HP Envy 5540 Endless Trouble

[Somth]

Hi folks,

I'd like to talk about a very frustrating situation with our HP Envy 5540 printer.

This problem has been going on since 2018.

We have changed computers several times since.

We even addressed this here on the forum earlier, but to no avail.

We get the 'printer offline' error, followed by the 'printer out of paper' error.

Both of these are not true, because neither is the case.

It's just a terrible driver and it always stops working.

Every time there is a Windows update, the printer driver goes for a toss.

You launch a print job and before your very eyes, the print jobs get deleted.

I uninstall the drivers, then I run the following:

• Win + R and
• services.msc (Print Spooler restart)
• spool (delete print jobs)
• clean out temp files
• delete the HP folder in c:/programdata
• remove the driver in printui.exe /s
• Reboot
• Reinstall the driver (usually the basic one, but I've tried the other one too)
• (At this point, since there's no point running the printer, since everything remains the same regardless, it's best to run the Scan Doctor).
• After running Scan Doctor, the result is that it prints a test page, but then it's still deleting the print jobs.
• Repeat this same process again.

Each time I have to waste another hour or two sometimes.

By a stroke of luck, many times it actually works, so I'm okay for a few days - until it happens again. Then it's back to the drawing board again with the same process all over.

The same problem happens a few times a month, several times a week too at times.

I have probably had to redo this process at least 60-70 times a year.

As if I don't have other things to do, but hey! HP never ceases to disappoint. As soon as you breathe a sigh of relief once it's working again, it's back to square one.

Not sure why HP service is so pathetic that they cannot build proper drivers.

I've posted earlier, but HP support is useless.

I've been sent PMs, with big promises that it will get sorted out over a call with a company representative. But nothing!

If I contact HP UK, they want £40 to look at it.

Heck! The printer is not even worth that much.

The problem is that HP just makes poor quality software that goes with their products. I don't know why we persist with a piece of utter junk, but I guess we are suckers fo the Instaprint scheme.

I ought to take my wife's advice and chuck it in the bin and swear to stop buying HP products ever again.

Still, maybe I am a sucker for more punishment and I'm back here - hoping that some benevolent soul will take kindly to a kindred sufferer and take pity to put me out of this misery once and for all.

Thanks!

[sandytechy20]

@Somth

Welcome to the HP support community.

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

If you are unfamiliar with how the Community's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Community.

[Somth]

Looks like despite waiting for several days, there is no response.

This is going exactly as expected.

The support offered by HP is utterly pathetic - it's actually non-existent.

[Somth]

As expected, HP Support has still not contacted me for any reason.

I was told they would contact me within 3-4 business days.

It's already over 2 weeks.

This is absolutely ghastly customer service and pathetic lack of ownership on behalf of the company. It appears that nobody even cares.

I will keep posting updates here regularly every few days.

[Somth · Accepted solution]

Okay, so here is an update and hopefully, it will help anyone else who is struggling with this issue.

Finally after a month's wait, HP contacted me and offered the solution.

It appears that having a dynamic IP for the printer on the wifi network is the issue. Every time there is a Windows update, the IP changes. So the solution is to change the IP to a static IP.

1.Go to Control Panel, View devices and printers

2.At the top of the page, click on add printer.

3.Once you have the search box pop up, click on my device is not listed.

4.From the options you have here, select add printer with manual settings

5.On the next page, select "create new port", and select Standard TCP/IP port

6.On the next page, in the middle box, enter the IP address of the printer and click next

7.It may ask you if you want to use the current driver(recommended), here you select the recommended and click next

8.If device sharing is asked as well, select share and click next.

9.Now you should see a page where it says test print and finish, please try to test print and if everything is working, click finish.
 
If by any chance the IP is not found, try restarting the router and the computer.

You can also do this on the HP Smart App.

• Find what the IP address of the printer is (from the screen on the printer).
• Type that into your browser and then change the settings to a static IP from a dynamic IP (same IP as what's on the printer screen).
• Preferred DNS Address 1.1.1.1 Alternate DNS Address 1.0.0.1

Then, if you have your HP printer showing up as a Network printer, just add another printer to your printers, which would be same as the existing printer, but it doesn't show up as a Network Printer. So you'll have 2 entries for the same printer: a network printer and the normal version (without 'network' at the end). Make this your default printer.

The network printer is what you should use for scanning.

That's all there is to it.

The printer works now.

It only took around 2 years to get the problem resolved and perhaps wasting 258 hours at it.

But thankfully, it's working the way it should and I'm not going to stuff it in the bin.

Thanks to HP service finally getting in touch with me and getting this resolved.

(Since I noticed that HP still hasn't posted this information anywhere, I am posting this as a solution for any lost soul who finds themselves in the same predicament).