HP Support Forum

[#1]

I have been experiencing unusual (I hope) behavior when printing wirelessly to the photosmart c4780 printer.  Basically, when I try to print, the request shows up in the print queue immediately and shows a status of  "connected to printer" and a also begins to show a status of "idle" for the printer after several seconds.  This idle status persists for some time, about 1-2 minutes, before the status changes to "printing".  Once printing begins, the printer usually prints the first few lines, pauses for several seconds, then finishes the document (for simple, text only documents).  For more elaborate print jobs it can get stuck and pause for several seconds or minutes multiple times during the print job and sometimes will not even print the entire document!

This is very frustrating and I have tried a variety of things to fix the issues including:

-Printing from different computers (laptops running Mac 10.5 and 10.6)

-setting up a static IP for the printer (outside the DHCP range, gateway and DNS fields left blank)

-Adding the printer using the Bonjour protocol and using all the option under the IP tab (using the static IP address)

-Updating the firmware on the wireless router to the most current version

I get the same results for all of the changes listed above.  Also, the scanner feature works just fine when accessed through Preview or other programs (wirelessly) and doesn't experience any noticeable lags, so it seems that the issue is more complicated than just a bad/slow connection between the devices.  

Any suggestions on ways to resolve this issue would be appreciated

My setup:

- Computers - 13" MacBook Pro running 10.6.3 - 15" and an old-school PowerBook G4 and iBook both running 10.5

-Printer - HP Photosmart C4780

- Router - Linksys WRT54G v8 with 8.00.8 firmware w/ WPA2 personal security enabled

[#2]

You have tried all the right stuff!  Great work!

What channel is your router on?  Try channel 11 or something different, but stick to 1, 6 or 11.

[#3]

I have the same behavior!  Never in 20 years have I seen such poor documentation and setup and performance from HP!!!

iMac 3 GHz intel new

Mac OS X 10.6

linksys (cisco) WRT54G2 V1 (latest firmware, running WEP because of other devices)

takes 1-2 min for first page to come out over wireless.  what is it doing?  imaging is done quick on these fast machines... USB is the way to go...but that's NOT why I bought a wifi printer!!!!

rubbish!!!!

please make good with firmware or whatever upgrades, HP.  you dishonor the JetDirect legacy!!!!

[#4]

I've seen this before with Mac's and wireless H-P printers.  One suggestion that has worked in the past is to change the printer driver to one of the older drivers that are available in the base Mac OS.

Go to System Preferences then access the Print & Fax applet.  Press the + button to add a printer and you should be presented with a list of all the printers on your network.  Select the C4780 / Bonjour and for "Print Using" select  the HP Photosmart P1100 - Gutenprint v5.1.3 and press "Add".

Let me know if this works.

[#5]

Jim

Thanks.  That does appear to have done the trick.  Fingers crossed.

[#6]

I can't downgrade to an earlier driver because I'm on a brand new machine with Snow Leopard...must use the ones that shipped.

Still no satisfaciton or updates from HP.

Many have told me that HP has been a real disappointment for the Mac user for a couple of years...wish I would have researched it first.  I still can't believe that HP and Apple would team up to push this rubbish in the Apple stores!!!

Who is better now for the home Mac user?  Canon?  Brother?  Epson?

[#7]

You can insert your OS X disc and load any or all printer drivers into your Mac any time you want.

[#8]

Now if only I could find a way to get the **bleep** thing to print duplex from the Mac.  It works just fine under Windows...

Edit I can't believe that HP is sensitive to the word "dam" with an "n" added to the end.  If only HP could build printer drivers for OS X that worked as efficiently as its profanity filter.

[#9]

Same here. The exact same problem!

At least I didn't pay any money for this piece of garbage. I'll probably throw it in the trash when the cartridges run out.

Here's my new iMac, which I purchased mainly because my son's HP Pavillion laptop's 

GPU burned up twice!! Another piece of HP crap.

27" - 3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Mac OS X 10.6.4

Linksys WRT150N

[#10]

I frequently have this problem and none of the tips on this forum really seems to address this problem long term...

I thought I should share one tip I found by accident though!

When I look at my job in the print queue and go crazy wonder WTH the printer is waiting for, there's something that seems to give it a kick in the pants and get it going:

• Click "Printer Setup" in the toolbar
• Click "Utility" tab
• Open Printer Utility

Then it says connecting to device... and within a couple of seconds finds the printer and finally starts printing!! 

Now, I've no freakin' idea why that seems to help, but it works for me and may help other customers who go crazy with this issue (and even maybe some good HP Engineer samaritan a clue at fixing this in the next driver update?