Done with Hewlett-Packard

Frank Fusco

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12,782
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
I had my computer formated recently. In the process my printer driver was lost. No big deal. Right?
Wrong.:mad:
The all-in-one printer/scanner is several years old but works fine. However, HP will no longer provide drivers for it. So, now it is junk. And, I expect HP expects me to buy a new printer. I may have to but it sure will not be an HP. And, I do not plan to ever buy another HP product. This non-service stinks.
I e-mailed them and they are "investigating".
 
How old is that printer, Frank? What Win system are you using? Microsoft is no longer supporting Win XP, so that might also be a source for your problem.

I recently installed a ten year old HP 'multi-function' printer on a Win 7 system, and Windows found and installed the drivers with no problem at all. I just plugged in the printer (USB cord) and got a 'ding' then the message "found new hardware; installing drivers."
 
As stated there may be newer drivers built into the OS, and if using an old unsupported OS, how long should a company pay for space for access to drivers for a long not produced product? Normally they provide a driver disc with the printer (where is that) and did you ever download a newer one? Where did you back that up to?
 
Condiering that the cost of storage is pennies to corporations, they could store every driver they've ever issued in a gigabyte or so, and keep it available until the sun burns out. However, that would defeat the principle of planned obsolescence. There may be third parties around who have drivers for older machines. Do some Googling.
 
What model is the printer and what version is your OS on the computer?

The printer is an F4180, identical to other model numbers except this number identifies it as having been purchased at Wal-Mart. I forget how long I have had it, probably five years. My OS is Vista Home Premium. I agree, HP could store drivers until the sun burns out. I finally found a contact and got an email with a phone number. I told the tech the website was a mess. Every time I entered my model number for a download the site took me to another page that asked for my model number, and that page........ She agreed with me their website is poorly designed. Then she sent me a link for the download. That link took me to a now familiar page that asked for my model number........:pullhair:...........do I need to tell you what happened there?:bang: I'm now waiting for another call back which they said could take two more days. Color me unhappy.:(
 



It worked. I thank you. BTW, that page looks nothing like the HP pages I have been to or the HP tech sent me to. And, I still have not heard back from their advanced tech support. Don't need them now. Thanks again.
 
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