Extremely Slow Scanning with M175nw, WiFi, Mac OS X 10.8.2

[bbaisley]

Hello,

I am a long time Windows user, who last fall, purchased my first Apple computer (MacBook Air 2012). I have installed the lastest HP firmware for my printer, and the latest HP software + drivers for my MacBook Air. However, when I scan anything (one page of text, an image, multiples pages via the feeder, etc.) it takes about 10 minutes per page to scan. I usually output to PDF format, but I also tested with PNG and JPG and get the same results. I also usually combine multiple pages into one document, but also tried single and got the same results.

If I try to scan the very same items in Windows on my Dell Laptop, it will scan in seconds.

Both laptops are connecting to the M175nw using wireless connections. Both are the same speed network (Wireless-N), so that shouldn't change things that dramatically.

I did do a test by plugging the printer into the Mac using the USB wire, and it was much faster at scanning when connected. Could it be an issue with the AirPrint (I think that is how the Mac is using WiFi) that is causing the slow scanning? Is there any settings for AirPrint that can be adjusted to speed things up?

It is quite possible that printing is slow as well. I don't print that much, but I never really noticed any significant speed differences from the Mac and Windows laptops.

[Kyle_W · Accepted solution]

I would recommend installing the full feature driver if they are available for your version of OS X. Sometimes the full feature drivers work better than AirPrint.

Go into "Print & Scan" under "System Preferences", select your printer and press the minus (-) button.

Now, press the plus (+) button and you should see your printer.

Select it and then below you will see three fields.

Drop down the selections for “Use:” and choose the name of your printer instead off AirPrint.

This will install the full feature drivers.

This should help, but let me know if it doesn’t.

Best of luck,

Kyle

[bbaisley]

Kyle,

Thanks for the info. I did what you said, I completely removed the printers and added it over using the latest HP drivers using the method you described, but the only difference I did this time was install the full set of drivers + software (before I was just doing the drivers).

Its much faster now. I realized after testing just before I did this, that it was mostly slow when merging multiple pages. If I scanned a single page (using the Apple software image capture and/or preview), it would hang or be extremely slow on the second page. 

Once I installed the HP software, it was better. So I'm not sure if it was HP Softare alone, or using your method to install, but its faster. Still not as fast as it was in Windows, but usable at least, so thanks for the suggestion!

[Kyle_W]

Not a problem! I'm glad that helped! You might also try experimenting with the DPI settings. When you are scanning with Image Capture, you should see a button beside Scan that says "Show Details". Click that button and you should see an option for Resolution where you can change the DPI settings. 

Have a great day!

Kyle