Instructions for "exorcizing" HP drivers from your system: (Think of removing bubble gum from the bottom of your shoe on a hot summer’s day and you will be somewhat mentally prepared for this. )
(Usual disclaimers apply: This involves editing your registry, and you can screw your system up big time if you don’t know what you are doing.)
If you have any other HP printers installed (I had two others) this process will be more complicated, because you will have to try removing the B9180-related goo without removing the other drivers.
1. MOST IMPORTANT: Set a system restore point in Windows. (Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore.)
2. Remove your printer from the “Printers and Faxes” list. (Control Panel/Printers and Faxes.)
You might not find it here if your earlier uninstall process removed it.
3. Open the registry editor and click on “My Computer” at the top of the left column. (You may need to scroll up to see it.)
4. Hit Ctrl/F to open the “find” box. Place checkmarks in the “Keys” and “Values” boxes.
(You may need to do “Data” later, but leave it unchecked for now.)
5. Now, here is where your life starts to ebb away... In the “Find What” box, you will start searching for the following phrases: (Don’t include the quotes.)
- “HP “ Be sure to include a space after HP.
- “hp\” (Backslash.)
- “hewlett”
Type these one at a time into the “Find What” box, and then hit the “Find Next” button. Hit your Delete key to remove the highlighted values (but read below first!)
You will need some good common sense to make decisions about removing the items found. The “Keys” (like categories) are on the left side of the window. Look at the categories closely to decide if you should remove the entire key. Does it seem only related to HP/B9180? Delete it. Or, does it seem to be part of another program? Other programs, like MS Word might have references to printers in their keys–don’t remove these.
The same holds true for the right side, the “Values.” Only select and remove items related to your specific HP printer.
Search for each phrase, and remove all the HP related entries. Removing a “Key” (left side) will remove an entire category, so make sure it is related to HP.
After you have removed every scrap of HP-related gunk, try re-installing your drivers. If it still won’t work, do a system restore to the point you set earlier, then repeat the above process, this time checking off the “Data” box in step 4.
Just for fun, send HP a bill for your time.
I hope this will help you and others with similar afflictions.
Mark
