C7280 Duplex Printing

[RichyRicardo]

I agree. I just don't think they read/monitor this user forum, and their help desk people aren't getting the word back to them what the problems are that they've been encountering with clients.

As for the dirver update, I'm too leary. I'll stick with the workaround I performed a few months ago. Everything's working fine, no phony error messages, I just have to remember to select the correct printer ("C7250" as opposed to the relabeled "Old C7250" . I suppose I could relabel it "Don't Use" or something, but that would be too easy.

[grahamt]

Well, it should be quite straight-forward now but, as usual with HP, it is very far from so being.  I have no doubt that if you simply have installed the original C7280 Full Feature software then applying the updated driver plinkykev identified for us above will do the trick.  If, however, like me, you are completely reinstalling Windows and want to define the printer to it from scratch, the process is a little more complicated.

The initial problem is that the HP Solution Center management software that is listed against the C7280 on the HP support website is Rel 10 and this release is in itself so buggy that you would not want to use it.  The latest release of the HP Solution Center is Rel 12 and this fixes many of the problems.  However, in order to get your hands on Rel 12 you are forced to download it for a completely different printer: I was directed to the C6300 webpage and downloaded it from there.

Installing the C6300 version is OK until you get to the bit where it wants to search your network for the printer.  It won't find one: you've got a C7280 and it's looking for a C6300.  Despair not: when it comes back and tells you it can't find a printer, just hit "Next" until you get to the page where there is a tick-box at the bottom which says, " Continue with the installation, I'll connect to the printer later".  HP Solution Center will then continue and install.

Now you want to install the new C7280 driver but you will find, if you try, that you can't.  It turns out that the file plinkykev points to is an update, not the full driver software.  You will get a message telling you to install the original software.  You need to download and install the original buggy C7280 driver first and then install the driver update over the top of it.  The original C7280 driver installation software is still, at the time of writing, posted on the HP Support website page against the printer.  You will then need to reboot.

Trust HP to make things as difficult as possible.  I used to work in the IT industry and none of this comes as any surprise.

[Rijax]

I recently purchased an Officejet J6480.  The printer is connected, wirelessly, to my router so I can use the printer with my laptop, but I'm running a USB cable from my older desktop to the printer. I'm running Windows Vista 32 on both computers.  I was having the "failure to automatically go into 'soft off' power mode" problem (I'm aware of the "push the 'Cancel' button" solution to this problem, but that's a pain in the posterior).  In the hopes of solving this problem, I updated the original firmware (BHM1FN0812AR) to the latest version (BHM1FN0830AR) on the desktop ONLY. 

I'm still having the "failure to go into 'soft off' power mode" problem with both computers and am now getting the "duplexer not installed" error message when printing from the desktop (I'm aware of the "click on the "Print" button on the error message" solution but that message is another pain in the posterior).  I do not get the duplexer error message when I am printing from my laptop which still has the original firmware.

Does anyone know if the PS_AIO_02_110_008.exe (1/1 , 15.97) Print Driver Update, mentioned above, would solve this problem on the 6480, as well as on the 7280, without causing other problems?  Would uninstalling the HP software on my desktop and reinstalling it from the disk revert to the original firmware thus resolving the duplexer error message problem?

Thanks for any help you are able to provide. 

Message Edited by Rijax on 05-21-2009 06:37 AM

Message Edited by Rijax on 05-21-2009 06:40 AM

[bjorn_e58]

For what it's worth:  I just reinstalled a Deskjet 6840 (on Windows XP) and it had exactly the same problem described here (with the incorrect pop-up).  Going to "Start"->Programs->HP->HP Software Update and installing the suggested was a working solution for me.

[Bill_the_Cat]

While it says that the module is not installed, just say OK and it will print duplex anyway.  Extremely annoying.  My HP rep says HP is fully aware of the problem and has no intention of fixing it.  Also, the problem is MUCH worse in wireless mode than when using the USB cable.  Apparently whoever designed this thing didn't design the interfaces to work the same with a cable and with wireless.

[Rijax]

Bill, I solved the dulex problem on my desktop computer by connecting the printer to my wireless router via ethernet. This means my printer is set up as a network printer. With the wireless connection on the printer turned off and my laptop connected to the network wirelessly, I can still print wirelessly with no problem.

[ToniE]

PLEASE all:  for any difficulties with duplex tray printing, you must realize the following: the printer driver from HP can not detect by itself that the duplex tray is present or not. Because (in the US only?) one can buy c7280 without duplex trays, the DEFAULT of teh driver is no duplex tray installed.  Soooo... go to your printer properties (in windows: control panel, printers and faxes and right click on your c7280) and select the  device settings tab..... there you have the possibility to tell the driver whether you have a duplex tray or not..Under the entry  Installable Options"... once you set there Duplex Unit installed ( and yes, on ALL computers you need to do so!) all these strange messages disappear when you want to print duplex.

[Bob_Headrick]

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@ToniE wrote:

PLEASE all:  for any difficulties with duplex tray printing, you must realize the following: the printer driver from HP can not detect by itself that the duplex tray is present or not. Because (in the US only?) one can buy c7280 without duplex trays, the DEFAULT of teh driver is no duplex tray installed.  Soooo... go to your printer properties (in windows: control panel, printers and faxes and right click on your c7280) and select the  device settings tab..... there you have the possibility to tell the driver whether you have a duplex tray or not..Under the entry  Installable Options"... once you set there Duplex Unit installed ( and yes, on ALL computers you need to do so!) all these strange messages disappear when you want to print duplex.

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This is correct in theory, but as the original poster said he had already done this.  As noted before there is an update for the driver available on HP's site to correct this issue for networked C7280 printers.

[Iceman3]

Yes I have the new driver and the properties shows the duplex tray installed and the annoyance is still there.

My printer also goes  unknown when I try to use it. So much for HP's 'fixes'

It's a pity the hardware is ok or I would have turfed it long ago.