HP M404n Menu Map completely useless

[Franco_C]

I work in I.T. and I support a whole slew of HP printers over the years.  On the lower end of the scale, I support a lot of users who use the HP M402n and now the HP M404n printers.  I finally got a chance to play with a M404n at my desk and when I print the Menu Map (Structure) page, it looks NOTHING like the actual Menu structure that you click through the menu on the printer itself.  Also the Print Configuration Page is now completely useless... Looks like all the pertinent information is now listed on the Printer Status Report.

Why is HP making things so difficult? The new drivers for the M404n seem much more complicated for end users to use.  During the install of a USB M404 printer you now start the install from the setup.exe file and then halfway through the install, you have to click on an icon that it puts on the desktop to finish the install?  I don't get it.  HP used to be a quality product that seems like is going downhill with every new version of printers.  Over the last month, I don't know how many trouble tickets I have worked on for problems with M402n and M404n printers.  They are all Windows 10 64 bit PC's that were imaged the same here, but for some I have to use the M404n Full suite installation, for others I have to use the Universal Printer Driver.  For others I have to use the old M402n 64 bit PCL6 driver.  I don't understand why all of a sudden printer are having so many problems for us.

[John_Getzke]

Are you looking to vent or would you like us to answer you questions?  I cannot tell without more context.  

If you want to vent, feel free to do so.  But lets not spend time troubleshooting something you have already made you mind up on.  No need to read on.

If you want answers to your questions then note the following:

- Menu maps vary from model to model. You will need to give us some examples of what your complaints are by mapping out the features and attaching the menu map results.  The only way to impact the reports on the printer is via firmware updates. 

- I enjoy the modular reporting on the newer models.  I dont want everything on the configuration report, i only want the network summary 99% of the time.  Printing one report or another is not a deal breaker for me as long as I can find what I want.

- All models refer to setup.exe when you attempt to install the drivers locally on a machine.  As long as the setup.exe has the permissions to run there should be no need to transfer anything to the users desktop.  This might be a local user permissions issue that the installer is attempting to work around.  

- Multiple print drivers is a blessing, not a curse.  You want to have access to more printer languages and drivers to accommodate the various situations that exist in the printing world.  Swap drivers around as necessary to keep up with the dynamic needs of your applications.  

Give us some more details and examples if you care to dig deeper into anything.

[Repairatrooper]

Your comment about the menu map caught my eye so I pulled a 404 onto the test bench. Everything on the map is correct and the sub menus are the same on both the printed and screen versions. The only glitch I found is that printer maintenance and Power Management are in the wrong order, but I would not consider this end of the world stuff.