Posted by Sharon Taylor on 1/28/08 9:56am
Msg #232800

Printer problems - save this solution just in case

I bought an HP OfficeJet Pro L7780 All-in-One in September of last year and at first had it hooked to our laptop running Vista Ultimate, then moved it to our desktop running XP Professional. The printer had the same problems no matter which system it was hooked up with. I searched and searched and searched the internet and found many people had the same problem but no one had a solution, and I also had a techie geek friend work on the system a couple of times, but nothing fixed it.
Finally I gave up and was going to invoke the warranty to have HP take it back, so I called HP and spoke with a Tech Support person, who gave me this solution...which worked.
I ended up talking with a really knowledgable Tech person named Julie, and she spent a couple of hours on the phone with me going through the problems and trying solutions. Naturally I took notes. Apparently this is a solution that HP techies know, but that isn't common knowledge as I hadn't found it after extensive searching the internet for a solution before calling HP.
In the steps below, the machine was hooked up to a desktop machine using XP Professional.
First, as far as the fax not working, these are the steps she took me through to get it working. I haven't had a problem with it since.
Anyway, the steps are:
1. Auto Answer button on the printer faceplate should be lit up.
2. Press Setup, then #3, then #2. Set the number of rings before answering. Press OK, then the reversing arrow to get back to the main menu.
3. Press Setup, then #4, then #1. This sets the Distinctive Ring to All Rings. Press OK, then the reversing arrow to go back to the main menu.
4. Press Setup, then #4, then #4. Leave this setting ON. Press OK, then go back to the main menu.
5. Press Setup, then #4, then #6. Change the Connection Error Mode to OFF. Press OK, then go back to the main menu.
The fax should work fine now for both incoming and outgoing faxes.

Second was the critical problem of the printer constantly uninstalling and reinstalling itself. It turns out this is a problem caused by the Microsoft Windows updates. Apparently it conflicts with the HP software and tries to reinstall the HP printers every time you shut down or reboot.
1. Unplug the USB cable from the tower
2. Insert the HP printer CD
3. Select Add A Device
4. Select USB Port.
5. Connect the USB cable.
6. Go to My Computer and open the CD. Look for OJP_7X00 on the disc.
Right click and open it.
7. Doubleclick on UT:/folder
8. Doubleclick on CCC
9. Doubleclick on Uninstall L2
10. Disconnect the USB cable from the PRINTER only.
11. Press Enter, and a blue screen will pop up for the Cleanup Process.
12. When the blue screen shows that the cleanup is done, press Enter on
the keyboard.
13. Restart the computer.
14. Open and close the CD drawer.
15. Select Install on the new window
16. DO NOT check the Automatic Updates selection
17. Do the Recommended Install, allow to fully load, then connect the USB cable to the printer, and it should show that the device has been detected.
18. Now go to Start > Run and type in services.msc and press OK.
19. Look for HP CUE Device Discovery Service in the list and doubleclick on it.
20. Change the Startup Type to Disable. Click Stop. Apply. OK. Close the Services window.
21. Go to Start > Run and type in msconfig to see the System Configuration Utility Window. Go to the Services tab and check to see that it no longer shows HP CUE Device Discovery Service in the list.
22. If it is no longer there, click OK and close the window.
23. Restart the computer to be sure it is really disabled and no longer trying to reinstall the printer with every startup reboot.