HP support for Vista

Hi,

Does anybody use a network HP printer such as the Photosmart C6280 All-in-One ?

I am really unhappy with the HP products (in general), their softwares, their drivers and their support for Vista. I would like to know your opinion and maybe see if you would advice for another brand ?

Here is my last issue with this printer: when I wake up my PC after a Standby (Sleep mode), I have the following error message : [FONT=&quot]HP Network Devices Support has stopped working [/FONT]

I reported this to HP and here the suggested solution:
- Click on Start andthen on Control Pannel
- Select Administrative Tools
- Select Services
- Select " [FONT=&quot]HP Network Devices[/FONT]" and open the properties
- Stop the service and next change the startup type to Disabled

Waow ! For sure, if I don't use the service, it won't crash... The problem is that this service was useful for me as I use DHCP a lot on my home network. This service indeed discovers and monitors the state and the configuration of the HP devices attached to the network. If the service is stopped, and the network devices change IP addresses, they might become unavailable.

This was not explained by the HP support.... And it didn't mention either that in addition to disabling this service, I had to set a static IP on the printer... So I am really disappointed by this kind of support.

That was only my last issue. It was already a real pain in the ... to install the printer as the drivers conflicted with the Nvidia Network Access Manager (I had to remove it otherwise the network completely stopped to work). Also the automatic update (a service running in the background and visible in the systray) always failed because it didn't automatically shutdown the services and couldn't therefore upgrade them. I had to stop them manually or to run the update from Start/All Progams/HP (then it was ok ?). I also hate the HP installer as it keeps installing the french version of the softwares and don't give me any choice there. I only have the english language pack of Vista installed but I am using the "French" regionnal settings (for the currency and number formats)... And I have much more other complains, such as completely blank screens (no text...) when uninstalling the HP softwares. Really not easy when you have to choose between two buttons during the removal...

I would really like to know if the same (or so many) issues occur on Vista with Canon or Epson printers ?

O.

Hi OgeGOon,

I bought an HP laptop in September of 2007. Right out of the box, one of the hard drives failed. I have been in contact with HP support many times since then (what a 3 ring circus they have got there) and have been sent 3 replacement drives. None of them were the right ones for my system. The first drive I had to wait almost 3 months for. They really are too big and don't know what they have in their own machines. The fact that you can't even get decent tech support from them is a good reason to not deal with them any more.

I tried getting an email address out of them to file a complaint and they flat out refused to give me one. To this date, I still don't have a replacement drive for my laptop. The warranty has expired so I guess I'm out of luck.

Don't deal with HP is the point of this post. I won't even buy so much as copy paper from them again. When looking at electronics, the first thing I ask is "is it HP?" I won't buy it if it is. I will do my best to steer my friends away from buying from HP as well.

Sorry I don't have a fix for your problem. The only thing I can suggest is to uninstall all the crapware that HP installed on your computer and try it again. What I have done is a clean install from a Vista DVD that I happened to have and used Windows Update to install the drivers. I didn't have to install things like the wireless assistant and HP update and the Realtek crapware etc. I just installed the drivers and had a clean system. You should be able to get your printer working from there.

Good Luck!!

Snarks

yeh me too....i bought a Hp Pavilion PC in July 08 then my sound card drive had a problem when i first took it out of my box, i had the motherboard replaced and now my mic drive is not working really good...gosh what the hell, i wish i did not buy it