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What printer?

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Stoic Joker:
Hm... (Confession-> The company I work for is an HP Authorized Service Provider (Er... Dealer if you will).

Now that being said, I also do not "give quarter" when it comes to poor quality... But I can probably explain some of what you've encountered.

HP's bundled Printer Software SucKs (true) ... Even they know that which is why they either offer a corporate/business version of their (newer) drivers, or put (well hide....) a custom install option in the driver install software that will actually (*Shocking*) just let you install the driver without the 700MB of (The printer is now your new (god awful chatty) best friend) "Support Software".

If the printer is BSODing Vista, then it's still using an older Kernel Mode driver ... there should be a newer User Mode driver available (no it won't be clearly marked that way).

I've not a clue on the exchange rate ($200 AU -vs- $200 US). But $200 US will put you in the home user budget/class of device.

If you can clarify your usage requirements it would greatly assist in making a recommendation.

Target:
If the printer is BSODing Vista, then it's still using an older Kernel Mode driver ... there should be a newer User Mode driver available (no it won't be clearly marked that way).
-Stoic Joker (August 07, 2008, 06:55 AM)
--- End quote ---

interesting - letting the auto update function run doesn't find anything new, nor does there appear to be anything on there website

If you can clarify your usage requirements it would greatly assist in making a recommendation

--- End quote ---

I suppose in general terms our usage requirements are pretty low - we want to be able to print the occasional photo, but mostly it's a pretty standard fare (mixed text and images), hence the budget allocation.  My wife does uses the copy/scan function a lot

the exchange rate is currently pretty close (about .9 to 1), however the translation isn't necessarily that simple, eg prices for the printers quoted above were over double here what they appear to have cost in the US

 

Stoic Joker:
So... I'm guessing that you'd be happy to stay with the printer you now have (cheaper) ... IF you could get the blasted thing to work! ...Yes?

I do have one question, that came up while I was looking into this. There are actually two different HP 4280 AIO's:
     Photosmart C4280 All-in-One Printer
     Deskjet F4280 All-in-One Printer

Now the DJ F4280 hasn't had a driver update in over a year, but it has no Card Reader (Which you mentioned having trouble with.

The PS C4280 has a driver update that came out last month, and it also has a Card Reader. (Granted I've caught HP back dating drivers to make it look like they weren't slacking before...) It might be worth exploring the 6/2008 v11.0 driver's Basic (e.g. driver only) Driver Package.

Also, never "update" a USB printer driver (I don't care what the book says... ;)).
1. Strip out all instances of the printer driver (and any drivers for printers that no longer exist).
2. Uninstall all of the HP software in Control Panel->Programs & Features (Was Add/Remove prog)
3. Disconnect the printer (USB) and reboot the machine to be sure it's all gone.
4. then reinstall the (Driver Only) "Basic" Driver Package (and don't plug in the USB cable until the install says to).

Let me know how it goes.

Target:
it's moot now as we returned the thing - getting rid of the software was something elsee again though

Using Revo, I removed everyting I could find - it took about 90 minutes and I'm not 100% convinced I got everything, but that's a job for another day

We are looking at a Canon MP610 as a replacement - seems to be somewhere in the middle of the available range quality wise, but only time will tell

BTW, Revo reported over 9000 orphan/redundant registry entries during the uninstallation process (WHAAAAT!!) - not hard to see why people get into trouble, or why our systems get untidy over time...   

cranioscopical:
I'm sure you're ahead of me but I'll say this anyway...
If you can get to a store that has one, I'd certainly take a look at the output from an MP610 before buying, especially its text.
I've no reason to think it'll be anything other than acceptable but it's always good to see some physical output before buying any printer.

Good luck in your hunt!

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