Disable / turn off EcoSMART on HP476 Color Laserjet

[Hoser88]

I have owned an HP476 printer for some years now and it has been a reliable workhorse.

I thank the HP engineering team for it's robust design!

I have the same problem now that some others seem to have had:

It appears that EcoSMART is putting the printer to sleep and when it does the printer falls off the network.

This has just become a problem for me as I have a long-term assignment where in I must have the printer wirelessly connected to a "managed network", unfortunately not managed my ME.  The printer has a DHCP issued IP address, and I am unable to obtain a fixed IP address for it.

I have read in other threads that this might fix my problem, if desperate I might end up hard-coding the DHCP-assigned address to the printer and see if it works and/or if the network police come and kick down my door ;-/ 

So I am looking for other solutions???

Summary:

Color LaserJet Pro MFP 476dw

Firmware is:   20180201   <-- I know there is a later version of the firmware, but I have not updated.

My company insists I use 3rd-party toner (otherwise I have to pay), and I have been unable to verify

that 3rd party toner would continue to work if I upgrade the firmware.

The Ecosmart console currently displays as below (I thought that the "shut down after: NEVER" would resolve the problem, 

but it has not...

So... I am open to suggestions!!!

Thanks!

[Repairatrooper]

The problem is the sleep mode. It may also be an issue of how you have the driver configured on your computer. As you are using networking, check the following: on your PC go to control panel>devices and printers and then right click on the icon for your printer and select "printer properties" from the drop down menu. Go to the ports tab and see what type of port you are using for the driver. If the port appears as WSDxxxxxxx (random characters) then the problem is likely your computer losing connection not the printer. Check the address that the printer has and create a new port type>standard TCP/IP and use the address from the printer for this port. The challenge with WSD is that often when a printer goes offline or errors out due to jams or toner issues, the driver does not acknowledge that the printer has recovered from the error and continues to show it as offline.

[Hoser88]

Thank you   Repairatrooper   !!!

I should have thought of that ... dang WSD ports ... 😖

I have just added a standard TCP/IP port using the DHCP assigned IP  and the default 9100 for the port number.

I'll let this baby sleep tonight and post back tomorrow with the results, I'm pretty confident you nailed it!

Thanks!!!

Jim

[Hoser88]

OK ... sorry to have to post this ... as they say:  "No good deed goes unpunished" ...   😕

good news:

I left the printer and laptop powered up overnight and this morning I was able to print without any issues so that was good.

bad news:

I tried to scan some stuff ... scanner not found.

It had been set up to use TWAIN via the WSD port.

I guess it blew up when I switched to the TCP/IP port?

Now printing seems reliable, but the scanning interface only is intermittently available...

My 476 now shows up SOMETIMEs as below:

Now as a WIA interface device NPIDxxxxx  which is the host name of my printer

WIA-NPIDxxxxxx

BUT sometimes it disappears from the list of sources....
Rebooting printer and laptop seem to bring it back but only for a while...

 

any extra thoughts appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Jim

[Repairatrooper]

Best option is to download the enterprise twain software from HP and use that. Much more reliable than the consumer/home version.

[Hoser88]

Thanks RepairATrooper...

At first glance it does not appear that my venerable 476 supports FutureSmart,
either becuase it's too old, or perhaps becasue it is not considered an "enterprise" printer?

and it appears FutureSmart 3.8 or higher is needed in order to use enterprise Twain solution:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05300654#AbT0

Review the requirements

Before enabling HP Scan Twain, make sure to review the following requirements:

• The computer supports any of the operating system listed in the Supported Operating Systems.
• The computer and the HP Enterprise MFP are connected on the same network.
• The HP Enterprise MFP is running HP FutureSmart firmware version 3.8 or newer."

Man... nut'n is easy  😕

I hope I will have time to check into  that a little deeper later this week.....

[Repairatrooper]

Sorry, should have posted a link as this has nothing to do with FS4 or 3. This software package was designed for Enterprise MFP's but I have found that it works with most Pro models as well so it is worth a try. https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c05300654

[Hoser88]

I had found that page, and it said:

Review the requirements

Before enabling HP Scan Twain, make sure to review the following requirements:

• The computer supports any of the operating system listed in the Supported Operating Systems.
• The computer and the HP Enterprise MFP are connected on the same network.
• The HP Enterprise MFP is running HP FutureSmart firmware version 3.8 or newer.

But maybe that is bogus?

Then it said:

Step three: Download the scan driver

Follow these steps to download the HP Twain scan driver:

1. Go to HP Support.
2. Click the Software and Drivers tab .
3. Type your product name or number in the search text box, click Find my product, and then select your product model from the list of search results.
4. Select your operating system.
5. Expand the Driver - Product Installation Software section.
6. Select the HP Scan Twain driver option, click Download, and then save the file on your computer.

But for my printer:

HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M476 series Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

There is no twain driver option listed.... 

But ... perhaps there is no "real" dependency on FutureSmart being installed,

and ... maybe I could use the driver from a different printer model?    🤔

[Repairatrooper · Accepted solution]

Use this link, https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/printers/HPScanTwain/HPScanTwain-1.0.683-HPScanTwain.msi

I have used this with many pro models, not a 476 but likely it will be supported, worth a try.

[Hoser88]

Thank you RepairaTrooper!

This seems to work OK.

I have several other HP series printer drivers installed which I no longer use, and am wondering if a 

"nuke it all from orbit" approach and then the re-install of either the "full"  driver,  the PCL6 only driver, or the "Universal" driver plus the TWAIN driver you linked might be the best approach? Any thoughts there?

In the past I've had problems with clean uninstall of HP Printer drivers. 

I used this tool in the past, but the link is no longer active:

Solved: Uninstall Drivers - HP Support Community - 4787485

this manual approach rings some faint bells, I think I've used it before...

but I'm not sure if it is the best approach ???

Solved: Uninstalled hp printer - HP Support Community - 7623401

Thank you kindly for any last thoughts, 

I will then leave you in peace   😅

Jim