find anything, use REVO to uninstall it, too.
Use REGEDIT to verify that, indeed, no mention whatsoever of the HP OfficeJet 7413 or 7400 Series remains in the registry. Or, perhaps better yet, download and install the free "RegSeeker" utility at http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm and use it to search the entire registry for "OfficeJet" and "7413" or "OfficeJet 7400 Series" or "7400 series" and by golly make sure that there's no mention of them whatsoever in the registry. This part is really important. If there's a single registry entry related to the 7413 leftover, then you're not really starting over, from scratch.
And if you're willing to download another free product that's also harmelss and actually works, download and install the "Everything" search tool at http://www.voidtools.com and use it to make sure that there really are no files with the text string "OfficeJet" or "7413" or "7400 series" left anywhere on the computer.
Reboot.
Download the latest version of the full printer software (all 167 MB of it) at http://tinyurl.com/dxdkqt and then install it AS ADMINISTRATOR. When the installer asks if the printer is USB or LAN connected, specify LAN, and then let it find the printer and establish proper communications therewith. Again, HP OfficeJets are notorious for not installing properly on VIsta if one uses the "Add Printer" method, yet they tend to install just fine if the installer for the full printer software package is allowed to go out and find the printer and establish communications therewith... so let the installer do its thing. But even once you do, you don't be done yet...
Before trying-out the printer, download this http://tinyurl.com/cdgvch and install it AS ADMINISTRATOR.
Reboot.
Then try the printer and see what happens.
Making matters worse, the 7413 is one of the printers known for inexplicably losing proper communications with Vista machines, mid-print-job... just as you're describing. There's a patch, released just last month (April 2009) which fixes it... but that patch won't work unless you have the latest, greatest version of the full and completely software package for the printer properly and fully installed. And therein may lie the rub. You may or may not... especially if you originally used the "Add Printer" method, and then maybe later installed the software. Doing it that way is not the same as installing the software on a computer which, up to that moment, hadn't yet been told that it was connected to the printer, and then letting the installer do all the heavy lifting.
Just to make things easier on yourself, I'd start over from scratch were I you, by doing the following...
Manually delete the 7413 (and any other devices that may have been installed with it) from Vista's list of installed printers.
Go download the REVO uninstaller at: http://www.revouninstaller.com and then install it. It's free, and it's harmless, and the darned thing, bless its freebie heart, actually works... and well. What's nice about REVO is that if you unstall using it instead of Vista's own uninstaller, and if you specify the fourth (bottom-most) of the four uinstall methods, it will hunt down all files, folders and registry entries leftover by the regular uninstaller. And you need that to happen.
After uninstall, verify on REVO's list of installed programs that nothing related to the HP 7413 printer remains installed on your computer... NOTHING. If you find anything, use REVO to uninstall it, too.
Use REGEDIT to verify that, indeed, no mention whatsoever of the HP OfficeJet 7413 or 7400 Series remains in the registry. Or, perhaps better yet, download and install the free "RegSeeker" utility at http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm and use it to search the entire registry for "OfficeJet" and "7413" or "OfficeJet 7400 Series" or "7400 series" and by golly make sure that there's no mention of them whatsoever in the registry. This part is really important. If there's a single registry entry related to the 7413 leftover, then you're not really starting over, from scratch.
And if you're willing to download another free product that's also harmelss and actually works, download and install the "Everything" search tool at http://www.voidtools.com and use it to make sure that there really are no files with the text string "OfficeJet" or "7413" or "7400 series" left anywhere on the computer.
Reboot.
Download the latest version of the full printer software (all 167 MB of it) at http://tinyurl.com/dxdkqt and then install it AS ADMINISTRATOR. When the installer asks if the printer is USB or LAN connected, specify LAN, and then let it find the printer and establish proper communications therewith. Again, HP OfficeJets are notorious for not installing properly on VIsta if one uses the "Add Printer" method, yet they tend to install just fine if the installer for the full printer software package is allowed to go out and find the printer and establish communications therewith... so let the installer do its thing. But even once you do, you don't be done yet...
Before trying-out the printer, download this http://tinyurl.com/cdgvch and install it AS ADMINISTRATOR.
Reboot.
Then try the printer and see what happens.
Oops.
I wrote: "There's a patch, released just last month (April 2009) which fixes it... " but I meant March 2009.
Sorry.
I wrote: "There's a patch, released just last month (April 2009) which fixes it... " but I meant March 2009.
Sorry.
ehr..deselms, i don't want to upset you, but when you say :
"and if you specify the fourth (bottom-most) of the four uinstall methods, it will hunt down all files, folders and registry entries leftover by the regular uninstaller. "
why do you need to do the rest then? regseeker and regedit ? just can't follow there
"and if you specify the fourth (bottom-most) of the four uinstall methods, it will hunt down all files, folders and registry entries leftover by the regular uninstaller. "
why do you need to do the rest then? regseeker and regedit ? just can't follow there
Good question.
It's simply because REVO doesn't always catch everything. If one doesn't want to use REGEDIT or RegSeeker and a utility like "Everything," what REVO does might be good enough... it's at least better than nothing. For routine uninstalls where it might be okay if something were left behind, then REVO's *more* than enough... plenty thorough. But when one is trying to remove all traces of something, there's no substitute for manually searching through the registry, and across the hard disk, after everything else has been tried, to make triple-net sure that every last bit of it is gone.
And in the case of something like a printer that's being removed and then re-installed because of seemingly inexplicable oddities in its behavior, EVERY LAST BIT needs to be removed... and REVO can't be counted on for that in as reliable a way as is called for in a case like this.
In the end, the best uninstaller is one which takes a snapshot of the system just before the install, then takes one after, then makes note of the differences and uninstalls based on them. REVO won't do that, but it's the next best thing. For a free uninstaller that will do the snapshot, one should use ZSoft Uninstaller http://zsoft.dk/index/software_details/4 which, among freebies, has no rival when it comes to the whole snapshot method. But just as REVO won't do the snapshot, ZSoft won't do what REVO does. So I, personally, have both uninstallers. If I know there's a good chance that I'll need to uninstall something... and I want to ensure that it's uninstalled absolutely completely... I take a before-installation snapshot with ZSoft; then install; then take a post-installation snapshot. And from that moment, ZSoft will know how to so completely remove it that REVO, and REGEDIT or RegSeeker, and "Everything"... none of those things will be needed... ZSoft is that thorough.
However, I normally don't take the time to do snapshots. Like most people, I'm impatient, and I just install. When I uninstall, then, I use REVO because it will give me the biggest chance of getting everything (or at least everything that matters) without going to the trouble of REGEDIT, etc.
Like I said, for most uninstalls, what REVO does is fine. But when removing-without-a-trace something that one didn't have the foresight to use ZSoft before installing, REVO is just the beginning... followed by RegSeeker and Everything. After all that, it's likely completely gone.
And, by the way, it's not upsetting me. It's a perfectly legitimate question. Hopefully I've answered it sufficiently well.
I'm very thorough... what can I say.
It's simply because REVO doesn't always catch everything. If one doesn't want to use REGEDIT or RegSeeker and a utility like "Everything," what REVO does might be good enough... it's at least better than nothing. For routine uninstalls where it might be okay if something were left behind, then REVO's *more* than enough... plenty thorough. But when one is trying to remove all traces of something, there's no substitute for manually searching through the registry, and across the hard disk, after everything else has been tried, to make triple-net sure that every last bit of it is gone.
And in the case of something like a printer that's being removed and then re-installed because of seemingly inexplicable oddities in its behavior, EVERY LAST BIT needs to be removed... and REVO can't be counted on for that in as reliable a way as is called for in a case like this.
In the end, the best uninstaller is one which takes a snapshot of the system just before the install, then takes one after, then makes note of the differences and uninstalls based on them. REVO won't do that, but it's the next best thing. For a free uninstaller that will do the snapshot, one should use ZSoft Uninstaller http://zsoft.dk/index/software_details/4 which, among freebies, has no rival when it comes to the whole snapshot method. But just as REVO won't do the snapshot, ZSoft won't do what REVO does. So I, personally, have both uninstallers. If I know there's a good chance that I'll need to uninstall something... and I want to ensure that it's uninstalled absolutely completely... I take a before-installation snapshot with ZSoft; then install; then take a post-installation snapshot. And from that moment, ZSoft will know how to so completely remove it that REVO, and REGEDIT or RegSeeker, and "Everything"... none of those things will be needed... ZSoft is that thorough.
However, I normally don't take the time to do snapshots. Like most people, I'm impatient, and I just install. When I uninstall, then, I use REVO because it will give me the biggest chance of getting everything (or at least everything that matters) without going to the trouble of REGEDIT, etc.
Like I said, for most uninstalls, what REVO does is fine. But when removing-without-a-trace something that one didn't have the foresight to use ZSoft before installing, REVO is just the beginning... followed by RegSeeker and Everything. After all that, it's likely completely gone.
And, by the way, it's not upsetting me. It's a perfectly legitimate question. Hopefully I've answered it sufficiently well.
I'm very thorough... what can I say.
Oh, and to be more specific... if you're wondering why RegEdit vs RegSeeker...
...RegSeeker searches faster than RegEdit, and displays all hits all at once on one screen... allowing any one or all (or none) to then be deleted or edited or whatever. RegEdit, as you know, stops one at a time... and takes forever (by comparison). RegSeeker, though not necessarily ideal for use on Vista when it comes to the other things it does, is probably the fastest searcher through the registry among the freebies.
...RegSeeker searches faster than RegEdit, and displays all hits all at once on one screen... allowing any one or all (or none) to then be deleted or edited or whatever. RegEdit, as you know, stops one at a time... and takes forever (by comparison). RegSeeker, though not necessarily ideal for use on Vista when it comes to the other things it does, is probably the fastest searcher through the registry among the freebies.
thanks for the clarification - and btw - i'll try the regseeker also !
ASKER
Thanks for all the advise so far. The whole removal and installation process went smoothly up to the point where I had to do that last little patch from http://tinyurl.com/cdgvch . On running the patch it would give a message "This update does not support any of the Hp Device Drivers that you have on your system. You do not need this software update." The 7413 printers are however showing on the system (Be it offline and which I then corrected and retried. That remains another problem to be solved as to why the printer would show as offliine although the computer was just started up). Any suggestions as to what to do next? I also see that there is another update released in April 2009 to enhance the reliablilty of network connections which I also thought to install.
Sorry it took so long for me to get back here. I got swamped for a few days.
Hmm. Interesting. The April 2009 patch is new since I looked at that page.
Reading about it at http://tinyurl.com/de775v it seems like something worth installing. I'd definitely do it.
And something else to notice: This printer obviously has issues. Most others don't earn two patches in two months. Something's up.
As for the patch I suggested and it telling you that it's not for the drivers you have, fine. Who knows with HP stuff. It can be nutty. Don't worry about it for now, I guess.
I'm a little unclear about the offline thing you described. Please clarify.
But, of course, the biggest question is: Has the core problem described in your thread-starting post get resolved by any of this?
Hmm. Interesting. The April 2009 patch is new since I looked at that page.
Reading about it at http://tinyurl.com/de775v it seems like something worth installing. I'd definitely do it.
And something else to notice: This printer obviously has issues. Most others don't earn two patches in two months. Something's up.
As for the patch I suggested and it telling you that it's not for the drivers you have, fine. Who knows with HP stuff. It can be nutty. Don't worry about it for now, I guess.
I'm a little unclear about the offline thing you described. Please clarify.
But, of course, the biggest question is: Has the core problem described in your thread-starting post get resolved by any of this?
ASKER
No. The printer is still acting up as it did before. Even after I installed the April patch as well. Funny thing is though I tried the March patch just prior to unstalling everything and it did run as that stage. I must maybe go through the whole exercise again although it is a tedious process unless the registry would have remained fairly clean after the cleanup I did.
As for the offline thing the printer is on a network and whenever my notebook would go into "sleep" mode and be swithced back on again the printer would show as offline. Then you have right click on the printer and as administrator choose "Use printer offline" in order for it to work again. Sometimes that doesn't even work. Then you have to open the printer as administrator and choose the option that way. HP said it I have to give the printer a fixed IP address to fix the issue, but I told them on the network it has a fixed address and still does the same. It somehow also looses communication with my notebook which in the end might be linked to the whole problem. However the printing issue I first described only appeared a couple of months ago whilst the offline problem has been with me since I got the Vista notebook a year and half ago. I was just wondering whether something like a firewall could play a role in this problem. I upgraded my antivirus to Panda Global Protection 2009 towards the end off last year from the Panda Titanium 2008 that I had. I cannot however remember if the printer problems coincided with this upgrade. I try to always look for what could have triggered problems if something use to work, but the printer problem seems to have sneeked up on me. I don't know what else I to do
As for the offline thing the printer is on a network and whenever my notebook would go into "sleep" mode and be swithced back on again the printer would show as offline. Then you have right click on the printer and as administrator choose "Use printer offline" in order for it to work again. Sometimes that doesn't even work. Then you have to open the printer as administrator and choose the option that way. HP said it I have to give the printer a fixed IP address to fix the issue, but I told them on the network it has a fixed address and still does the same. It somehow also looses communication with my notebook which in the end might be linked to the whole problem. However the printing issue I first described only appeared a couple of months ago whilst the offline problem has been with me since I got the Vista notebook a year and half ago. I was just wondering whether something like a firewall could play a role in this problem. I upgraded my antivirus to Panda Global Protection 2009 towards the end off last year from the Panda Titanium 2008 that I had. I cannot however remember if the printer problems coincided with this upgrade. I try to always look for what could have triggered problems if something use to work, but the printer problem seems to have sneeked up on me. I don't know what else I to do
Remember Nobus's (entirely appropriate) opening comment: "Yes, Vista troubles."
Indeed.
I, for one, have had more problems with HP printers and Vista -- in fact, with many brands of printers and Vista -- than with any other Windows OS ever. It's insane. Ridiculous, actually. Uncalled for. Microsoft, yet again, should be ashamed of itself.
That said, HP could do a better job of making its stuff work with Vista. Even the all-in-one HP that I use (a member of the OfficeJet Pro 7500 series) wasn't behaving itself for the longest time until the very latest version of the complete software suite intended for that machine on Vista. And even then, the little monitor thingy that sits in the system tray eventually starts bogging-down the system to that point that one who types particularly fast (like me) can type faster than the cursor can keep up; and/or streaming (or even locally-playing) starts to "stutter" from the process/RAM bog-down. I've reported it and complained to HP so many times, it's ridiculous.... pointless, anymore.
One of the things I have learned is that any HP printer (or any other device, for that matter) which wasn't specifically made to work with Vista (e.g., printers made during XP days, even if HP subsequently came out with Vista-compatible drivers for it) can be extremely troublesome on Vista. I've even taken to simply never (or at least rarely) trying to run on Vista any HP devices made before Vista came out... er... well... not completely... I try sometimes. But if I can possibly avoid using any pre-Vista HP product on Vista, I do.
And I'm focusing on HP, in this case, because that's the maker we've been talking about. I actually kinda' do the same thing with many other brands of products, too. Again, I'm not saying I never try to make pre-Vista products run on Vista. I've got all kinds of pre-Vista stuff running just fine on my copy of Vista. I'm just saying that if there's a version made after Vista came out, and which was manufactured with Vista in mind, then I obviously prefer (and choose) that.
They say Windows 7 will be less persnickety... but who knows. I'm not holding my breath.
The reason HP talked about a fixed IP address is because that's a common problem with printers on LANs with a router that's using DHCP to hand-out IP addresses. Most of them forcibly expired all IP leases periodically; and if that happens while the printer happens to be turned off, then when the printer is next turned on, it will have a different IP address. And if you look on your computer at the port for LAN-attached printers, you'll see that the IP address is fixed in that port. If the printer loses its lease on the IP and DHCP assigns another, then that port will stop working and the computer will no longer be able to "see" the printer. Hence the reason HP wants you to go into the router and give the printer a fixed IP address.
My point is, just to be clear: By "fixed" HP didn't mean that the printer had its own, known IP address. Of course it does. It always does if it's connected to the LAN. What HP meant was that that IP address can't ever change... it must be "fixed" so that the DHCP device won't forcibly release its IP and reassign a new one to it.
So, then, just to cover this base, was what you meant by "fixed" and what HP meant by "fixed" the same?
YOU WROTE: "As for the offline thing the printer is on a network and whenever my notebook would go into "sleep" mode and be swithced back on again the printer would show as offline. Then you have right click on the printer and as administrator choose "Use printer offline" in order for it to work again. Sometimes that doesn't even work. Then you have to open the printer as administrator and choose the option that way."
Oh, my... well... you shouldn't have to be doing any of that! That's definintely screwed-up.
YOU WROTE: "I was just wondering whether something like a firewall could play a role in this problem."
If you're talking about the entire LAN's hardware firewall, probably not. If, on the other hand, you're talking about a software firewall on your machine, then quite possibly (maybe even probably) yes... a resounding "yes," in fact.
Tell me more about what happened when you tried to work with HP on this problem?
And, also, is this printer a pre-Vista device? I mean, yes, I know it now has Vista-specific drivers and utility software downloadable from HP... I could see that on the HP site. But I'm wondering if the printer itself was designed and manufactured during XP days, and was effectively software-retrofit to work with Vista, too, via Vista-specific drivers and utility software.
Indeed.
I, for one, have had more problems with HP printers and Vista -- in fact, with many brands of printers and Vista -- than with any other Windows OS ever. It's insane. Ridiculous, actually. Uncalled for. Microsoft, yet again, should be ashamed of itself.
That said, HP could do a better job of making its stuff work with Vista. Even the all-in-one HP that I use (a member of the OfficeJet Pro 7500 series) wasn't behaving itself for the longest time until the very latest version of the complete software suite intended for that machine on Vista. And even then, the little monitor thingy that sits in the system tray eventually starts bogging-down the system to that point that one who types particularly fast (like me) can type faster than the cursor can keep up; and/or streaming (or even locally-playing) starts to "stutter" from the process/RAM bog-down. I've reported it and complained to HP so many times, it's ridiculous.... pointless, anymore.
One of the things I have learned is that any HP printer (or any other device, for that matter) which wasn't specifically made to work with Vista (e.g., printers made during XP days, even if HP subsequently came out with Vista-compatible drivers for it) can be extremely troublesome on Vista. I've even taken to simply never (or at least rarely) trying to run on Vista any HP devices made before Vista came out... er... well... not completely... I try sometimes. But if I can possibly avoid using any pre-Vista HP product on Vista, I do.
And I'm focusing on HP, in this case, because that's the maker we've been talking about. I actually kinda' do the same thing with many other brands of products, too. Again, I'm not saying I never try to make pre-Vista products run on Vista. I've got all kinds of pre-Vista stuff running just fine on my copy of Vista. I'm just saying that if there's a version made after Vista came out, and which was manufactured with Vista in mind, then I obviously prefer (and choose) that.
They say Windows 7 will be less persnickety... but who knows. I'm not holding my breath.
The reason HP talked about a fixed IP address is because that's a common problem with printers on LANs with a router that's using DHCP to hand-out IP addresses. Most of them forcibly expired all IP leases periodically; and if that happens while the printer happens to be turned off, then when the printer is next turned on, it will have a different IP address. And if you look on your computer at the port for LAN-attached printers, you'll see that the IP address is fixed in that port. If the printer loses its lease on the IP and DHCP assigns another, then that port will stop working and the computer will no longer be able to "see" the printer. Hence the reason HP wants you to go into the router and give the printer a fixed IP address.
My point is, just to be clear: By "fixed" HP didn't mean that the printer had its own, known IP address. Of course it does. It always does if it's connected to the LAN. What HP meant was that that IP address can't ever change... it must be "fixed" so that the DHCP device won't forcibly release its IP and reassign a new one to it.
So, then, just to cover this base, was what you meant by "fixed" and what HP meant by "fixed" the same?
YOU WROTE: "As for the offline thing the printer is on a network and whenever my notebook would go into "sleep" mode and be swithced back on again the printer would show as offline. Then you have right click on the printer and as administrator choose "Use printer offline" in order for it to work again. Sometimes that doesn't even work. Then you have to open the printer as administrator and choose the option that way."
Oh, my... well... you shouldn't have to be doing any of that! That's definintely screwed-up.
YOU WROTE: "I was just wondering whether something like a firewall could play a role in this problem."
If you're talking about the entire LAN's hardware firewall, probably not. If, on the other hand, you're talking about a software firewall on your machine, then quite possibly (maybe even probably) yes... a resounding "yes," in fact.
Tell me more about what happened when you tried to work with HP on this problem?
And, also, is this printer a pre-Vista device? I mean, yes, I know it now has Vista-specific drivers and utility software downloadable from HP... I could see that on the HP site. But I'm wondering if the printer itself was designed and manufactured during XP days, and was effectively software-retrofit to work with Vista, too, via Vista-specific drivers and utility software.
ASKER
Hi. I have been out of town and only got back over the weekend. The issue is not resolved yet. The printer is a pre-Vista printer thus HP probably patched their existing driver to make it Vista compatible.
HP took me through a lot of little things to make sure the printer is actually printing (not a hardware problem) but eventually it also boiled down to doing a reinstallation of the Software. I said right from the word go that its prints fine from XP and that it must be a Vista issue or something relating to the Vista laptop!
I had a look a the firewall and a page I found on HP's website relating to the ports and programs that must be open in the firewall and I made sure that I added every single one manually that was missing.
Still the problem remains...
I can see that "fixed" IP address you are talking about is probably the same as that of HP. I do not know how to have a look at that. Seems like something that I must setup in the router.
I have meantime also tried to run the patches again from HP but the message remains the same as previously - Cannot install.
What do I do next?
HP took me through a lot of little things to make sure the printer is actually printing (not a hardware problem) but eventually it also boiled down to doing a reinstallation of the Software. I said right from the word go that its prints fine from XP and that it must be a Vista issue or something relating to the Vista laptop!
I had a look a the firewall and a page I found on HP's website relating to the ports and programs that must be open in the firewall and I made sure that I added every single one manually that was missing.
Still the problem remains...
I can see that "fixed" IP address you are talking about is probably the same as that of HP. I do not know how to have a look at that. Seems like something that I must setup in the router.
I have meantime also tried to run the patches again from HP but the message remains the same as previously - Cannot install.
What do I do next?
I'm not sure if you've already done that, you posted something that you tried printing directly...
Have you tried installing the printer driver and then connecting the printer via USB to the Vista Box (leave networking out completely)? If it works that way you can always change the printer port to use the LAN later.
Have you tried installing the printer driver and then connecting the printer via USB to the Vista Box (leave networking out completely)? If it works that way you can always change the printer port to use the LAN later.
ASKER
I connected the printer directly per USB as suggested. It appears that the printer does print without problems then. However it is a bit of a hazzle because then my XP machine cannot access this printer. The moment I connect it via USB its Network connectivity is disabled. The XP machine is not close enough to the printer to connect it via usb that is why the network connection was ideal. Surely there must be a way to get this network connection to work again At present the printer does not want to scan either from Vista even when I am using USB and HP's own scanning software. I am thinking that maybe I must just redo the uninstall and installation?
Now make sure you have given the printer a static IP, then change the printer port on the vista box from USB to the IP you have given the printer. Use the installed driver that just worked when directly connected.
ASKER
The moment I change the port to the IP I have given the printer, its starts acting up again. I created a new port to make sure everything is correct and Vista reports that the Officejet is connected to that port.
Now in the Advanced properties of the printer, under Print Processor, try the different selections.
ASKER
I have tried the three options in my print processor list which is Hpzpp4wm, hpzpplhn and Winprint. All three gives the same problem still. Is there updates that can be installed or must these files actually be backdated seeing that printer is a pre-vista printer? Or is there something else that I should do?
At the moment I can't think of anything. Sorry.
It sounds like the Vista machine is just taking too long to spool the file, and the printer is timing out.
I am sure that you have tried this, but just in case:
In the print driver on the advanced tab
Set the printer spooling to "start printing after the last page has spooled"
Untick "enable advanced printing features"
On the ports tab
untick "bidirectional communication"
that will give you the best chance of printing a whole page.
Failing that, try this:
Vista is quite slow at transferring files over the network, there are problems with error checking.
This may sound odd, but try changing the speed in the network card properties to 10Mbps.
I am sure that you have tried this, but just in case:
In the print driver on the advanced tab
Set the printer spooling to "start printing after the last page has spooled"
Untick "enable advanced printing features"
On the ports tab
untick "bidirectional communication"
that will give you the best chance of printing a whole page.
Failing that, try this:
Vista is quite slow at transferring files over the network, there are problems with error checking.
This may sound odd, but try changing the speed in the network card properties to 10Mbps.
ASKER
I changed all the settings as indicated for the printer , to no avail.
I cannot find where to change the connection speed of the wireless connection.
I cannot find where to change the connection speed of the wireless connection.
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Well done!
i would uninstall the printer completely soft and hard; disconnect it - also delete it from printers>file>server properties >drivers
then install again - connect the printer only whan asked for..