HP DesignJet 800PS not printing

[ranjo364]

Our shop used several DesignJet 800PS units while back and recently brought a few out of storage, refreshed them (belts, heads, ink, calibration) and they're ready to go. What do we discover?  Windows 10 update(s) have incapacitated printing. What's worse, HP providing the "Instant Printing" utility rather than an updated, working driver. We use rolls & sheet through these units, lots of large-scale Visio and CAD work, and this is how HP supports the community? Unbelievable. Can someone in authority at HP please state for the record whether or not updated reliable drivers for these incredible units will be produced or what viable workaround(s) there are BESIDES "Instant Print" ? Drivers for some of the oldest HP LaserJet desktop printers can still be obtained.  Does HP think these magnificent work horse plotters should just go to the scrapheap ?  😖

[Repairatrooper]

Some users have been able to use drivers provided by Autocad, outside of that, sadly these units are considered end of support life and so new updated drivers are not likely to come from HP.  

[D Hook]

Unfortunately, Repairatrooper is correct that HP does not and probably never will provide an updated driver for these printers.  
But I've had good success using a driver for a different OS like Windows 7, Vista or even XP, as long as you download the 64bit version.  You'll have to manually install the driver, which is very easy.  Also, Windows 10 updates have a history of disabling drivers for printers and causing quite a few headaches for users of legacy printers.  You might try going to the Microsoft website (Windows Support Center) and doing a search there to find which update causes the problems.  Maybe try doing a search for something like "Windows 10 update disabled my printer" or similar question.  But I would try the older drivers first.  They can be found on this HP website under the "Support" tab.  Just change the operating system from Windows 10 to Windows 7 or Vista or XP and see what comes up.  If you have trouble installing the driver manually, come back and I'm sure we can talk you through the process if you need help.  I believe I'm using a Window Vista 64bit driver on my laptop to run Designjet 800/500 printers when I'm working on them.  Laptop is a Windows 10 OS.

Here's a link that should have your printer driver:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-designjet-800-printer-series/25302

Let us know what you find.

[ranjo364]

Thanks Repairtrooper. This is sad news, and typical. Though I am experimenting with 64b drivers for previous Windows releases, I would be among a large group of end users who would gladly contribute to developing (FIXING) the correct W10 AND W11 drivers for this family of printers which (IMHO) are among some of the best ever produced by HP

[ranjo364]

Thanks D Hook. I have achieved some success with Win8 64b drivers for the 500PS. Specifically using hpdj510wx64glen driver from the HP site. It may be enough to continue using the 800PS units in production until an alternative solution is determined. Unfortunately, the offending M/S update is pretty far back in the update history and not easily extracted - is it even possible? -  from the current OS level (21H2 build 19044.1469). I will research this further on the Windows Support Center.

If anyone has been successful with removing the offending security update(s) impacting classic DesignJet units on the current W10 build, Please Sound Off !

Thanks again to the community!

Best,

JR