LaserJet 400 M401n local printer issue

[bigbankitguy]

I work for a corporate environment with remote field offices.

We just recently swtched to a new model of small laser printer for local printer use, and I am having problems with the first one we setup. The LaserJet M401n was initially setup by one of our field technicians. They connected the device via USB to the users HP Elitebook 2540p in docking station, and installed the printer using the included cd software and it worked fine.

The end user needed to relocate the printer farther away from the desk, so the USB and power were disconnected from the printer and it was moved and plugged back in. After this was done, the computer showed the printer was Offline. The user unchecked the Print Offline option, but whenever jobs were sent to the queue, they errored out immediately.

I worked with the user remotely and deleted the printer from Printers and Faxes, and the print driver from the Server Properties options in that window. I had the user re-connect the printer, but it was not recognizing that anything was connected.

I went into the Device Manager, but I didn't see any options for USB Printing Support or DOT4 Printing Support (which is usually providing the virtual USB port.) There were several devices named "USB Composite Device" and one device called "USB Mass Storage Device." There were not any data storage devices or memory cards connected to the laptop. After removing all of those from the device manager, I had he user unplug/replug the USB from the printer. At this point, the printer was recognized as connected and the Add Hardware wizad came up. At the same time an HP Installer utility started. I checked in My Computer and there was a removable storage device that was providing that installer. It appears that this printer may have a small memory chip containing the software and drivers needed.

I used that HP installer and installed all of the software and drivers, and the printer started working again.

A week or so later, the user contacted me and the office had some remodeling done, so the printer had to be dissconnected and reconnected with a much longer USB cable. The same problem resurfaced. The printer is connected, and even shows as Ready. Jobs fail when submitted, and reconnecting cables or restarting doesn't fix it.

At this point I wiped out all of the HP related printer software and drivers, removed anything that looke HP printer related from the device manager, unplugged the printer, and restarted the computer. I connected the printer after the restart and inserted the CD that came with the printer. I used the Device manager to install the printer driver and USB Printing Support from the files on the CD (I had to close out the HP Installer wizard about 10 times as it kept popping up.) At this point the printer was installed and operational, but when logged in with an admin account, the printer would still be prompting for the HP Installer software that appears to be running from a USB storaged device inside of the printer. That doesnt' matter much, but when I tested the same way of dissconnected and reconnecting the USB cable from the docking station, the printer stopped printing again.

The laptop is a HP 2540p with a docking station. It seems to have the same problems when we use any of the USB ports on the docking station or laptop itself.

In our enterprise, we do run an array of McAfee products like VSE, MEE, MEE/PBA, DLP.

I am going to try to upgrade the firmware on the printer, and the BIOS on the notebook. I have also asked for one of this model of printers be ordered for our test lab to see if we can replicate the problem on other machines

Any ideas or recomendations would be appreaciated.

[AuntieEm · Accepted solution]

bigbankitguy,

You mentioned that the printer is connected via USB, is this still correct? I would like to you to try the following:

1. Disable Smart Install via the Control Panel. Setup Menu (little tool and gear icon) > Services > scroll down to Smart Install > click off

Reboot your computer and see if this solves your issue. If you continue to have issues, then try the following:

2. Go to your task manager > Services Tab > Click on Services button in lower right hand corner > Locate HP DS Service > set to automatic; if stopped then start this service.

Reboot computer.

[NoLoveFromHP]

I am having a similar issue with my HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401n.  I am on XP in a corporate network environment.  XP up-to-date.  The printer is connected via USB.  Reinstalled HP software twice (using the latest installer from HP website).  HP DS Service will crashes each time I start it using the administrative control panel.  The service won't even remain started after a hard reboot.  This is just silly...

[LarW]

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@AuntieEm wrote:

bigbankitguy,

You mentioned that the printer is connected via USB, is this still correct? I would like to you to try the following:

1. Disable Smart Install via the Control Panel. Setup Menu (little tool and gear icon) > Services > scroll down to Smart Install > click off

Reboot your computer and see if this solves your issue. If you continue to have issues, then try the following:

2. Go to your task manager > Services Tab > Click on Services button in lower right hand corner > Locate HP DS Service > set to automatic; if stopped then start this service.

Reboot computer.

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Thanks! This was the exact issue that we were seeing with the first of our units that I put in service. I disabled Smart Install and that solved the issue.