Screw you HP

exalted512

mmadden28 wrote: »

Until you determine the cause of the problem, I would reserve judgement against the manufacturer.

I started judging the manufacturer after they told me to f off because my warranty is out.
-Cody

Serendipity

exalted512 wrote: »

I started judging the manufacturer after they told me to f off because my warranty is out.
-Cody

Interesting. I've called them up about products that were out of warranty, and they didn't say anything about having to pay for "out of warranty technical support."

But I'd like to say HP products are built well - the printer I have weighs as much as an amp...like 50+ lbs!

exalted512

Lasareath wrote: »

Is it just the scanning?

The printing works fine?

Is this the model with the LCD on it?

Is there a flashing "!" on the display?

Scanning and sending photos from memory sticks on the printer to the computer.

Printing works fine, scanner works fine if youre not sending it to the computer.

Yes it has the LCD, no the ! isnt flashing
-Cody

sucks2beme

Power off the scanner/printer. Remove the device from the control panel/printer-scanners
and from system/hardware. remove the app, reboot, and reinstall the software by the book(read the readme/docs). Make sure to turn on the device when the docs say(either before software install or after). If that doesn't work, list it on craigslist and buy something else!

Windows is better at finding new stuff than existing. I've had thumb drives
drop off and not re-appear. Your problem has more to do with windows than
the printer/scanner.

shack

I had exactly the opposite experience with HP. We had a HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier that all the sudden would simply not power up. After the initial conversation with the Indian help desk where she didn't understand a southern US accent and I was having trouble with hindiglish, I was transferred to an actual US help desk. The lady was extremely helpful. There was some time urgency as the printer was needed for a large project that would have been expensive taking it to Kinkos. We tried to replace the power cord. It was to be delivered to me on Friday and she made arrangement to call me (they cannot direct to a particular help desk person for some reason) on a Saturday afternoon at a specific time. She was right on time. The power cord did not help so she arranged to send brand new printer that afternoon. There was some issue as to the warranty. Their records showed the warranty had expired a couple of weeks earlier. I had the receipt that showed there were 5 days left on the warranty when I made the original contact. A fax of the receipt to them cleared it right up. Other than expedited shipping (which I chose) there was no cost to me to get a brand new HP printer. It was EXCELLENT customer service.

Serendipity

Lasareath wrote: »

Of course it works fine, this printer that you have Alex is like our separates.

This one that is not working is like a $300 receiver, they have scanning, faxing, memory card reader, printing. People love them because they are cheap and include 3 or more functions.

I see. I've never owned an all-in-one printer though...

But this LaserJet I have is built like a tank...it's actually 60 lbs, not 50 like I stated before, and IMO is VERY well made.

cnjvh

Its a network printer (I presume as it is connected through your router). Printing is traffic from the PC to the remote network device (Printer). This works.

Scanning is network traffic from the remote network device (scanner) to the PC. This does not work. I would definately verify any firewalls running on the PC are disabled and try again.

If tried already, disregard.

sucks2beme

The problem with home networking is normally the Printer/scanner is
DHCP(gets an I.P. address automatically). If for some reason the
router gets rebooted, and the addresses get re-assigned, the printer scanner
might not know where to find the pc's, and vice versa. Then you've got
to get the devices in sync again. Sometimes setting the addresses manually makes better sense.

exalted512

how would I reset the devices to be in sync manually?
-Cody

sucks2beme

Your pc/laptop thinks the scanner/printer is at address A (example
192.168.0.10). For some reason, like a router reset, all the devices
on your home netrwork grab new addresses. Now the printer scanner
is at address B (192.168.0.11). It's confused. This is why printers at work
are normally set to an address that doesn't change. The act of
removing the device from windows, removing the sanner software,
and rebooting/reinstalling the software forces the system to
look for the device at it's new address. This is a guess at why it
is a problem that keeps coming back. There still could be another
problem, but this is a problem that happens often enough with home networks.
Note: I am NOT a pc tech. But I have stayed in a Holiday Inn
express a couple of times.

mmadden28

exalted512 wrote: »

I started judging the manufacturer after they told me to f off because my warranty is out.
-Cody

Perhaps you just got a disgruntled tech who was having a bad day because he just found he out he only got a 0.5% raise and decided to show his employer who's important in the company when it comes to interfacing with the customer. :eek: Or maybe the tech just got rewemed by his boss about spending too much time providing customer service

When I used to do tech support (and still do from time to time-corporate setting mind you-Haven't had to deal with the evil customer for many years now), I usually went out of my way to resolve a user's issue, even if it had nothing to do with work or even work related software. But from time to time, depending on the attitude of the user, or the demanding/entitled nature of the user, I would click into 'by the book' mode and tell them I can't help them. Sometimes its the only thing to keep sane. I can tell you I've spent hours and hours on the phone with my in-laws and sometimes I just say-enough is enough-I can't help them with this problem anymore, they have to call somebody else or reload (especially when they won't follow directions or claim they know the answers--(('well why are you calling me then??' I'd think)).

At my company, tech support has been centralized and the desktop software has been standardized. There comes a point where continuing to troubleshoot an issue, especially one that has no easy fix, simply becomes too costly-this includes the loss of productivity of both the tech and the user, as well as the continuing expenditure of labor $$$ for both (although the tech is likely getting under paid :eek:). Its certainly easier to reimage the machine with a standard, and known working image-and this can usually be accomplished in less than 15 minutes. Of course I myself would only have ever done or do that as an absolute last resort, but more and more techs fall back to the re-image too quickly without even trying-without showing any troubleshooting skill. It's ends up being about keeping up thier call quota-customer service is out the window.
I also consider the time required of the end-user to get the system back to productive from the standard image--I don't work within the new centralized tech support structure, so I don't have to answer to the quota demi-gods, so I continue to 'work-through' an issue when requested and when time permits-(some have become accustomed to my troubleshooting dedication and consideration of thier time and data)--Its a delicate balance of time vs. value.

Back to your issue--Since you got it working on one system, I think it's safe to say that the printer is likely functioning as it should and that you have a driver/application issue on the laptop. Or some other application or network configuration issue is interfering. I haven't seen enough input from you to make any better determinations. But it seems that several people are making good recomendations on the next steps you can take.

Did you try direct connecting it via USB yet?
What exactly did you do on the desktop (or other system) that finally got it working again?