Vista - HP Printer gets "lost" - Help?

I have read with interest many threads on the subject and it is obvious there
is a problem with the HP Printer Drivers (for the ALl-in-Ones) and Microsoft
Vista. My problem is very similar but I dont think it is the same. I chose
not to post to the end of the thread here (since it has been inactive for 2
months and besides an error occured when I tried to reply on it - I would
link to it but I am no longer able to find it) Hopefully no one will
chastise me for cluttering the boards with redundant posts. If this is a dbl
post... Im sorry, I tried to post but got an error, copied my post to "Word",
"X"'d out of this app, looked for the post and now have copied it all back.

I have a home network which consists of 6 computers (2 on Win2K, 3 on XP and
my newest one on Vista Home Premium). I bought Vista in January when I built
this computer because it seemed like it (Vista) had been out long enough that
the bugs should be worked out and no use buying old (and soon to be EOL)
products. I have had the HP 7210 for a while (1 year plus) with no problem
printing from any of the computers. The HP7210 has built in networking,
therefore it is connected to the other computers via ethernet. None of the
computers are wireless. All are running zone alarm internet security suite
(auto updated to current versions) Windows is also kept patched to current
versions/security releases via auto update. The HP drivers are also kept up
- to - date via autoupdate.

When ever I need to print I have to reboot my computer. I do not need to
reinstall the drivers as stated in other threads. It will then work for some
amount of time (measured in minutes perhaps even an hour or two) and then if
I need to print again I need to reboot. I don't believe it is related to
going into suspend as the drivers have quit responding while I was actively
using the computer and I have recently (a week ago thereabouts) disabled the
harddrive going into sleep mode, so now only the monitor can. I do not see
any error messages, simply the print job doesnt make it to the printer and
stays in the print queue until I reboot. It will start before I log back
into Vista. I sometimes wonder if some permissions are set wrong somewhere
but I don't even know where else to look.

I followed a suggestion I read here about disabling HP Cue DeviceDiscovery
but when I go into services it says it is started but the button to stop it
is greyed out. Also I can make no changes in the properties tab.

I read on HP's site that they do not intend to provide more than basic
printing drivers for the All-in-One printers under Vista and if you dont like
that buy a new printer. (ok, so I paraphrase a bit) Interestingly enough
when it is working, I can scan, fax and print either initiated from my Vista
PC or from the printer to my Vista PC. It just randomly quits working
requiring a reboot (or 20).

I had a similar problem but with a different printer but it was that my
driver had gotten corrupt so I reloaded it and everything was ok. Maybe you
can find your thread on Google Groups:

http://groups.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg

I know the problem well ... but not a solution. I have a 7310 and it kept
getting lost with Vista but never with XP. I did receive an update notice
from HP that it had installed ( auto update ) a fix, but that didn't work.
Soon thereafter the fax part of the printer (scan ) started jamming, but its
weird because it works fine in Copy mode ... and dies in Fax mode ... even
as a stand alone device !

So I started looking for a scanner that would work with my Vista Ultimate
Fax and Scan. It won't support TWAIN so I need a WIA scanner. The problem
is all my research leads nowhere. The specs on the scanners do not show if
they are WIA compliant !

It sure is becoming hard to do business with computers these days.

I did install a new Color Laser (HP ) directly to my Vista machine and it
works fine ... so far. I think the issues are with Vista's security and
network printers ( direct connect to the network ). I also never had
problems with printers connected to another computer and shared.

Good luck.





"SLorenson" <SLorenson@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5CC99CC2-713E-4058-AE6E-FC0B718DCA80@xxxxxx