6480 issue: huge delay in printing. [ Edited ]

[Heezea]

The problem seems to be a lack of communication or hugely delayed communication between my pc and my printer. Once it starts to actually print, it prints at normal speed. If i print a document, it goes into the que, but won't print. Then all of a sudden, it will start printing anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes later.

If i clear the que, it won't clear at all unless i reboot or use the HP Print Diagnostic Utility to "fix" the que. it will just say "deleting" for a while and then disappear suddenly.

I've tried connecting the printer both wirelessly and with a usb cable and am having the exact same issues.

I've tried printing directly to the printer without spooling, this causes programs like word to lock up and just locks the to-be-printed documents in the que.

I've tried with spooling, this just puts items in the que and then delays the starting of the printer as described above.

I've used the HP Print Diagnostic Utility and if nothing is in the que, then everything comes up with green checks and shows all clear.

I've checked to ensure proper driver usage (using 6400 series driver, version 10).

I have plenty of RAM, hard-drive space and have my printer set to use "plain paper."

I'm using Vista 64 SP1.

All in all i've been busy with this for over 7 hours. I'm at a loss.

Can anyone please help me?

Thanks for your time.

Message Edited by Heezea on 04-15-2009 01:51 PM

[Heezea]

Update: I sent an email to HPsupport and they sent me a link to:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=mp-69032-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=2100&product=3635378

When i run the update, it tells me that i "do not have any drivers that would be updated by this install" or something of that nature. 

I recontatcted HPsupport and they told me that this is normal as the update will run very quickly and you'll barely notice it. So if it's giving you the msg that it isn't updating anything, you have updated already.

Anyway, i'm still facing the delay in printing. When i print something off, i have to wait 5 minutes for the printer to kick in and then it prints just fine. So odd. Anyone know what's going on? 

[arrowhead]

Are you using a static IP, my printer is wired not wirless.  Solution Center (10), printer, scanner etc. was working just fine when I had my printer set to use a DHCP address.  Oh using Vista Home Premium for the OS.  After I switched it to a static IP (outside the DHCP scope) the connection to it went belly up.  I added the printer hostname and IP to a host and lmhost file which seems to have helped a (very little) bit.  Now if I turn the printer on after the PC is up the first print job hangs and a solution center pop up appears and if you open it, in the window is a fix it box that does a reconnect to the printer.  I think it is just restarting the print spooler or one of there many memory hog .exe's or .dll's 

THE PROBLEM as I see it (and apparently on other posts on all the other forums I've checked) is that the HP Solution Center Software is for Sh_t, and using the printer without it and with only the drivers does not work well either.  I haven't wasted my time as yet to contact their support but my first questiion to them is going to be how do I get a refund on the Solution Center portion of my purchase.  It's a simple thing using a static IP!  Did your developers not bother to try it on a printer with a static IP.  Sorry went off a bit on this reply as you can tell I am not pleased at all with the HP software, printer works well though when you can get connected to it.

[Heezea]

You know, i can't really tell if i'm losing connection to the printer. When i try to make the printer pop up a help menu from the printer, it says "there is no computer connection." Yet i have my printer connected via usb to my computer.

On the other hand, if i go wireless, i get the same msg.

However, when i go wireless and i look at my "netwrok" with windows explorer, i see my printer right there.

Also, the printer icon is online in my  control panel.

And then of course, the printer is still printing....eventually, after the usual 5 or more minute delay.

So the printer doesn't see the computer but the computer sees the printer (wireless or usb connected). But when i go to the ip webpage, everything shows fine. When i run the diagnostics utility, everything shows fine.

I've tried just the drivers which i got online and i've tried the cd installation (this takes forever to install and slows my computer way the hell down).

Nothing seems to work the way it should.

I too am pretty amazed that this company is having so many issues. The forums are covered with people looking for help related to all their printers it seems like. Not just this j6480.