Photosmart C4580 Wireless Problem

[DaniW]

Thanks for your posts on this topic 

Here is an official HP statement on the issue:

“The Hewlett-Packard company is aware of the issue that occurs on the Photosmart C4500 series and Photosmart C4400 series. We are currently investigating a potential fix and update to address this issue.”

Please subscribe to this thread if you would like to receive notification of an update in the future on this issue

Thanks!

Message Edited by DaniW on 02-06-2009 08:08 AM

[azchurch]

Wi-Fi-Guy

While you haven't been able to offer a solution to this problem, I do appreciate your honesty and your civility. If only more people would also say "I don't know the answer, but I will keep working on it" then the Support and Customer Service World would be a brighter place. And you're not even "on the clock"...

I'd much rather have you helping with a tough problem than the experience others have had being harangued and insulted by supposed HP employees. Thanks for your efforts and hope we can get this one worked out soon. I'm having the same issues with my C4580.

[azchurch]

I bought the C4580 specifically for 3 reasons: Wireless Printing, Energy Star, and price. When it is on and working, it works great. And the wireless set up was a snap for someone like me who is a beginner. However, it has the problematic flaw of locking up when it goes to sleep.

I didn't buy my car expecting I could leave it on and "wake it up" at any time. They don't advertise that on any car of which I am aware. But this printer DOES advertise that as an Energy Star product, it will go into "sleep mode" and save energy. It doesn't say I'll have to unplug it and restart it every time I forget, or decide not to, turn it off. We all have lots of electronic products that do things like hibernate or sleep (we're typing on one of them) and we expect them to work when we're told that is what they SHOULD do.

Nobody expects on a support forum to have an employee of the company post insults and diatribes about why people are ignorant because they want their product to work. I've passed this forum along to my niece, who is in HP's Human Resources department. I'm sure they would be disturbed to see their company logo attached to impolite posts. Oddly enough, it was she who suggested that the Forums are usually the best place to find good info. Other than one exception, it has been.

[Wi-Fi-Guy]

First, let me apologize for any rudeness that may have been implied from any of my posts or my coworker's posts.  It's clearly not our intent.

For many of us, supporting customers in the forums is not our primary job.  For example, I'm the lead for 802.11 (wireless) development for HP's inkjet printers.  Even though many of the issues on this forum have nothing to do with the wireless link itself, I still participate because I think I can help our customers with the products I design.  In addition, I hope to understand the issues our customers have in order to be a better engineer and to improve the printing experiences in our future products.

I know that the C4580 sleep problem is a high-priority issue within HP and that a solution is being tested at the moment (it looks promising -- I'm testing the solution on my home C4580 printer and so far it looks good).  I also understand that having to power-cycle the printer before using it clearly diminishes the usability of a wireless printer and I now regret suggesting turning off the printer between uses as it appears to have angered some customers. 

[Bravesone]

Update

After my 2-4 email to the Corporate Office of HP I received a phone call from a Service Manager in the Corporate Office. I told her that the HP website sends customers to the Forum for first level help, but If someone in the Corporate Office would read the Forum posts, especially on this product, they would realize that they were selling a product inferior to what we have come to expect from HP.  I related some of the comments I had read, the frustrations, the high number of people that had experienced multiple replacements and still had the same issues.  She assured me that my concerns about this product would be addressed by a Corporate Office Management person. 

 I told her that many had reported being told the issue was being worked on and yet no one was getting any results.  I also related to her the instructions I had been given by HP Tech support about turning the machine off when not in use, not plugging into a surge protector, hitting the on/off  button 30 times in a row, disconnecting cord from back of printer, waiting then reconnecting..etc...She was flabbergasted at some of those instructions.

 I told her about the freezing up after about 30 minutes, which was causing people to turn off after each use.  She asked me to turn my printer on and leave it on for several hours and gave me a number to call her back if it did not work properly.  I told her that if I did this and it froze up after 30 minutes or so that I was going to package it up and send it back for a refund.  I have just turned it on so we will see what happens..

[azchurch]

Wi-Fi-Guy

See? This is why I look for your name on posts...you enjoy your work and you are engaged even though it isn't your specialty. And YOU have nothing for which you need to apologize. But thank you for your thoughts and the time you take to explain things as you see them. Your employers should be pleased to have you on and off the clock.

[gseven0]

I will also join AZ... in thanking WI-FI.  I am writing this as I am talking to HP Tech Support AGAIN.  My log of HP calls started Feb 1 and it is now three pages at 11pts.  Oh, hey they are sending the fourth printer.  This has now become a game (can't take it too seriously for a little $100 printer) and as I have mentioned previously, it is a mater of principle and principal at this point.

This time the call takes less than 10 minuets vs some of the previous calls of more than two hours.

Delivery:  Feb Friday the 13th I will get the fourth printer.  Wow, maybe that will be the lucky printer that stays awake.

[extravoice]

I'd like to thank everyone who kept pushing this issue.  I bought a C4580 back in January, and it has the same problem.  After several frustrating cycles of email tech support, I was ready to take it back to the store and dump it on the failure analysis folks at HP.  Since we seem to have an official statement from HP that they are working the issue, I decided to sit tight. I hope there is an easy to implement fix.

[Bravesone]

As requested in my conversation with a Corporate representative, yesterday I left my replacement printer on all day without turning it off after each printing. It is set up to function as wireless and is in a different room from where I use my laptop.   I printed a document every hour.  I am happy to report..at least for now, that the replacement I received in late January has not experienced the freezing problem yet. I will report back if I do start having any of the issues listed here. I hope those of you waiting on replacements will have the same luck. Maybe I got one of the new batch.

Bravesone

[SanchSanch]

Hello! 

Is HP going to release an updated firmware, or you speak about some other solutions (replacing the printer, etc)? 

Because here, in Russia, it would be much easier to update the firmware (that the user can do himself), than replace the device.

I'm speaking aboun AIO C4583 model, which is the same as C4580 I think, but for another region.

Thank you.