Reinstall HP printer msi.dot4wrp error here's how

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1576 Location: London

I needed to reinstall my ( 3 week old) J6410 multifunction printer, on HP's advice. (Because I'd uninstalled the fax driver and their software has no facility to reinstall it,- that's almost worth a post on its own!).
Then I couldn't get it to reinstall.
HP were useless. Nothing they said worked.
Then they wanted to charge me £20 ($30) because they said the problem was on my machine and not part of the warranty.

But they didn't get back to me, so I had another go.
I managed to get the printer reinstalled last night, but it wasn't a normal proccess, or an easy one.

I'd done all the things that HP support and the HP forums said. Reregistering atl.dll. Using regserver32 to reregister something or other, etc etc.

I'd tried running it in the super administrator log-in. I'd even tried safe mode ( that didn't work because it needs the spooler service running).

I uninstalled Vista SP2.

None of it worked.
But HP's paid service didn't get back to me last night

So I tried again.

I found a forum post for a different HP machine that said you have to remove manually every trace of the HP install. Any HPz* HPq* HPx* file, folder or registry entry.

So I manually searched and uninstalled all those files and registry entries and rebooted a few times, but in the system32 folder there were 4 files that would not delete. I changed the permissions, I tried super adminstrator. I couldn't delete these files. They were all "owned" by "System" and would not delete. One was a dot4wrp.dll which is the same name as the msi that was the problem, which is probably the explanation..

So then I Booted into Linux ( from my USB pen drive) and removed ( renamed) them from outside Windows.

A quick reboot and I ran CCleaner to be on the safe side, as well.

And then it installed beautifully.

The problem wasn't my machine at all. I reckon that those files ( or at least one of them) stops itself from being deleted on uninstall or overwritten on reinstall.

The fact is that HP software is bloated and crude - a lot of it seems to be there to push their products not run the printer. So things go wrong. And their support is totally useless. They rely on a script and if that doesn't work they have no idea what to do next. Except maybe charge for a paid service.

Terry

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

I'll add to the rant. They aren't any better on this side of the Atlantic! ( I think I was speaking to someone in the Phillipines). I was on the phone with HP tech support for over two hours (not my idea) helping one of my seniors get an HP All-in-One installed wirelessly. It didn't work, several times. So she called and handed the phone to me. He asked permision to take control of the computer - no problem. Do what has to be done to get it working. Of course he had me do everything I'd already done a few more times. Nothing. I finally said, forget the wireless, let's install it connected by USB. Oh boy. I lost count of how many times he had us pull the power plug and the USB cable. The computer NEVER saw the HP. We never even got a popup that a USB device was connected or detected. When it looked like he was about to remove all her USB drivers, I quickly cut off his remote access to the computer. I did not want him screwing up the USB devices that currently work! She told him we were hanging up. He said, call back and ask for Level 2 support. She said, you should have turned us over to level two support an hour ago!

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1576 Location: London

The thing is the problem is a compound one.
The initial software install is bloated :175mb in the main "programme files" folder alone, which is not a full installation, I only have the bits I need, or can't get rid of, and yet is the same size as my MS Office installation and it has other files and folders all over the place,
It's incredibly complicated and as it turns out, deeply flawed.
It has a set of uninstall routines (L1 thro' L4) that are just as awful and don't work properly.
And a support system that matches the above, bloated, complicated and ineffectual.

I wrote the initial post for several reasons;
So that any other poor Devil stuck with msi.dot4wrp errors has a way to get it sorted. If they can find a way to get rid of those files in the system32 folder.
And to register my protest about HP.
And to warn off anyone with limited technical skills who thinks that an HP All-in-one printer is a good idea.
I don't know if any other HP device is as bad. (Though, it occurs to me that my daughter's HP computer is one of those that can't install XP SP3 Crying or Very sad

)

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1576 Location: London

I had Epsons for years, back since those days when there were holes along the sides. But I began to find they were getting clunky and slow compared to other makes. And there were problems with the (expensive) ink getting blocked.
My last printer, a Canon, is actually still doing very well in my younger daughter's room, as is the Epson scanner.
But I really liked this HP All-in-one. It's just the c**p software that comes with it that's a problem. And touch wood, at least that's all working well - and I know what to do next time. Rolling Eyes

Would I recommend it to a general user?
Definitely not. When it goes wrong they'd be stuffed. I ran pretty close.
And I've copied the steps I took to our IT technicians at work, too - because they're going to hit this problem at some point, we have a lot of HP printers and MFDs now.

EDIT

I've just discovered that HP's "Scan to Email" client doesn't support Thunderbird ( or anything else non-Microsoft), because, they say, it hasn't been tested with Thunderbird. How pathetic!!!!
Terry

Dee101 · Joined: Dec 09, 2007 Posts: 36

For a company that makes such good printers, HP makes dreadful install sets. This has been a bug of mine for years.

Just a few things I've found that may help:
1. HP AIOs must be uninstalled before the next can be installed. No problem on a new machine ... big problem on older machines if the printer is a replacement to an older or non-working model. Some setup discs that come with their printers contain a folder "cc" that has 4 bat files. These delete files from the PC, stop and uninstall services and remove registry entries. Run them in order, rebooting between each, and it does a complete job. (Between you and me, however, have a system backup first. I forget which model I was using, but the bat files corrupted dotNet Framework 1.1).
2. If your AIO disk is not available, the utilities mentioned in item #1 are not part of the download from the HP website. Use the HP uninstall shortcut installed rather than the Windows Uninstall to get this out as much as possible. I then use JV16 Power Tools to find residual registry entries (and startup entries -- these must be removed first),. For the newer AIOs, this is sometimes adequate.
3. The cheaper the printer, the worse the install set (and bad install means really bad uninstall).
4. A number of the recent inexpensive HP printers try to install Flash9 even if you have Flash10 installed. If you let it error out on this, then hit cencel, it will go forward and complete the install about 75% of the time. This is at the 96% point in the install.
5. HP has changed the registration URL from the one called on some of their disks and the install will seem to error out on the registration (at 98%). You can hit cancel or register later.

If anyone from HP is reading this -- it is only a small percentage of your support people who seem to know any of this. [/list]

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1576 Location: London

I have to say, I don't think it's just the install sets. it's all their software.
My original issue and need to reinstall was that the fax driver just stopped working, but the faxing directly from the printer was fine. There wasn't any kind of error message, it just stopped doing anything. But when I followed the instructions how to remove the fax driver ( delete it) there was no method for reinstalling it. So then I had to try a complete un- and reinstall ( their suggestion). And then I found myself unable to reinstall after I'd uninstalled.
But also, the "HP solution centre" is unwieldy and unpleasant.
A geat chunk of it is taken up with their marketing. I don't want a set of HP adverts on my machine. But that's what these are.
Further the software is massive. I could go on....

Dee101 · Joined: Dec 09, 2007 Posts: 36

I agree that the software could be better. It seems they buy separate apps and combine them to distribute with the printer.

I am just not convinced that they test the "software packages" well enough for install and uninstall to give people adequate confidence in their product. I just bought another HP AIO for my use ... I just bit my nails until I saw the install worked.

I do scan through Picassa rather than the HP app.

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1576 Location: London

Furthermore....:
As I was typing the above my daughter came to ask about an error messge on her laptop. It wouldn't go away, or rather kept popping back.
And it was HP update.
To be precise it was the maddening MSI message ( and that's down to Microsoft of course) demanding a file that it couldn't find before it would complete the HP update install.
While the awful MSI was the problem, it's HP's install was the cause. The machine is untweaked. There is absolutely no reason for HP's update install to fail to find the files it needs.
Clearly, if the Microsoft install wasn't so horrible we could have just hit "cancel" and it woud have gone away.
But it shouldn't have appeared in the first place. And that's down to HP.
I looked to stop automatic updates. And that's not obvious either. There is a setting for automatic update. But that appears to only stop updates for the help files!!!!!!
To stop the HP automatic updates, you have to start HP manual update first, then change the setting there. Not from within the HP settings page. Madness.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Maybe NOT all, but MOST auto updaters can be found in "MSCONFIG" under the Startup tab.

Many programs want to jump into that Startup folder when they install or update.
Java, Real Player and Adobe Reader are prime examples.

So just to be safe, I always run MSCONFIG and check that Startup folder after I install new software.
Nothing in there should be checked, unless it's absolutely, positively, Necessary to run your computer.
I've seen run lists with over thirty entries.
It makes me shudder to just think about it !!!!

Just go to the HJT log section of any help forum and read a few of those HJT Logs and look at the lines that have RUN near the beginning of the line.
You'll see what I'm talking about. Rolling Eyes

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor Cool

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

You should be running either Startup Monitor or WinPatrol. Both are free and allow YOU to control what loads at startup and what can run while the computer is on.
I have all those silly "check for updates" disabled from things like HP and logitech.