Topic: HP Photosmart Pro B8350 problem (Read 7717 times)

ChasP505 · « **on:** May 27, 2007, 02:29:21 pm »

I just got this printer and so far have only printed text documents and test pages on plain paper. For the first time I tried experimenting with it to try and configure the photo settings. I tried printing a photo out of Lightroom and it got as far as "about to print" and then the printer icon disappears from the Windows XP taskbar. And... there is no print job remaining in the print que. I tried printing from Photoshop CS3... same thing.

The printer shows no error messages and will print low quality to plain paper, but will not print photo quality images. I have the Preview Before Printing option selected and it shows a window with a blank white image in it.

My ink cartridges are new (as the printer is). I have tried every combination of settings possible, still nothing. Any suggestions before I take it back?

I am running Windows XP pro with all current updates and have a NVidia 7600GT graphics card.

ChasP505 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2007, 04:13:41 pm »

Followup to my own post:

I spoke to an HP "technician" on line and it seems that my printer came with a dead photo cartridge. HP is sending a replacement out. Hope it works.

ChasP505 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2007, 07:34:20 am »

Second followup to my own post:

I got a replacement photo cartridge and verified that it was not DOA. Printer still will not print images except for test pages. I was online with HP once more and they agreed it's defective hardware and they are sending me a replacement printer. I have to pack up the defective unit for Fedex.

dk1 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 29, 2007, 07:01:09 pm »

Was this issue ever resolved when they sent the replacement printer? I'm having the same problem now, but they're telling me that it seems to be a problem with the driver, as I've gotten the printer to work perfectly under Linux.

The downside is that Linux isn't that great for image editing and it would be really nice to be able to print things in Windows again.

ChasP505 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2007, 08:35:03 pm »

dk1... First, see my emailed response to you.

I got the replacement unit from HP. HP paid the Fedex charges both directions and also gave me a new photo cartridge. I started by doing a fresh install of the drivers and utilities. The replacement unit is working fine and I can highly recommend it for someone wanting a 13" x 19" capable printer on a $200-$300 budget.

dk1 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2007, 01:30:17 pm »

Thanks for the reply.

After a lot of back and forth with HP, they finally decided that my printer was malfunctioning as well and shipped me a new one.
I just got it yesterday, but my new one is giving me the exact same issue as my old one was.
I haven't tried installing this one on another computer yet though to see if it's my main system that may have been part of the problem, but I'm hoping to rectify that in a few hours.

I must say though, that I do have at least a little bit of an idea as to what may have caused this though. I think that there is a possible conflict with a Windows Update. My old printer stopped responding around February, when I installed the updates for that month. Usually, to fix it, I could just do a system restore to the point before that and everything would be fine again. However, due to a reformat, that restore point was lost.
I don't have my Windows disc here, but I plan to reformat as soon as I get back to my dorm so I can test on a clean install, with no Windows Updates installed.

neil snape · « **Reply #6 on:** August 26, 2007, 03:05:26 am »

HP driver installs are getting to be harder to complete if ANY virus software is engaged. I suggest turning off all forms of Antivirus stuff and Firewall software.

dk1 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2007, 11:11:15 pm »

I did a fresh reformat of my computer and the printer worked wonderfully before I installed anything on it.
I made it a point to print test pages and set restore points at each step of the way to make sure that the printer was still responding properly. I know that it was working up until the point where I was actually out of critical updates, so I assumed that I was clear and had missed whatever it was that killed my printer in the first place. So I went ahead and installed CS3 and the rest of my software, along with two other updates and a login manager that my school requires to have internet access here on campus. Sadly, by this point I had stupidly thought that my printer was going to keep working.
So it's a day later and I have six restore points on my computer, labeled for each of the things that I installed after the initial critical updates and drivers (when the printer was working).
Here's hoping that I can just keep rolling my system back until I finally nuke whatever killed my new printer. I've been through the first two, though, and it's still dead. I'm hoping that I'm not about to have to format again just to get it working.

I'll post any findings that I come across.

dk1 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2007, 03:38:49 am »

Follow up:

Well, I can definitely say that whatever is causing my problem didn't get removed by system restore. I rolled it back to the last point where I could remember it working, but no luck.

I'm going to reformat again as soon as I get the chance and catalog everything that I install, print test images, and try to pinpoint exactly what piece of software or update is causing it to break on me.

Hopefully soon I'll have an extensive follow up and a working printer.

dk1 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 29, 2008, 06:04:21 pm »

It's been quite a while since I performed those operations that I mentioned in my last post, but as I'm reformatting again for general system maintenance I remembered that I never posted my findings here.

None of the critical updates are causing the conflict.

I still never found exactly which update is doing it, but I know for a fact that it is one of the optional updates listed on the Windows update site and have narrowed it down to nine suspects that I have not installed and my printer is still working.

Here they are in the order that they appear in my update list:
KB943729
Root Certificates update
KB925876
KB920342
KB829019
KB909520
KB891122
KB896344
.NET Framework 1.1

As I said, I'm not saying that all of these are the problem. They're just the only ones that I haven't installed as of now and didn't install the previous time.

I didn't see any purpose in installing .NET 1.1 or 2.0 because 3.0 was already installed and everything seems to be working just fine with it.

dk1 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2008, 10:26:38 am »

Alright. I tried making a print this morning, only to have the problem I used to have.

I removed .NET 3.0 from my computer and now it's somewhat responding though. It will pull paper into the rollers, but then it just holds it and goes back to the ready state.

neil snape · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2008, 10:37:53 am »

If the printer can make a test print from the LCD panel, then it's not the printer but software, and or the cable between the two.
Put a piece of copy plain paper in the printer and try a test print.

Let us know.

Mosccol · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2008, 08:03:55 pm »

Get a Mac

Not evangelising here, simply stating the obvious: it's all about minimising the number of things that can go wrong.

Author Topic: HP Photosmart Pro B8350 problem (Read 7717 times)