HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus - "Scan to Computer" issue on Mac OSX 10.8 or 10.9

[afischlin]

I do not understand what you wish to accomplish with this USB cable test. As I told you, this is not easy for me to do. I may need to purchase a very, very long USB cable to accomplish this.

Moreover and more importantly, if I connect via USB, I do not connect via ethernet/wifi. If it is the connection as made with the hp software between my Mac and the AIO printer, which I believe it is, then it is the ethernet/wifi connection which is rotten due to software (I can exlude the hardware, or it would never work). So what should it help to test "the connection" as you write, with a completely different technique via USB? If there should be physical reasons in the non-USB connection for the failure, then I would never be able to scan, wouldn't I. Since I can scan once after a restart, I conclude there is nothing wrong with the physics of that connection. Moreover, I can also always and easily print. "HP Utility" shows nicely the status of the hp device, I can receive info from the device and can manage it in every way I wish. It is only the scan which does not work. Thus I believe the problem is caused only by faults in the software. But I could of course nevertheless try to see what I can do and how long my longest USB cable is and to configure USB Printer/Scan settings for the hp device too.

Basically all is physically setup properly, including all connections needed. I am quite convinced of that. I have also looked carefully into possible Firewall settings etc. Makes all no difference. One scan, then the connection between Mac and HP AIO 8600+ is gone and I need to restart the involved devices. I always get after "System Preferences -> Scan -> Open Scanner...": "Waiting for Scanner" then "Failed to open a session on the device". Note also, the "HP Utility" sees the device fine. I can also try to figure out, which device makes the difference. That is in my view more promising for tracking the problematic piece of software down than the USB test. Note also, the only thing I first changed, really the only, is on the Maverick Mac the hp software. I went twice through a full deinstall/reinstall cycle. BTW in call cases using the very same latest hp software.

One problem interfering here is also the HP Uninstaller, which is simply not able to reestablish a proper state of the host Mac or I could at least regain scanning ability, e.g. using '/Applications/Image Capture'. I have reinstalled the entire OS X 10.9.1 in an effort to reestablish the original state of the host Mac as it was before I installed the rotten hp drivers. I am currently looking into this to test whether reinstalling OS X 10.9.1 has made any difference. Current status:

- OS X 10.9.1

- Officejet Pro 8600 Driver 3.3.3

- HP Utility 5.19.2

all as it results after running the HP Uninstaller as it was installed from "HP-Inkjet-SW-OSX-Mavericks_v12.34.37.dmg" and installing via Default the printer/scanner Kind "Bonjour Multifunction" (not AirPrint). Note, via IP connection the scan function is not available according to the hp driver software. Note also, Maverick invites you to download the missing hp driver sofware when attempting to install the hp Officejet Pro 8600.

[afischlin]

What do you mean by 'HP driver catalog'? Could you please be a bit clearer.

I had previously installed the HP software using 'HP-Inkjet-SW-OSX-Mavericks_v12.34.37.dmg' as can be downloaded from HP's website. It worked for a while, then I unfortunately wanted to improve some 'Scan to computer' settings. This resulted in a complete loss of scanning ability. Thus I deinstalled the HP software using the Uninstaller. I also searched the entire system (EasyFind, in hidden places as well) to make sure all hp software was really deinstalled, including preference files etc.

Once I had a clean system I tried to install the printer via "Systems Preferences... -> Print & Fax" resulting in Apple offering me to download and install all of HP software. I installed that software. As a result, printing works fine, the 'HP Utility' is present, yet any scanning is impossible. I get always "Failed to open a session on the device.".

It does not matter which method I use, i.e. whether via "Systems Preferences... -> Print & Fax", Import in Preview, or Image Capture. The error is always the same. 

My diagnosis: The HP Uninstaller for Maverick is deinstalling too much and is not compatible with the HP driver software they have given to Apple. In my view this is clearly HP's software engineers fault, not Apple's. They should make sure they release software that is compatible to itself.

I have been using HP printer and All-In-One products since decades. My first HP printer (black and white only) was a wonderful piece of equipment and its software worked like a charm for many operating systems. However, since OS X HP seems to have outsourced their software writing to people who are unable to write decent software. It was a problem all the time. Only under Snow Leopard and with a few HP printer models such as my current 8600 Plus was it more or less ok (although multiple users sharing a printer on the local network never ever worked properly)!

I have to admit, all my credit I had accumulated from the first HP printer is more than used up. It may well be this was our last HP printer we will ever buy unless this company gets its acts together and provides properly functioning software. This means an update for Maverick that really works and let's us use an All-In-One device from HP.

What a shame for a once good company (and a still ok hardware)! But without software, what is hardware?

[flisan]

The only thing that works for me is to press scanningoptions when I am trying to scan and get the message scanning to computer is not activated and then it works to scan.

[afischlin]

I found a solution for my problem. This happened because during writing of my reply I saw at the bottom another thread, visited it, and followed those instructions (see my reply here ). Let me then correct my verdict on HP's software:

The Uninstaller and the Apple provided driver installation are not incompatible with each other, at least not as bad as I feared. You only need to restart the computer after having reset all your printer settings. Then it is possible to at least regain the "built in" scanning capability in OS X, which are available through standard OS X software, i.e. "System Preferences ... -> Print & Fax", Image Capture, or Preview -> Import from Scanner. All these methods use the same basic piece of software (HP drivers installed at '/Library/Printers/hp') and offer at least some scanning feaures, including double sided scanning when using the form feeder and binding several scans into a single pdf etc. That is what I needed the most. Admitted, this is perhaps not as sophisticated as the HP scanner utility tries to be (as installed when (downloading and) installing the extra software from HP, as contained e.g. on following disk image HP-Inkjet-SW-OSX-Mavericks_v12.34.37.dmg), but this works at least, what seems not to be true for that extra software according to what many users write in this thread: HP scan incompatible with Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks)?

Now, that it is possible to lose all scanning functionality by only changing preferences, e.g. as I did when editing "Scan to computer" settings, sheds very bad light onto the HP software. I am afraid, I continue to insist that this software remains and is very bad. I am a proficient programmer myself, have manged teams of programmers and conducted many software engineering projects and tasks in my career. The software shows incorrect functioning since many years and nobody seems ever to really get to the ground of those problems. A software that does not properly handle settings and get so confused that it even loses the basic functionality as this happened with us lately, is awful. I also can't get rid of the impression that the software lacks clear concepts. I try to summarize my experience with this AIO HP software as I have gained it over now almost two decades:

My first observation I have made  consistently over years with this HP software: Where are preferences or settings stored when several users use the same AIO device on a local network. This gives a star like configuration where every user could have different settings for 'Scan to computer'. Yet, the very same HP device would need to know of all of them at the time of scanning, at least of the ones he is using at the moment. This seems to me to be source of all the trouble, that HP software engineers have not thought through this 1:n situation and what happens is then basically a "random" result, which is handled so badly by the software that it can cease functioning at all. I admit, this requires a clean, possibly quite complex protocol, where the HP device is going to ask the currently used computer for the settings, accesses them and uses them while processing the scan request. What I observe seems however to be quite different. The HP device seems to use whatever it has currently in memory, perhaps from a previous scan or whatever it does.

My second observation I have made  consistently over years with this HP software: Bad local network software. In early years the HP software, e.g. as used during first installation assistant, could never access the HP devices connected on the network. While all other network software, e.g. a browser, could easily find the very same HP device, the HP networking software as needed for printing and scanning could not. And it was a real-time problem. If I was so lucky to have a network situation where the HP software managed to see the device, then the installation could complete and the device became usable. But a small change in the settings and all was gone. The experiences I just made again, seem also to be of a similar kind. If the networking software HP is using would properly interface to OS X API, I would bet no such problem as the one I experienced would have arisen. "When will they ever learn?" is an old song on flowers and war victims that comes to my mind here. 😉

I admit the HP software for its AIO devices has very, very slowly become better and more usable over the last decade or so. But it is still so full of bugs that I stay away from trying to really use it, except for the most basic functionality. Otherwise I fear I lose the latter. If you should have managed to get it working, don't touch it!  Unfortunately, it seems HP software engineers are really unable to write a basically working software. When I think back when HP was offering so well engineered pocket calculators, my first HP product was a HP 45, a wonderful device, I am afraid I have to repeat a rather negative verdict: What a shame! What has become of HP?

[afischlin]

Dear Lil_Lisa27,

You work on behalf of HP. Therefore, how about you answer my questions?

I am a proficient programmer and computer scientist in addition of being a natural scientist. Therefore, trust me that I say not easily bugs, unless I am quite sure I found some. I always first check to be sure that I do properly read the situation. So my verdict remains the same: The aforementioned HP software was so buggy that I had to deinstall it to get any scanning working again (following the exact sequence of steps I described in my previous e-mail). The reason was that I edited some scan task settings. A typical source of problems of this software, BTW since many, many years. 

It may well be that you Lil_Lisa27can easily get one printer with one computer working. In my experience this is what the HP software accomplishes easily. What it can't handle is a local network with n users sharing the same all-in-one device. This is where all the bugs show up. I am sorry, but I do not have the time to explain to you all the bugs there are in the software, because that would require a lot of time, which I am sorry I currently do not have. But they are so bad in my experience, that they can totally corrupt the basic functionality. I am very confident that is exactly what happened, since I was doing nothing else on that system. I am also very confident that it is only the HP software which is the culprit here. 

But I wish not to argue about this at all. What I asked you before and what I would like to ask you kindly once more: What is going on in this version mess?

Optionally I would of course also like to know wheter someone has tried out thoroughly that latest software, if it is really new. Would perhaps you know that it performs robustly and flawlessly in a n users environment, in contrast to all its predecessors (none ever performed), a setup where these n users share a 8600 printer/scanner over a local network? Can all n users specify scan to computer tasks without corrupting the HP drivers, which then may require a complete deinstallation and reinstallation to fix the disfunctionaliy? But these latter questions are not so important and my main question is only on the version mess.

Thanks for your help and cooperation.

Regards,
Andreas

[TheBucket]

Repairing Disk Permissions and a restart seems to have solved it...for now.  This is the second time I've done this.

Obviously performing this software gymnastics is not a long term solution.  Any thoughts as to what is going on?

[UThrewError]

I've been stuck on Microsoft computers for over 25 years.  I spent over 20 hours working with HP on telephone trying to install and get to work their installation package, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 and Windows 7 (this really does relate to the Mac, bear with me).  I finally got it to work when I realized that Windows 7 is very aggressive and installs its own drivers.  I had to edit the registry, look for HP OJP 8600 drivers, and replace the filename with the name of the HP drivers.

When I bought the MacBook Pro OSX 9.4 I took a total of 20 minutes from start to finish to get the HP OJP 8600 printing, scanning, and faxing.

But . . . now I want to use a "Network Folder."  I am convinced that I have the destination folder set up to share.  Why because there is a fax from earlier in there.  Odd . . . hmm?

Then I tried to use the HP Utility to get this set up right.  No matter what I enter in the Network Setup it tells me the communications failed.  Yet I can print, fax, scan, and copy when ever I want.

I want this to work with a shared folder with an ethernet cable connected to the printer.  Someone from HP told me that the HP OJP 8600 radio bytes big time, so this way, the HP OJP 8600 uses the radio on the router which is much stronger and more reliable.

No matter what I do to set up the Network Folder the printer throws an error.  Using the GUI on the printer I set the Network Folder as follows:

\\MBP-NAME.ispdomain.net\Users\UserNameNoSpaces\Public

In my case I spent a lot of time tinkering around with the wrong spellings.  I used User rather than Users and others.

Apple Support says that this is the proper name.

I CHALLENGE ANY AND ALL HP "EXPERTS" TO EXPLAIN IN PLAIN LANGUAGE WHAT I HAVE DONE WRONG, AND TO PROVIDE A DETAILED EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS NEEDED TO FIX THE PROBLEM.  ELSE TAKE THE PROBLEM TO YOUR ENGINNEERS AND GET IT FIXED.

I really grow tired of trying to understand SouthEast Asia accents when I call HP.  I also get very weary of the very first suggestion is to do a screen share, when they don't know what the problem is.

WHO IS TECHNICALLY CLEVER ENOUGH TO ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION?

WHO AT HP WILL FIX THE PROBLEM OR ADMIT IT IS A BUG FOR THEM TO FIX?

[Juha_P]

My solution to "Scan to computer" issue with Mavericks 10.9.5

I'm not sure if this method has already been covered, I didn't have time to read through the whole Internet 🙂

I bought my 8610 yesterday and if I had known of this issue I'd left it in store for good. Well anyway... all went exceptionally well until I tried to "scan to computer". As already known by many, the process was doomed to fail. I tried picking from the easier end of the solutions and started with the computer restart. I found out that during the restart, when the computer was still loading up the processes, the scan to computer worked! So I figured out it has something to do with the numerous HP processes that were being loaded - because after a while when they were all up and running, the scan to computer didn't work anymore. So this is what I did:

-Opened up the Activity monitor

-Terminated the PremiumScanEventHandler.app (it was the most obvious suspect)

-Tried the Scan to computer from my 8610 screen

-It worked...

-...and worked until the next restart (just testing, I nearly never need to restart my Mac) after which I did the same from the beginning and it worked again and is still currently working. 

Note: After the termination the PremiumScanEventHandler.app restarts when the scan to computer is started, so it is not permanently terminated. It is more like restarted.

So, even if this is not quite what I paid for it now solved the problem for me adequately. Hopefully it does this to you others as well.  

Regards, Juha 

[UThrewError]

After a couple of hours of trial and error this is the correct and tested, simple solution.

When entering a OS X shared folder for the HP OJP 8600 enter it as follows:

\\X.X.X.X\UserName\Folder

Where X.X.X.X - is the router assigned TCP/IP address for your Mac (if you can make this a static address, if the router changes it, the Mac will lose its mind if you get a fax, or scan to the folder)

UserName - is the user name used to log on to the Mac with no space between first and last name

Folder - is the folder name, almost consistently, the folder \Public is already a shared folder

[afischlin]

Thanks a lot for your effort to share your hard work with us, given HP's engineers are unable to fix the problems. 

BTW, I have given up on these methods, since I got them never to work reliably. And I find there is nothing worse than having to debug HP crap software in the middle of some work, which I ought to be able to complete efficiently. I am using these days two methods:

Method 1

It is the one I use the most. I generally use on my iPad the free App 'AiO Remote' from HP. Despite the fact it gives you only limited control over the scanning, it works at least reliably, or I should say, it did work for several months very well. Unfortunately, since the last update it has gone backwards. HP's "software engineers" – or should I say "programming amatuers" – seem obviously quite good in making backward progress!. Instead of the alleged bug and stabiity fixes (the App performed at least in my experience flawlessly previously) they have actually introduced a new bug, so that when you first connect to the device and get green light confirming you are connected and then try to scan, the App claims that you need to use a device that can scan (having just confirmed that the connection with the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus is fine!!! However, waiting for about 20 seconds suffices to change that discouraging display and after that one can scan easily. At least that HP's "software engineers" seem not to have ruined. I normally upload all my scans via Dropbox to my Mac. At least this works reliably, though requiring initially patience.

Method 2

I never install the full HP drivers anymore on my main Mac. I go with the basics only, as available from Apple, since they seem to be the only HP Mac software that works most of the time. This means I can then either scan from the Systems Preferences or my preferred method is to use "Image Capture". Any later processing of scanned images or pdf's I do in GraphicConverter or Adobe Acrobat. That also works reliably and in contrast to method 1, I can also scan double sided with this method.

BTW, having only the bare bone printer drivers installed does not mean you can not well control your HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus device. The HP Utility is installed with that. The only difference is that this utility is not installed in your /Applications folder but is hidden in the printer driver software. Its location is

    /Library/Printers/hp/Utilities/HP Utility.app

Make an alias somewhere convenient, e.g. in your /Applications or /Applications/Utilities folder and you can enjoy full printer configuration/administration via 'HP Utility' without needing to install the HP crap software they recomment to install and which I got never working.

Perhaps this information is also of some use to others.

Once again, many thanks for the above efforts and sharing them with us. Perhaps if I have some spare time I will try it out, but I believe it would be HP's duty to provide robust solutions for these problems, not us customers'.

Regards,
Andreas