No Vista drivers for HP Color Laserjets

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

After a day of failing to get my LaserJet 2500 migrated from my old XP
system to my new VIsta machine I gave up and called HP Support. In
spite of what they say on their website the bottom line is there are no
Vista drivers available now (22 Mar 07) for the color LAserJet printers.
The HP rep said they had heard the drivers might be available by the
end of March.

It is possible to install the generic Laserjet PCL 5 driver and run the
printer in B/W mode ONLY IF it is attached to the parallel printer port.
But apparently nothing will allow the printer to communicate via its
USB port.

Surprisingly, when I put the printer back on my XP system (it's a shared
network printer there) Vista was still unable to add it. Go figure.

To quote Ralph Cramden: What a sad state of affairs this is.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Bob Headrick · External Since: Dec 09, 2006 Posts: 10

"Birk Binnard" <birkb.DeleteThis@NOSPAMbirkbinnard.com> wrote in message
news:uk3i0ZNbHHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> After a day of failing to get my LaserJet 2500 migrated from my old XP
> system to my new VIsta machine I gave up and called HP Support. In spite
> of what they say on their website the bottom line is there are no Vista
> drivers available now (22 Mar 07) for the color LAserJet printers. The HP
> rep said they had heard the drivers might be available by the end of
> March.

There are now drivers available (Dated 23 Mar 07) at
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lan...n&cc=us

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

I see they have the EasyCare toolkit for VISTA now (although it's dated
November 2006 it's a recent release I believe) so you might try
installing that since it does enable you to vary settings.

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

Been there...done that. Those are PCL only drivers -- these let the
printer work in B/W mode only; no color support.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

That software is the status monitor, supply ordering, etc. stuff that
appears to be ok but cannot communicate with the printer becasue there
are no working drivers.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

DevilsPGD · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 483

In message <uk3i0ZNbHHA.4808.TakeThisOut@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl> Birk Binnard
<birkb.TakeThisOut@NOSPAMbirkbinnard.com> wrote:

>After a day of failing to get my LaserJet 2500 migrated from my old XP
>system to my new VIsta machine I gave up and called HP Support. In
>spite of what they say on their website the bottom line is there are no
>Vista drivers available now (22 Mar 07) for the color LAserJet printers.

Depends on the model -- My 2605dxi works great when connected directly
to the LAN, or shared out from another PC. I have not attempted to
connect the USB cable directly to my PC.

What connection methods do you have?
--
Insert something clever here.

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

The LJ2500 has one USB connector and one parallel port connector. I was
able to get the printer to print in B/W only using the parallel port,
but was unable to get any communication with it using USB.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Bob Headrick · External Since: Dec 09, 2006 Posts: 10

"Birk Binnard" <birkb.TakeThisOut@NOSPAMbirkbinnard.com> wrote in message
news:uGQv43QbHHA.4872@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Been there...done that. Those are PCL only drivers -- these let the
> printer work in B/W mode only; no color support.

Are you sure? I just downloaded and installed the PCL 6 drivers posted last
night (dated 23 Mar 07) and they seem to support color. PCL 5 and 6 do
support color. I do not have a PCL 6 printer to test it with, but the
driver tabs indicate color support.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

I'm sure. The PCL drivers are only for non-USB devices or network
attached printers.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

I'm a great believer in "when all the possible solutions have failed,
try the impossible ones".

Have you tried using Add Printer, ignoring the this will not work with
USB printers which install automatically, and selecting from the
printer list HP & 2500C ?

I have an LJ2200 installed. Under XP it was USB connected & installed
under one of those weird DOT4 ports when I installed VISTA and when
VISTA finished installing itself it found the LJ2200 and the PS8250 and
installed them with no problems. As far as I can see both drivers are
pretty full featured. The LJ2200 includes duplexing and the PS8250
definitely prints in color and sizes to fit etc.

Personally what I would do is uninstall the printer installation you
have and start all over again. I'd try just letting VISTA install it by
rebooting with the printer connected and turned on and if that does not
work I'd try forcing the HP 2500C driver that comes up when you use
Start / Settings / Printers / Add Printer

Good luck.

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

I guess great minds think alike!!

To fix the problem you have to ignore Vista's Add Printer message about
only using Add Printer for a non-USB device. As noted above, proceed to
add the printer as an HP PCL6 printer and then select one of the USB
ports for the printer. This is the key to getting the printer to work.

PCL 6 is necessary for color support. PCL 5 will work, but only print
in B/W.

A remaining problem is that the HP Easy Printer utility, which is needed
to check the printer status, cartridge status, etc., will not talk
across a USB port. It requires a DOT4 port which is a software driver I
have yet to find on the HP website.

At least I have the printer printing now. I'll work on the DOT4 problem
next.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

DevilsPGD · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 483

In message <edqsCpVbHHA.2448.TakeThisOut@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl> Birk Binnard
<birkb.TakeThisOut@NOSPAMbirkbinnard.com> wrote:

>The LJ2500 has one USB connector and one parallel port connector. I was
>able to get the printer to print in B/W only using the parallel port,
>but was unable to get any communication with it using USB.

Try forcing the PCL6 driver to install, gut feeling is that it will
work.
--
Insert something clever here.

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

I have a DOT4.sys file located:

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers

and there's also what I imagine is the INF file for installing it.

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\dot4.inf_024c3483

But I'm also wondering if VISTA did not realize the way my LJ2200d and
PS 8250 are set up in XP Pro with which I'm dual booted.

Certainly I did not have to tell it to make a DOT4 port and I don't
think you would go to HP to get one.

I do see that the Printer / Properties / Ports TABs for both my PS 8250
and my LJ2200d are grayed out and one cannot [Add Port]

Are you Dual booted as I am?

I also see looking at the Properties of my LJ2200d that it has had
installed the PCL5 driver and that when I scrolled down the printer
drop list under HP in Add Printer it does not show any PCL6 -- just
PCL5 and PS.

The other thing to try would be to log on as THE administrator, not as
an administrator/user, although I've upped the permissions for me when
I log on as admin/user.

Been checking on HP:

There might be something useful in this although it is XP, they are
both NT <g>

HP Color LaserJet 2550 Series Printer - Microsoft Windows XP Minimum
PCL6 Print Driver Install on a DOT4 Port Using a Parallel or USB
Connection

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?
lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00159564&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Also:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?
lang=en&cc=us&objectID=bpl10904&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

indicates you install the DOT4 from the printer CD -- try the XP CD?

All the documents stress the business of not having the USB cable or
the printer powered on during installation of the port.

Finally this may be a useful source of background, even if he refers
someone to a VISTA 64 driver who does not say he has a 64 bit
installation <g>

The HP LaserJet blog by Vince Ferraro

http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/laserjet/archive/0001/01/01/2761.html?
jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Have fun .....

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

Interesting. I have those 2 DOT4 files on my system as well, but it's
not clear to me how to install the driver. I copied the 3 files in the
INF file to a separate directory but the INF file says "Does not support
this method of installation."

My system shows no DOT4 ports available to assign to any printer.

The LJ2500 is an old printer and the CD provided is for XP. From
reading the HP website my impression is it will not work on Vista, but I
haven't actually tried it yet.

My system is not dual boot -- it is a brand new pure Vista machine.

I installed both PCL5 and PCL6 from the HP Vista download page. Using
the trick I noted above I was able to get both to work. But PCL5 would
not support color.

My system has only one user defined so I am by definition THE admin.

That blog was ionteresting; I tried to add a comment about teh DOT4
driver but it wouldn;t let me do that.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

In article <eo#OJtdbHHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>, Birk Binnard wrote:

> I have those 2 DOT4 files on my system as well, but it's
> not clear to me how to install the driver.

When you pull up the Properties of your printer and go to the Ports TAB
is your Add button grayed out or available. I'm fairly sure that is how
I got a DOT4 port for my LJ 2200d under XP where it was first installed
with a parallel connection but I switched to USB to get a longer cable
more cheaply than with parallel. But it may even have done it
automatically.

What I'd do is to:

(1) Remove the printer by deleting the icon in Settings / Printers;
reboot with the printer and its cable disconnected.

(2) Take the HP XP CD and put it in the CD drive with autoplay
disabled, either permanently or by holding down SHIFT until it stops
reading the media.

(3) Open Explorer or My Computer and on the HP XP CD locate either
autorun.exe or setup.exe and right mouse click on it, select properties
/ compatibility / XP and then Run as Administrator.

and see if that installs the HP XP software OK.

(4) Then plug in the USB cable and printer turned on and see what
happens! If the installation of the software tells you to connect the
printer then do it then and not after it Finishes.

> My system has only one user defined so I am by definition THE admin.

By your definition perhaps but maybe not in VISTA!

I found tucked away hidden but revealed when I changed some policy
setting that I now have a log-on icon for Administrator as well as for
Hugh -- who by definition is an Administrator/User. But if you study
the permissions for files etc under the Security TAB you'll see a lot
that this "administrator" cannot do.

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 37

Everything failed:

1. First I tried installing a new driver for the printer by specifying
"Have Disk" in the new driver dialog. I used that to browse to the
location you gave me for the DOT4 INF files (there are actually 2 of
them there.) Neither one would install.

2. I tried running the Setup program from the LJ2500 XP CD. It fails to
run under Vista.

3. I tried to install the DOT4 INF fine on the XP LJ2500 CD. It would
not install.

4. The message I posted on that HP Blog did finally appear, but there
are no responses to it. This is the URL for the blog:

http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/laserjet/archive/2007/03/15/2761.html

I did find an interesting KB article about how to make sharing work in
Vista. Turns out it's been changed (significantly) from XP. This is
the KB article:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx

I'm hoping this will let me share the printer with my XP system. If it
does I'll start a new thread here.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

In article <OhD1LhDcHHA.4872 RemoveThis @TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl>, Birk Binnard wrote:

> 2. I tried running the Setup program from the LJ2500 XP CD. It fails to
> run under Vista.

How about finding the Setup start file (setup.exe?), right mouse click on
it and set Compatibility mode to XP / XPSP2 then after OKing that Right
mouse click again and Run as Administrator?

Someone else has reported successful installation, not necessarily for your
printer, doing that.

Thanks for the links -- I'd seen the Ferraro one and was rather
disappointed with his rah rah approach!

Birk Binnard · External Since: Mar 27, 2007 Posts: 4

That sounds like a good approach to me, except for the fact that my Vista
system does nothing when I plug in the LJ2500. This is odd I know because it
does notice several other USB devices I have.

I'll try a coupl of different ways to forcce the Add Printer dialog to
install the DOT4 driver and will report back here my results. At least I now
know where the DOT4 software is. I'll post results next Tuesday.

Hugh Wyn Griffith · External Since: Feb 18, 2007 Posts: 423

Thanks for the good news -- it looks like the combination of Run as
Administrator and Compatibility mode may help with getting our stuff
working.

Thanks for the feedback.

niktrs · Joined: May 15, 2007 Posts: 1

I think the solution to everyone's problem for HP Laserjet 2550 on vista is to install the windows 2003 server driver instead of any other drivers in either windows vista or xp.

Nik