HP Scan appt not working

[Ro477336]

Using Mac OS 13.41 on MacBook Pro:

HP Utility no longer connects to device. HP Easy Scan no longer functions:

Printer works but not scanner

I did the following:

Downloaded HP Smart app

One can use the app to start a scan. It works but the scanner runs fast so I suspect that quality may be low.

I looked to see if the  HP Scanner app has an update but when looking it up the HP website just wants to direct one to the HP Smart app

There is an HP Easy Start app. It gets to a point where it spins saying ‘preparing for device setup. This went on a long time. Then it got to Install the recommended software for your HP product

1. Essential software

Status: Not installed

Version 5.17.5.2

361.8 MB required

Installs genuine HP drivers and HP utility -essential software for using the features of your HP product

and

2. HP Easy Scan

Status: Not installed

Version 2.0.0.2

154.2 MB recommended

I checked my version of HP Easy Scan. It is 1.9.2 so it appears that an update exists

Given this, I downloaded both.

During installation it did ask for my computer PW

Later, Mac said ‘system extension blocked’ ‘a program tried to load new system extension(s) signed by "HP inc.” You can enable these extensions in privacy & security system settings.

Later it said, ‘an airprint printer driver is assigned to your printer. The driver provides a basic features in the supported for use with your printer. However, to ensure access to all of the features of your printer, it is recommended that you use the HP printer driver.” It then offers to use the current driver or switch to the HP driver.

For better or worse I opted for my current driver.

I opened HP Easy Scan and saw that I do have the updated software. I tried to scan from it. ‘Preparing to scan’ kept scrolling. So now it just scrolls. It no longer bothers to say that it’s not connecting.

I was still averse to switching from Apple’s AirPrint driver to HP’s printer driver. So, I tried to reset things by unplugging the printer while still on, waiting a couple minutes, then plugging back in. HP Easy Scan still just scrolls, saying ‘Preparing to scan’ without any progress.

The HP Smart App still works and can scan with that.

I remain hesitant to switch to the HP driver because I’m fairly certain I’ve read here that others tried that without success.

(Also, I had downloaded the file from HP to upload firmware but it said it does not work for that when I attempted to install)

One thing that is new, is that if I remove my device from HP Utility and try to re-add, it offers both ‘OfficeJet Pro 6968” and “HP0284CE.” Both have the same IP address. It appears the ‘OfficeJet Pro 6968’ matches Device type ‘scanner’ and connects via ‘Bonjour’ whereas ‘HP0284CE connects via ‘IP’ and is for printer. Neither one connects per the HP Utility App