ADF scanning results in crooked scans

[bspielman]

Further to my experience with this issue, I got a call from HP Tech Support within an hour of my having posted. I don't know whether the call was in response to my post, but I did note that someone at HP had edited my post to delete the support person's name.

This call came from a different support person. He asked me to send him the scans I had made while diagnosing the issue with the previous representative. He initially acknowledged that the printer was a candidate to have the ADF replaced, but after putting me on lengthy holds twice, he came back and said whomever he had consulted said my printer is within spec. 

Clearly it is not.

This call lasted one hour and twenty-five minutes, resulting in absolutely no progress. The latest rep did suggest that he would try to escalate my case, and will call me back in two days (tomorrow is July 4).

While I appreciate the callbacks and follow ups, I'm not particularly happy with HP's level of support for this product.

[dorfgeto]

Hi bspielman,

I tried your trick, but could not get to display the 2ndary menu. I have a "HP PageWide Pro 477dw MFP" could be a slightly different model though.

Is "select setup": pull down the top menu and select the cogwheel?

HP replaced my scan unit today, but the problem (skew of the flatbed scanner) persisted. It seems to be an internal software problem with the calibration of the skew. But I found no means to correct them.

Thanks

[bspielman218]

For who knows what reason, HP forced me to change user names.

Further to my experiences with scanning on the M477fdw, I persisted with my inquiry, resulting in HP sending me a replacement ADF. A few days later, a technician came to my home to install it. Subsequent to that, I received a great number of follow up calls, which have convinced me to become more favorably impressed by HP's support. In particular, Kevin Calderón Ureña, HP's Costa Rica-based PPS Printers AIO Agent, has been extremely helpful.

The new ADF scans significantly better than the original, but it is not perfect. Scans are still (very) slightly skewed; however, I have a workaround for this. It's a bit inconvenient, but not oppressively so. First of all, any limitations to scanning resolution are resolved by scanning to a USB stick connected directly to the printer (just below the touch screen). Once I've scanned to this device, I remove it and connect it to my Mac. Then, using an app called GraphicConverter (free to try), I rotate each scanned image as necessary to straighten it.

In my particular case, PDFs need to be rotated 0.6 degrees counterclockwise for odd-numbered (right-hand) pages, and 0.6 degrees clockwise for even-numbered (left-hand) pages. I determined these angles of rotation by applying a grid to the PDF image in Acrobat, then simply rotating until horizontal lines aligned with the grid.

On another subject, HP was never able to figure out why I cannot set scanning to email using my own domain's email address. Apple email addresses and gmail addresses work fine. My domain's address does not. However, once again, this is a minor inconvenience in that I can scan to the USB stick, make whatever adjustments are needed, as above, then simply attach the file to an outgoing email. A little more cumbersome, but not much.

Finally, HP's agent, Kevin, was very helpful in figuring out how to make the correct settings on the printer for my two-line landline phone, which includes an answering machine. One line is our home phone; the other is our business line, now shared with the HP's fax machine. I frankly don't expect to use fax very much (who does anymore?), but I'm happy to have the capability, if needed.