I select 2sided printing, click ok; selection changes to general everyday ENVY 5530e

[dslomer64]

In every program--Word, Excel, Adobe--starting today, I canNOT get 2 sided output, which I've done hundreds of times successfully with this printer and desktop over the years. Here's what happens as of two/ hours ago:

(1) I open the Print window, click Properties, select Two-sided (duplex) printing (flip on long side), and click OK. 

(2) Back in the Print window I click OK.

I get ONE sided output.

NOTE: As a test, I did step (1) but instead of clicking OK in the Print window, I clicked Properties.

The selection always somehow gets changed back to General everyday printing.

Now, how did THAT happen and how do I fix it??

This is bizarre. 

I have the latest driver and firmware, according to HP diagnostics apps, etc.

I get no errors.

I am printing wirelessly, which I've not done before--I've used USB cable from desktop to printer  in the past. But the same thing happens if I select the USB-connected device, named "HP Envy 5530 series". (The wireless printer is named "HP Envy 5530 series Network. These two devices have worked with the desktop [USB-connected] and a laptop [wirelessly-connected] for years.)

I'm thinking a recent Windows update has caused this, but I don't really believe that. I could restore back to a previous restore point, but that takes so long and, again, I can't see how a Windows update could do this,

A virus? I've scanned. Malwarebytes and Windows Defender find nothing.

Help!?!

[asmita6658]

@dslomer64

 
Greetings!

 
Welcome back to the HP Support Community. This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips to your technical queries. I have reviewed your post and I understand, there's an issue with the 2-sided/ duplex printing. 

This issue can occur due to various reasons like printer settings, firmware update, windows updates, hardware issue,... are to name a few. 

Appreciate you trying the steps. Don't worry, I'm here to help!  

Let's try these steps - 

Step 1 HP Print and Scan Doctor -

Click on this link to download and run HP Print and Scan Doctor.

Step 2 Re-install the printer drivers -

1) In the search box, type and open "Uninstall a Program". 
2) Look for HP Printer software. 
3) Right-click to uninstall. 
4) In the search box, type and open “Devices and printers”. 
5) In the Devices and Printers, look for your HP printer. If you see it listed right-click on it and choose “Delete” or “Remove Device”. 
6) Open the run command with the "Windows key + R" key combo.  
7) Type printui.exe /s and click Ok. (Note: there is a space in between “printui.exe” and “/s”). 
8) Click on the "Drivers" tab. 
9) Look for HP Printer driver. If you see it Click on it and click “Remove” at the bottom. 
10) Select Ok. 
11) Select Apply and Ok on the Print Server Properties windows. 
12) Close Devices and Printers Once the software and drivers are removed. 
13) Restart the computer. 
14) Download and install the software and drivers from here.

Step 3 Update the printer's firmware -

On the printer's control panel, touch Setup > Preferences > Web Services > Printer Update.

• If you are prompted to sign up or accept terms of service, follow any on-screen instructions to enable Web Services and set up automatic updates. This procedure sets up the printer's Internet connection so it can receive updates.
• If the printer does not automatically start the update process, select Check for Updates or a similar menu to start the update.

Hope this helps!

Let me know how that goes. 

To thank us for our efforts to help you, please mark the public post as "Accept as solution" and click on the blue "Thumbs up".  
 

Have a great day!

[dslomer64]

Hey, asmita, thanks for speedy reply. [AND NOTE EDIT #2 AT END OF TEXT]

Step 1: I ran Print and Scan Doctor yesterday. It found nothing of importance. However...

I found "HP Smart" and ran it. It told me the Firmware Version is ORL1CN1828BR, IP address 192.168.1.3, model number A9J40A, serial number CN38R1S4DF05XT, Service ID 23300, and that I've printed 2247 pages, used 8 black and 6 tri-color cartridges, all just for the record. I was blown away. Smart? YES!

Then I noticed Reports > Event Log. There were 9 logged events (numbered 108-117, minus 112), of which 6 were Printer Events, 2 were Network Information, and the other (116) was a Firmware Error, followed by a Printer Event. The "Event" associated with 116 is 69666, for which Googling shows two hits with same symptoms:

"Printer Error - Please Turn Your Printer off, then on" over and over and over again. 

Since it's apparently been somehow resolved, I didn't tell you that yesterday, the one and only time anything remotely resembling this ever happened. For an hour the printer was apparently dead. There was an error code (possibly C0260000) in the printer window. But I got the impression that the Google hits were for a "blue screen of death" Windows error code, not HP printer window error code. However, I think Event 69666 is something to follow up on if you're up for it.

This probably confirms the firmware error 116. It didn't get fixed by powering the printer off or removing the power cord. Error quit happening after rebooting the computer that it was attached to with USB cable.

So no problem printing today. Just weird entertainment.

Step 2: Delete a bunch of driver stuff and reinstall.

(1-3) I couldn't find "HP Printer software" in either "Uninstall a Program" or in Control Panel "Programs..." to uninstall. See attached for what I DID see.

(4-5) I deleted both the USB and Wifi Envy printers.

(6-10) I couldn't find " HP Printer driver", but did find "HP Envy 5530 series". So I removed it.

(11-13) After removing the HP Envy driver, there was an option that you didn't mention (see attached), so I removed driver AND PACKAGE.

I restarted the computer.

When I followed the link, it took me to Scan Doctor 5.1 so I ran it.

It found my Envy not installed  communicated with it and told me I needed to Install Software and gave the option of installing Online Help. I clicked Install Software and it downloaded  and offered some options: (1)Prepare (greyed out; finished?), (2)Connect (selected), and later (3)Activate, so I clicked Continue in order to Connect. It installed Basic Device Software and the 4 "Recommended Software" items. I got the option to install Wireless (which I chose) or USB or Connect later. It checked the network, found my printer, which I selected and clicked Next. It then said it was "installing network printer", then gathered printer info, from who knows where and from me (home use, etc.). Then it did ePrint setup and Printer Setup, after which (3)Activate was selected, but it said "The software is installed and your printer is connected; and that was true. It also said, "finish setting up your printer online" but there's nothing to gain since I don't want ink and already have an account. It said Finished.

Step 3: "Update the printer's firmware": the printer itself doesn't offer this. The closest I could come to "Setup > Preferences > Web Services > Printer Update" was "Settings > Preferences" but nothing under Preferences led to firmware update, nor did anything else under Settings. But I've updated the firmware more than once recentlyso i'll do that procedure again.

I downloaded the Firmware Update, which gave me a screen titled "HP Printer Update - HP Envy 5530 Series" and told me to select the printer to update. 

But it wouldn't let me update it. Screen stays as shown whether line is grey or blue. Attempts to check the box fail, so "Cancel" is the only option. Screen attached. BS.docx.

(I supplied every step and substep I took just in case it didn't all work out right. Glad I did.)

Now what??

EDIT--In the "Can't update printer" screenshot it says "Up to date" in the last column. Is that why it didn't let me select it? It says the current ancient firmware is the best I can do.

EDIT #2--PROBLEM PERSISTS. I tried to print two-sided just now. I got one-sided.

 (I predicted this since I'd already done all suggested, but I followed the "rules" since you don't know me.

Anyway: Now now what?

EDIT #3: My Dell Inspiron N1170 laptop, running Windows 7 Home, still gets two-sided output The problem is with a Dell Inspiron 580 desktop running Windows 10 Pro. A Microsoft site for printing problems after Windows 10 update may help.

[asmita6658]

@dslomer64

Thanks for replying. Appreciate you trying the steps suggested previously 🙂

Let's try uninstalling the drivers and add built-in drivers. 

Refer to this document for steps. 

Keep me posted. 

[dslomer64]

@Asmita6658,

Well, now I CAN print two-sided. I don't know exactly how I did it, but I think this last thing (that I just did) would do it:

Control Panel > Devices and Printers > HP Envy 5530 series (Network) > Customize Your Printer > Advanced > Printing Defaults > Print on Both Sides > Flip on Long Edge

As a check, in Word, Excel, and Notepad++. I set all 3 possible defauits, visited each program, overrode the default, and whatever was selected did not change back to the default (the original problem). Problem solved(?).

But by the time I did this, Two-Sided... Long Edge was already selected because somewhere else earlier I had done it but didn't think it would "hold" so I didn't keep notes {mainly because I was also working on a couple of other problems at the same time ("Why do I get 'Active Directory Domain Services ... unavailable' when I try to 'Find Printer' in the Print dialog [I'm not in a domain] and "Why doesn't System Restore tell which file prevented restoring?" and "Why on earth would disabling all Microsoft Virtual Miniport WiFi adapters speed up my laptop execution by [literally] a factor of near 100?????")(I have ADD and OCD!!)(Truly)}

By the way, the shorter ...

Control Panel > Devices and Printers > (choose your printer) > Set Preferences > Print on Both Sides > Flip on Long Edge

... also works to produce persistent printer options and so amounts to solution, but I won't guarantee that preliminary steps that I took aren't necessary. Who knows--maybe following the steps you outlined and that I followed is a necessary prelim. 

It would be good for someone who has this problem to simply follow the blue steps above and see if that's sufficient to make print options persistent and report findings.

One thing of note, though, is that now I get a considerably shorter couple of dialog boxes in the Print dialog chain. I don't know if that will pose a problem later.

In any event, problem solved(?) (at this time), though I can't swear that I could duplicate my recent fortuitously unaware solution.

Thanks, and I will definitely return if (a) problems arise or (b) I can document exactly how to fix the problem (which maybe I already did in blue).

[asmita6658]

@dslomer64

Thanks for replying. Happy to hear that your issue is fixed now.

If you need further assistance feel free to reach out to us. 

Have a great day!