Driver HP Officejet 6500A Plus (CN557A)

[cesare71]

I've just bought an HP Officejet 6500A Plus (CN557A) for my company.

In our company we also have few Windows XP 64bit and Mac OS X 10.4 machines.

I can't find available drivers for those operating system.

I don't need full functionallity but at least the availability of driver to print from those machines.

I knew HP has universal printing drivers but we cannot find them or download them.

Here there's an example: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&tmp_geoLoc=true&software...

This should be the universal printer driver for OS X 10.4 but the download link seems not to be working (I've tried both with ie 7 and with firefox 11.0.

Could you help?

Thank you,

Cesare

[ShlomiL]

Hi Cesare,

Officially, there are no Mac OS X 10.4 drivers for the device as the device is supported by Mac OS X 10.5 and below as you may find listed below:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02291053&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&lc=en&product=408...

The Universal print driver link you listed above does not provide any download link, as listed by its description:

The latest Universal printer driver for this device is built into Mac OS X 10.4 for print only functionality and does not require a download or reinstallation of any HP software to print.

You  may try adding the printer by using the Deskjet 6500 as alternative driver. I believe it should work as both of the printers use the same printing language:

1. From the Applications/Utilities folder, launch the Printer Setup Utility.
2. click on Add.
3. Select the connection type (Bonjour for network or USB).
4. And then create new HP printer queue. 

You should see any option to select an existing print driver, the Deskjet 6500 Series should be listed.

Regards,

Shlomi

The Printer Setup Utility is found in the folder.

[cesare71]

Sorry about that!
I haven't read the description. Just saw the download link...

I'm gonna try it and try your solution as soon as I can.

Any suggestion also for the windows XP 64bit? This operating system is not listed as compatible...

Thanks!
Cesare

[ShlomiL]

Hi Cesare,

No reason to sorry

For XP 64 bit you may follwo the steps below:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00625738&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=2030&product=718...

After step 6, create a new TCP/IP port by providing the printer IP address.

Continue following the directions till step 15.

Regards,

Shlomi

[BMcM]

I didn't see Deskjet 6500 Series in the list of HP drivers when I performed this step, so I took a chance and chose HP Deskjet 690 series instead. To my amazement, it worked. I can now print to the Officejet 6500A (E710a) from my old Powerbook G4 running OS 10.4.11. I hope this keeps working. The printer is also used by other Macs, running Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion. They were never a problem.