Every now then my HP All-in-One printer (connected to a desktop pc with XP) takes as much as 3 or 4 minutes from the time I click OK to spit out the page. I am not really bothered by the delay but I am curious as to whatever might be going on to cause it.
What model HP printer do you have? It is possible that the printer is performing a cleaning cycle (inkjet), or needs to warm up (laser). Also, is there a particular file type that this happens with? Some files will take longer to prepare for printing, either through the printer driver or the printer itself.
One thing you might try to help determine what might be happening is to open a window to the printer's print queue BEFORE sending a print job to the printer. You should then be able to watch the status of the print job, and that might help to determine if it is the driver or the printer that is causing the delay.
On some HP printers, I have shut them down, pull the power cord, wait a minute, plug the power back in, start the printer and when fully up, test it.
Please note! I said some printers, but works often enough on various brands to make worth trying here.
This in an update to a problem I first raised here in 2012 and again several months ago.. Train and jdc2000 offered advice then
As I posted before my HP1050 All-in-One --- using just one black cartridge -- was working well until a few months ago, even though it sometimes took an unusually long time (sometimes as much as several minutes before it would start printing). I wondered what might cause such strange behaviour. It was suggested that my “drivers might be out of date” and one of you sent me a set of instructions for updating them.. I hesitated doing so however because: a) the instructions seemed way too complicated for me; and b) the odd delay was not really a great inconvenience.
But I recently gathered my courage and tried --- with these dire results, I am afraid.
After doing who-knows-what (I really can’t recall) my All-in-One now:
1. Responds to every print command by printing out what looks like the bottom half of the standard alignment test page – the one that says “You must scan the alignment page for best quality!”in several languages.
2. Does not print out the document I input to the printer.
3. Displays messages telling me that I am missing a cartridge or using a non-HP cartridge (both true but I have been working that way for years).
4. The scanner no longer works.And if I go to Control Panel\Scanners the HP1050 icon no longer even shows there.
5. And the Copier feature similarly does not work. Pressing the Copy button on the unit just results in another semi-alignment test page --- showing, I suppose, that the feeder mechanism is ok and that I have ink in the black cartridge
I tried pulling the plug and waiting a minute and replugging but that did not help.
I am posting this now on the remote chance that someone can spot what I may have done to screw things up so.
Question 1. Is it worth uninstalling the Hp1050 unit and then reinstalling it?
Question 2: If I bought a new All-in-One unit (I see they are quite inexpensive), do you think – in view of all these unresolved issues -- I would have problems installing the new unit?
Regarding a new printer purchase, unless you are needing photo quality output, I would recommend that you buy a laser priner. The initial cost may be higher, but the operating cost over the life of the printer will be much lower. I have had excellent results with Brother printers. They can often be found on sale at a significant discount.
To fix the printing, you could try completely uninstalling the printer drivers, and disconnecting the printer, then reboot and follow the manufacturer's directions for installiing the printer drivers again.
Jdc2000: Thanks for the tip. I'll look into the Brother line.
Re uninstalling my current deskjet ... The Help on my Dell pc refers to the process as "deleting the printer." Just to be sure, is "deleting the printer" the same as "uninstalling the printer?"
Before I try uninstalling the All-in-One here are two additional bits of evidence that may (or may not) shed any light on the HP1050 All-in-One problem?
1. I repeatedly get this (unhelpful) error message. What does it mean?
Driver Error
Driver Detective has encountered a critical error while processing your request and needs to close.
Error message: The process cannot access the file C:\Documents and Settings\....
An entry in the application event log has been created, (And I can click a button to view the error report --- a listing of code lines that I may be able to send along if it were of any value).
2. Contrary to my earlier report, the scanner function works properly.
I am trying to get rid of Driver Detective, using revouninstaller ... but I am not sure which of the HP files to delete. Can you spot that file from the attached screenshot? Thanks.
That screen capture does not show all of the items. However, the icon for Driver Detective looks like it might be a world globe. Google the following phrase and you should get some useful information.
Reply With Quote
