C4580 Network printer won't print.

[IvanMann]

I got a C4580 for Christmas, installed it on my Mac to print over the wireless network, and everything worked.  After a while it stopped printing; after trying a few things I deleted the printer and then went through the complete install process again, and it printed for a while, but now it has stopped printing again.  For a while, I would get a message frequenly on the Mac that indicated it had lost the connection and ask to reconnect.  I would tell it to reconnect, and it would print.  Now I get that message, but it doesn't print after I reply.  I just deleted the printer, reinstalled it from Preferences, and it still will not print.

In the printer utlility I can print the test page.  Photosmart Studio can read the scan image.  The imbedded web browser communicates and gets believable results for the ink levels. 

When I try to print something, it goes onto the print queue for a few seconds, then the queue empties out, just as if it has printed, but the printer does nothing.  I can pause the printer, queue things to print, and then restart it.  They go off the queue slowly, but nothing prints.  If I try to scan something using the printer utility, the scanner process hangs for a long time.  While it is waiting, the printer says it is scanning, but the scanner never moves.  Eventually the printer says it is canceling, and the scan process eventually says it is getting an error.  

[ECB]

IvanMann described the same problem that my C4580 printer is having. I, too, received the printer for Christmas, it worked for about 3 days, and now it will not print. The printer also shuts off without notice.

[IvanMann]

Actually, I seem to have found a solution, but only in the lamest sense of the word.  I took the cd with the original software, reloaded it, and was able to print.

Of course, that took 20-25 minutes to print three or four pages, a significant amount of my time to answer all of the prompts, and I wound up with the version of software that has already been updated twice.  There is no way to tell if I need to do this other than "printing" something, walking downstairs to see if it worked, and then reloading.

Unless the people who want to sell these printers can find something a lot better, I would not be able to recommend this to my friends.

Ivan  

[ECB]

Thanks for this note, Ivan. Did you get the updated versions of the C4580 software on line? If it takes 20-25 minutes to print 3-4 pages, this printer does not meet my expectations. Have you contacted HP? This is a new model, I understand, and it seems that the "bugs" haven't been worked out.

[Rudifa]

I had same kind of problems, like other customers (both Mac and Windows users), as described in another thread.

My advice : take the C4850 back to the shop and get a refund.

Rudifa

[IvanMann]

The issue may be resolved.

In one of the responses for HP support, they said to delete the printer and redefine it, step 3 was:

Add the printer that says Network or HPIP instead of Bonjour.

Somebody somewhere said there were problems with Bonjour.  I do not know what that means, but I did this two days ago and so far have had no problems.  We will see, I guess. 

[ECB]

Thanks, Ivan. I'll give this a try. I appreciate your help!

[Wi-Fi-Guy]

Interesting ... I usually recommend just the opposite:  use Bonjour instead of HPIP.