Photosmart C4580 Wireless Problem

[gseven0]

I am compelled to write again to this forum because I have been through so many paths to a hopeful resolution and do not find the ultimate HP solution to be one that the ordinary buy should face.  The following bullets will summarize my saga:

January 12 - February 2nd,  HP technical support keeps me trying many different power related diagnostics such as removing cables, holding keys down for sixty seconds with no power attached etc.  All of this to presumably drain any capacitors and see if the printer will awake after 2 hours of inactivity.

Replaced the HP4580 five (5) times with completely different units (all at HP Cost) BTW, you might follow the instructions explicitly and don't return any ink cartridges. 

February 4, HP technical support (India) is sure it is a power supply, replaces the power supply with no change in printer behavior.

After insisting that the issue be escalated to Supervisor Level (HP India) after explaining the latest HP solution is to replace the printer the sixth (6th) time I gave up on India and called HP North America.

HP NAmerica was very understanding, apologetic, forthcoming with admission that this is a known problem and offered to replace the printer with a different model one of which was a C4599.  As Wi-Fi Guy explains after this was tried the C4599 is the same printer and is different only in appearance (black).

I sold the C4599 and bought a J6480 which is a great printer and does not suffer from apnia.  The J6480 worked great at first then seemed to have a problem scanning two pages then trying to double side (cool option) thereby creating a single document with the two previously scanned images on one duplex page.

I could not get the printer to uninstall and reinstall no matter what I did including removing all temp files, removing all references from the register, using (as said on many web pages) RegCure, none of which helped.

I called, yup, you know it, the most understandable and most helpful HP NA folks.  Yes, this is a typical install problem after previously installing another HP printer on the same machine.  HP says we think we can resolve the issue and takes control of the PC (India folks did this to with no success) and after four (4) hours HP NA tells me, sorry, I need to talk with someone else and we will try again tomorrow.  OK, we try again the next day for three (3) hours on the phone with the final conclusion that the entire C: drive needs to be reformatted with apologies and start from scratch.

Oh, in the mean time I was able to get the printer to install by using the Windows Printer installation process which the HP guy said yup, no big deal you can use it as a printer but there is no Windows support for the scanner, fax.

Current status:  I'm rounding up all of my third party keys and licenses and preparing to reformat.  BTW, Magic Jellybean Keyfinder is a cool, free tool to round up your Windows licenses keys from your hard drive.  I'm sure HP NA will let me return the J6480 and buy an EPSON but the $80 rebate just dropped for the EPSON (now $199.99).  SONY has a cool hard drive restore option embedded on their notebooks so I will try that and sharpen my rebuild skills.

I thought I was done with this forum but will remain subscribed if I can help.

Greg

[Hog-Eye]

I have owned several HP printers and AIO and bought my c4580 back in October. Then the apnia started. After numerous chats, Hp sent a replacement. It worked for 4 days then started doing the same thing as the original. I started again with the chats with tech support. Plug into the wall, static IP, wireless only, USB only, etc, etc. Three times they promised a call back from elevated support but the calls never came.

Today I called phone support and he looked at all my records (20 minutes) then went and couseled with his supervisors then came back and told me all HP wireless printers are designed to lock up after going into sleep mode to prevent buildup of static electricity from the power supply???????  The power must be recycled after a period of inactivity as a safeguard from damaging the electronics.   I almost lost it at that point.  I told him to stop and think about what he was telling me because it was such an utterly rediculous statement.  He told me he was an electronics student and began explaining his theory, which of course I interrupted and gave him a stern lecture about why you would want a network printer in the first place and that I have an electronics background myself . He moved me on up to elevated support then.

Anyway, an HP supervisor (American) called me this evening to apologize for the past 4 months of frustration and to upgrade me to the C6380.  He stated this is a known issue with the c4580 and there is no fix he is aware of.  Nice guy. He said he has had several c4580's come through this month.

What I hate is that I had to stop being nice.  I didn't get angry but enough was enough and I had to tell them exactly how I felt about buying their defective product.  Don't waste your time messing with all the things tech support wants you to try.  If it doesn't work from the start, it's not going to. The C4580 is a defective product and HP knows it. Get your money back or demand a replacement.  

[extravoice]

I've heard a lot of stories like this regarding overseas technical support, and experienced it myself to a lesser degree.  It makes me wonder why the support folks make up such outright lies.  Are they instructed to do so by corporate HQ?  Are they under so much pressure to "resolve" complaints that they will do anything to make customers go away? 

I work for a major semiconductor manufacturer, and interact daily with employees from India as well as other Asian countries, and I don't think that this type of behavior is a cultural thing.  Well, maybe it is a *corporate* culture thing.

At any rate, my patience for a resolution is growing thin.  If no fix is forthcoming by the first of March, this apneic printer is going back to its creators.

[Wi-Fi-Guy]

To Hog-Eye: Sorry about the bad advice from HP technical support. I will follow-up with my contacts here at work about some of the astonishing advice yourself (and others) have been receiving from our support organisation.

[Hog-Eye]

No problem Wi-Fi-Guy.  Like I said, I wasn't angry, I just got to the point to where I had nothing to lose anymore and got tired of being at HP's mercy.   It should be the other way around.  I logged a total of 15 chat sessions and 2 phone support calls to resolve this (maybe).  I kind of felt bad for the young tech because he was speechless when I got through with him. 

Worst experience I've had with a product support department, but actually I haven't had many problems before, so I don't have much to compare to.  I should have taken it back to CC in October but I liked the printer and was willing to try to make it work. 

[Wi-Fi-Guy]

Send me your email (either using the private messaging feature of this forum or to my email address shown on my profile) and I will write when the patch is released.

Alternatively, if you've registered your email on this forum, you will get notified when the patch is released and someone posts the announcement here.

[ck1]

Hate to pile on, but I just got the C4580 and it has the same no-wake-from-sleep issue. Pulling plug and replugging is only solution that seems to work for me.

Wonder whether it's worth waiting for a fix or just calling HP and asking for a new printer. 

[Bravesone]

ck1..you might want to just go ahead and try getting the replacement.  I didn't have the sleep mode issue with my C4580, but had a hardware problem.  I got a replacement after working with the 'faraway' tech support person.  I feel like I may have gotten the only C4580 replacement that has not yet developed the sleep mode issue. but I've only had it for 3 weeks.  During that time I have left it on for hours at a time and printed  a doument or scanned every hour to test...so far so good. 

[DaniW]

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As soon as an solution is released from HP I will be posting the link on the forum.

Thanks again for your patience!

[extravoice]

DaniW, can you estimate as to when a fix will be available.  Are we talking days, weeks, months, or years?