Some but far from all documents prints on my MFP M281fdn

[ErlandS]

In the beginning of the year I bought an HP Color Laserjet MFP M281fdn and I installed the full software package on my desktop which at the time ran Window 10 version 1803. Since a few days it runs 1809. Behaviour is the same both cases. As the title says, I am able to print some documents, but most I am not. If I look at the printer queue, I can see the document appear for a short instant to then disappear. I've also monitored the process through Process Monitor, and the process is abandoned before there is any communication with the printer, so it appears to be an issue with the driver. (But in case you wonder, the printer and the computer are both network-connected through cable.)

A suspect in situations like this is always the antivirus (which in my case is Kaspersky Internet Security). Disabling does not matter, but it could still be the filter driver which is the culprit. However, I also installed the basic version of the printer software on a virtual machine which runs on my desktop. This VM runs also runs Windows 10 1809, but it has no other antivirus but Windows Defender. And the result is the same on this VM, that is, the same document fails to print.

An interesting observation is that a specific PDF does not print if I submit it from Acrobat, but it prints from the Metro app that comes with the driver software.

I may or may not have the latest driver. I see that there is a recent download available at https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-color-laserjet-pro-m280-m281-multifunction-print..., but the version number appears to match what I have installed. (I did try uninstalling and reinstalling the other day using the version of HPEasyStart_9_0_3770_10 I had on disk since my first install.

I appreciate that it is difficult to troubleshoot a thing like this remotely, but I would at least be interested to know if there is a log file where I can find out more details of what is going wrong. I did not find anything in Windows event log.

To clarify: this is not a matter of changed behaviour, but it worked like this from the start. Initially, I thought it was related to the source software and as long as it worked with Acrobat, I was content, as I don't print much at all. (The scanner is what is the most important to me, and it works.)

[Repairatrooper]

Skip the auto install, likely it is using WSD for the printer port and it is too unreliable a method. Instead, download the raw driver. In Windows, go to control panel>devices and printers and add a new printer. Click the "printer not found" option and select manually install printer, last option. Add printer via TCP/IP port and when it prompts for drivers, point it to the folder that contains the drivers you downloaded from support.hp.com.

[ErlandS · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure what folder you are referring to. In any case, I downloaded the Universal PCL6 driver, and it seems to work. It may not have all features as the intended driver, but as I only print occasionally and mainly text-based documents (and never photos), it is not a big deal.