c8160 Windows 7 64bit - wired lan printer printer uninstalls itself - as usual

[Not2Happy]

The system is a new HPG71 with 64-bit Windows 7.

I got the system and installed latest driver last week, so it's all the latest,

and there is hardly anything else on it.  The laptop is behind

a firewall router and  the laptop has NOD32 Antivirus on it.

The printer is connected via lan cat-5e to the router.  The printer wireless

is off (I don't need it).  The laptop is usually connected to the router via a

wireless AP but I've almost exclusely connected the laptop directly

to the router to debug this problem.

So I have a connection to the printer from my laptop that is completely

wired going through the lan (just one router).

The printer installed fine and the "HP solution center" sees it.

Everything works fine for a few days...

But about once a week the Solution Center claims the printer wasn't

installed completely and  I see that the c6180 printer device is not in

the "Printers and Faxes" folder.

I also find a new "Add device" selection in the HP section of the Start Menu.

I click on that and it re-installs the device again.

It is the same old story, I've seen repeated on this forum.

Is some HP software re-installing the printer unsuccessfully and leaving

it in this broken state?  If so, I don't need it.  As I mentioned, I don't

need wireless and I have a fixed IP address for the printer.

And I can update the software/drivers myself when I need to.

At this point I'm wasting time disabling HP services to see if

that fixes something, but I wonder if somebody

has been down this path before....

This is really frustrating.

[Not2Happy]

I thought I'd mention what I've done so far.  The first time the device disappeared I changed these

using the services screen (just type services.msc in the "Search programs and files" box and select it):

"HP CUE Device Discovery Service" from "Automatic (Delayed)" to "Manual"

"HP Network Devices Support" from "Automatic (Delayed)" to "Manual"

(Manual doesn't turn them off, they just start when they are invoked by some other HP util).

This might have helped.  The first time the device disappeared as soon as the laptop went to sleep.

The device stayed around almost a week after that. But it happened again this morning.

I believe it happened after the "HP Health Analysis" and update.

So this time I've change "HP CUE Device Discovery Service"  to "Disabled".  I'll just start it again

if I have to install another HP device.  I changed the weekly "Health Analys and weekly update" to 

"Check for updates but let me choose to install them" the default is to automatically "install important updates". 

If the device disappears again, I plan to disable the "HP Health Check" service entirely.

Can you believe how much crap is loaded just sitting around waiting for something to do?

 Keep in mind I'm using Windows 7 and 64-bit so your mileage may vary...

[Not2Happy]

It has been a few weeks and everything is working right.   My printer device has not been uninstalled and I've not gotten the HP Solution Center closing message.  My suspicion is that this can happen due to lots of different circumstances.  I'm just updating my prior message to mention what has worked for

me and my particular setup.

Printer: c6180 attached via wired network to my router, the printer is at a fixed IP the router is connected to my wireless AP and the IP I selected for the primter is outside of the IP range assigned by the router.  I have turned off the printer wireless, because my laptop(s) can see the printer via the wifi AP.

Using the fixed AP and my wireless AP instead of the printer wireless eliminates some potential problems.

System: HP G71 laptop, 64bit, Windows 7, with c6180 drivers and software fully up-to-date as of 11/09. It is really important to have the latest HP drivers and other software, since some serious bugs have been fixed.  I have never used the CD that came with the printer, for me it usually makes sense to get the latest drivers directly from the HP website instead.  If you use the latest available drivers/software from the start there's less chance of a problem occuring due to a bug in the driver update process (on the day you hook up the printer).

Problems: Even with this simpler configuration I ran into the problem where the printer device disappeared leaving just the fax device.  The windows 7 version of the HP Solution Center complained that the printer was not installed properly.  The short term solution was to re-install the printer software.  After this happened a few times. I noticed that when the problem occured  that selecting Start/All Programs/HP provided an Add Printer selection that wasn't there except when the device was removed, so I just used that to restore the device.  Sill, having to do this regularly is not really a solution for the long haul.

What works for me:  So I did two other things that I believe have permanently eliminated the problem for me.  I disabled the "HP CUE Device Discovery Service" service.  This service seems to only be necessary for me when I add another HP device (so I enable it then). I also modified the weekly "Health Analysis and update" to "Check for updates but let me choose to install them".  I suspect that was somehow causing the device to be un-installed.

I left the "HP Network Devices Support" service set to "Automatic (Delayed)" this appears to be necessary to detect the device when it is turned on after being off for a while.

Hopefully this helps... Happy printing!

[MorrisHPp6228p]

Yep - Same thing - or at least very similar - happened to me.

I am 100% certain I know what causes my printers to disappear. I've seen it happen pretty much right before my very eyes.

I have a Pavilion p6228p-b Win 7 64 bit. My printer is an HP Officejet Pro L7680. Connection doesn't matter - have had it connected both ways.

Everything is usually fine. HOWEVER!!!!!! When I see that the HEALTH ANALYSIS just ran - I ALWYAS lose ALL of my Printers immediately. No prob, though, just do a restart, andf they're all magically back online - Isn't that nice?

Yep. It's their (HP) computer, their printer, and their Health Analaysis programs (which, btw, always says everything is fine - almost with a smirk on its face since it knows it just ate all my printers). And their program cannibalises their printer (drivers?).

However, since HP does not seem to have techs who cross (or connect) between desktops and printers, they'll never believe it. I called one top tier tech at the printer division (yeah, everybody and their mother had spoken with me there). I explained how I knew where the problem was. She agreed, said she'd speak with someone there, but it may be with the desktop people, not her printer people.

Definitely not worth fighting anymore. I found out how to disconnect the monthly running Health Analysis (it's in the setting button of the "HP Suport Assistant"  - sshhhh - hidden on the lower left of the screen there). Now? no more problem. And, no more health analysis, either. But, then again, I'm not going for a colonoscopy, either, so I suppose I'm in line with my carefree attitude, anyways!

Good luck to all us HP diehards!