[rclay]

Hi. I'm new to PC World forums, but have had sooooooooo many problems with my new HP PhotoSmart C4280 these last 4 months that I felt compelled to find a forum somewhere to see if there was discussion about these problems.


I was very intrigued, and not surprised, to see recent posts "Unable to Print Successfully in Duplex Mode Using My HP Photosmart 8450 Printer" and "HP are the worst! They just lost a very happy customer" since they remind me so much of my own recent experience with, and feelings about, HP printers.


I formerly had an old HP Deskjet 932C and it was a great printer for, can you believe it, 7 years! So, when it finally conked out late last year, I bought another HP printer. This PhotoSmart printer works great, but the software has been an absolute nightmare, one problem after another. I have probably been on the phone with HP Tech Support at least 10 times these last 4 months (and HP tech support is a whole 'nother topic and post for this forum probably!).


I sent a letter to President Hurd on the HP website earlier this week and got a call the next day from one of his minions which for a minute or two actually stirred some hope in my breast - alas, all this lackey had to say basically was, "well, sorry, that's just the way the printer works, there's nothing we can do about it." I thought, and said, "well, what is the purpose of this call, if it is only to tell me you can't/won't do anything?!"


I could post here the long list of problems I've encountered and studiously written down, but I'd like to ask about one in particular, to see if anyone has experienced this, and, if so, what if anything you might have found can be done about it.


At the top of the list of the problems we have experienced from the beginning and that we continue to experience because HP tech support evidently cannot fix it is: after one user of the printer prints something (and this in Windows XP), if a subsequent user of the printer wants to print something in duplex, the dialog box that is displayed asking the user to indicate that the printer can “Continue” to print (i.e., the paper has been manually flipped in the printer) appears in the session of the first user, NOT the session of second user now printing the job in duplex!!! Frankly, I find it just absurd, and outrageous, that the printer software cannot display this dialog box in the session of the user actually printing the job, but dumbly prints this box in the session of the first user. It is extremely inconvenient because somehow someone has to get back into the session of the first user to see the dialog box and click the “Continue” button!!

I am at a loss to understand how HP can market a printer with software that has this kind of an absurd problem! And how HP tech support cannot fix it. And how HP is not quick to issue a patch or new release of the software that fixes this problem right now, and not 6 months from now!!


Has anyone else experienced this problem and (is it too much to hope for!) maybe even found a work-around?


Thanks in advance.


Rod

[coastie65]

Hi Rod and welcome to the forum, I have an HP C5180 All-in-One printer. If I understand your problem correctly, it is switching from double side to single side printing. If that is the case, unfortunately, the printer will not revert back to single side after the printing job is completed. You must manuelly reset it to single page before you begin the new print job, otherwise, you will still print in double side format. I find this annoying as I have to put the pages back in after the first pass to print the back side of the page although it does work well and saves paper. The best way to put it is that whatever the format is that was previously set, will remain until it is changed. I also like the fact that you can set it to print the last page first, thus leaving you with the pages in order after the print job is finished. I am not exactly clear on what you describe. Are you using a single printer with two different computers ? If so, then user 1 is not properly closing out the session after the print job has been completed. As for HP updates, they are regularly updated their software, both directly, and at times through windows update service as well. coastie65

[rclay]

Coastie,

Thanks for your reply. I am not using 2 computers, however. The problem I tried to describe simply involves 2 different users on the same computer.

User 1 signs on (as a user in Windows XP) and prints something. User 2 comes along and wants to print something, and since User 1 does not want to logoff, User 1 (or User 2) simply does a "Switch User" so that User 2 can sign on. User 2 signs on and attempts to print something duplex. The dialog box that the HP PhotoSmart software displays with the button "Continue" that the user is supposed to click on when the paper has been manually flipped in the printer appears NOT in the session of User 2, who is actually doing the printing and is at the printer, but this dialog box appears instead in the session of User 1 who is not printing this job and who may no longer even be around. In fact, if User 1 is not available and her/his account is password protected, then User 2 may NOT even be able to finish printing her/his job without rebooting the computer!!

This, to me, is ridiculous, and I have NEVER seen a printer do this before - and yet the HP representative who called me said "this is just the way it works, there's nothing that can be done!" Honestly, where this HP printer is concerned, I feel like Alice must have felt when she first stepped in Wonderland!

[coastie65]

Hey Rod, Ok. That is a pretty elaborate set up. I am a single user so I don't have that problem. To be honest, even if there were multiple users, I would be disinclined to set it up for multiple accounts, primarily for that reason. I don't remeber if there is a provision in the intial HP set up program that would allow an option for automatically switching the printer when the user account is switched on the PC or not. Short of having a heart to heart with with the other user about logging out when they are done using the computer / printer, I don't know if there is anything else to be done. I will look into it a little further and see what if anything I can come up with. I don't know if this will work, but while you're you're still in Account 1, in the tray there should be an icon labeled HP digital imaging monitor. Right click on it and then click close HP digital Imaging Monitor. You can then switch the user account and then reverse the process. As I said I don't know if this will work or even if you've tried it. coastie

[rclay]

Coastie,

Thanks for this reply too. I tried what you suggested, i.e., closing the HP Digital Imaging Monitor before switching to the second user - didn't work! :(

Here's why I don't buy HP's claim that "this is just the way it works, there's nothing that can be done about it" - the simple fact of the matter is, it DID WORK with my HP Deskjet 932C. I never had this problem with that printer and we printed duplex in multiple users for years!! So I know it can be done, with properly written software. In fact, until I bought this PhotoSmart it never would have occurred to me that a vendor would write software for a printer that did not display dialog boxes in the session of the user actually doing the printing. It is such slovenly and insulting software production that I literally cannot believe that any vendor would have the nerve to put it on the market.

Thanks again for trying to brainstorm this problem. If you ever think you may have another lead, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Happy computing, and printing (but you'll need something non-HP for that!).

[coastie65]

Hi Rod, I just got a handle on your problem after rereading all this. Apparantly, you have full printer options and capabilities in say Account 1 but not in account two. You are right, it should work equally in either account. Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the software ? I think you may have to do this and pay close attention to the set up options. No matter which account is using the printer, if you are printing in duplex, then the window to flip the sheets should open when the first side is done. I'm thinking their may be a problem with the intial set up. coastie