HPZ3200 troubles

[sharadn]

It was working fine last night. Today no. I figured out that I had lost communication with the printer by using the HP Utility. I was able to restore communication by changing my IP address method to DHCP. I had been using a static IP address for close to 10 years. Why it stopped working is beyond me. I can communicate with the printer and get status from the HP Utility now. I uninstalled the driver a few times and reinstalled it, thinking that might have been the problem. Now after a few tries at re-installing the driver when I click on printer preferences I get a message saying the "operation cannot be completed". I am using a PC with W11. What is the best dated driver that I should be using? Kinda frustrated after going to bed last night and planning on editing making a few prints today. What went wrong I really don't know but as I stated I can see the printer now across the network. Qimage is also telling me that when I chose the HP printer that it invalid. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

[Kyle Jackson]

Static IP is the best option. Set the IP on the printer itself, and also reserve that IP number in your router to make sure it's always available for your printer only and no other device.

The v3 and v4 "universal" drivers are garbage. The latest version that I could find that is fully functional is 2012 for the PCL3 raster driver for my 24 inch Z3200PS Rev B model. The driver is available on the HP website, but you need to select an old OS version like Windows 8 to find it. Don't worry about that, it still works fine with Win 10 and I hear Win 11 as well.

HP Utility 1.17.0.3 also works fine.

Completely remove / uninstall the printer driver package. You can leave HP Utility installed, it's separate. Also use Windows Printer Management to remove any ports that were created for the Z3200. After it's "clean" and rebooted you can install the 2012 driver package.

When done you can check the advanced printer properties in Windows to verify that the Bidirectional Communications option is checked. If it's not or it's greyed out then you still have a problem with your installation.

[sharadn]

Thank you for your help. Whatever was working yesterday is not working again today. I wonder what MS does to my machine while I am asleep. I went to the HP Designjet website and could not find the driver dated 2012. I did try a number of different OS versions and could not find it anywhere. Would you be able to send it to me if I give you access to my dropbox? I did send you an older driver via your dropbox and maybe you could put it there. I seem to spend more time making the system work than working on it.

[sharadn]

I was able to get it working using the driver in the screen shot. I was also using a network extender with the printer plugged into the hard wired network port. In order to eliminate connectivity issues I moved my router closer to the printer and plugged the printer into it directly. I also setup the printer with a static IP address and reserved that address in my router. It is all back to working again....until tomorrow..
Happy Holidays and thanks to all who contribute to this very helpful site!

[Kyle Jackson]

Good to hear it's working again! 🥳 Unfortunately I'm travelling and won't be back for a few weeks so can't send the file.

Bummer looks like HP changed the website, all they have is a 2024 universal driver version now, that sucks.

What version is that driver? It'll be 61.xx-something where xx is the year.

I have mine on a range extender but to make it work I think I had to mess with the MAC address for the static IP in my router because the extender makes the printer appear like it has a different MAC address.

[sharadn]

Thanks for all your help. It is not urgent at the moment...

[plasakow]

I was able to get it working using the driver in the screen shot. I was also using a network extender with the printer plugged into the hard wired network port. In order to eliminate connectivity issues I moved my router closer to the printer and plugged the printer into it directly. I also setup the printer with a static IP address and reserved that address in my router. It is all back to working again....until tomorrow..
Happy Holidays and thanks to all who contribute to this very helpful site!

Just my $0.02: I had no ends of intermittent problems when printing to my Z3200s via wireless network (the printers were hard wired). After I ran a hard network drop to my desk they all vanished. I've also never had issues with DHCP.