New Z3100 driver on Vista

[MoreThanWords]

Hello, I have noticed there's - since a week or so - a new driver and (already out somewhat longer) a new firmware for the basic Z3100 (not the GP version).

I am still using the previous version (october 07) and, after numerous struggles, I finally succeeded into making it work satisfactorily (not perfectly, as I get occasional hiccups, but at least, it works more or less)... I must say that after I installed the previous (i.e. the october 07) upgrade of the driver, it screwed things up pretty heavily (although I must admit that my Vista upgrade probably did not help) and I was unable to print for quite a while and it took me hours of searching and wasting paper to arrive to the more or less stable situation that I'm in now (too bad the driver's quality isn't up to the printer's quality).

That's why I'm rather reluctant to upgrade to this new version (especially knowing that when things go wrong, HP's idea of a solution is mostly to reinstall the whole Operating System, something that I'm not keen on experiencing :-)

Hence my question:
- are there other users who have run this driver upgrade on a Vista machine and what are your experiences
- is there anything different between this version and the last one? Are there key reasons why I should upgrade?

Thanks for letting me know,

Piet

[rdonson]

I can't speak to the Vista aspects of the latest firmware and driver but here's what''s new in it.

• Ragged Edges sheet loading.
• Being able to export custom papers.
• Ink Limit reduction.
• New paper presets.
• Windows Vista Supported.
• Change from HP Easy Printer Care to Printer Utility in Windows.

For me the move to the latest firmware and driver was a very positive move.  I'm on XP Pro with my base Z3100 so I let  someone else answer about Vista.  I do have a friend running it on Vista without a problem though.  Putting aside the usual funkiness of HP print drivers for the Z.

[MoreThanWords]

Thanks Ron,

I'll try and install it on my laptop first... if things go wrong there, it's less bad :-)

I can't speak to the Vista aspects of the latest firmware and driver but here's what''s new in it.

• Ragged Edges sheet loading.
• Being able to export custom papers.
• Ink Limit reduction.
• New paper presets.
• Windows Vista Supported.
• Change from HP Easy Printer Care to Printer Utility in Windows.

For me the move to the latest firmware and driver was a very positive move.  I'm on XP Pro with my base Z3100 so I let  someone else answer about Vista.  I do have a friend running it on Vista without a problem though.  Putting aside the usual funkiness of HP print drivers for the Z.
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[alanmcf]

I loaded the Vista driver on a new Vista PC a couple of weeks ago. Not wanting to go it alone I called support and they ran me through their usual "manual" install. Turns out everything went well, meaning that it worked as well as the XP driver from half a year ago -- don't get me going on the little glitches. One thing though is a Help/ResetPrinterSettings is necessary for QImage to recognize the new driver. I laughed at the quite good HP tech moving on to teaching drivers ed for a "substantial increase in pay". Alan

P.S. Not long after I got a call from a supervisor (no less) wanting to know how my latest tech support went. I was actually quite touched. I said the tech support was great, but that the Z3100 was driving me crazy. He made it really clear that if I had future problems that I should call and that he would direct me to the proper person based on my problem. I also got some free ink out of the deal. I have the feeling they are trying. I would say that anyone frustrated should ask to talk with a supervisor as a means of getting properly funneled -- which has worked for me in the past. I once made it all the way through Color Support all the way to Engineering -- the guy being very knowledgeable answering a bunch of questions.

Hello, I have noticed there's - since a week or so - a new driver and (already out somewhat longer) a new firmware for the basic Z3100 (not the GP version).
...
Piet
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[rdonson]

Alan, I'm glad it ended up being a positive experience with support.  I haven't had to call them yet.

I did have one interesting interaction.  I was contacted by the HP large format ink folks  and invited to participate in a survey.  I did and they sent me a $50 coupon from Amazon.  I put that toward an HVLP sprayer and plan to try my hand at canvas soon.  Just gotta figure out which canvas to try first.  

[alanmcf]

Ron, You "haven't had to call them yet" My mouth just dropped open. For all you do with your Z3100 you have not called HP tech support yet? Most amazing . Alan

Alan, I'm glad it ended up being a positive experience with support.  I haven't had to call them yet.

[rdonson]

Ron, You "haven't had to call them yet" My mouth just dropped open. For all you do with your Z3100 you have not called HP tech support yet? Most amazing . Alan
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Its true.  Between the wiki, this forum, Ernst's Yahoo group and the various docs and manuals and dogged determination I've managed to keep the rubber size down.      This statement will probably jinx all that and the printer will explode tomorrow.

[rsmith]

did HP pull the new driver?? I searched the hp website and still came up with the Nov 07 driver

[rsmith]

the driver is back up