Printer only prints from HP diagnostic

[ell]

Hi, working on a HP HP Photosmart C4740 All-in-One connected to a win 7 64 bit laptop. The laptop was very infected, I cleaned it thoroughly, it now runs fine, but her second issue was with the printer, no printing, no wireless. I uninstalled, reinstalled driver from hp site, configured the security etc, it connected to their network everything looked fine, no print. I tried via usb, still no print, everything looks fine, set as default, using virtual usb port. If I do a test print from the hp software its ok, but if I print from Office or Works, nothing, I see a flash of what may be the spooler, but then nothing, not a sound either. Spooler is set to auto and starting in services. Virus still? I ran killemall, nothing. I ran msft fixit, it found no issues, but windows printer troubleshooter could not identify the problem. Something else I noticed, trying to print from notepad I get a error "the handle is invalid" also there is evidence of repeated installs of the same printer on various ports, is there a way to clear these out? Ideas???

 

[altrenda]

What happens when you connect the printer to your laptop and try to print?
Did you try to remove all instances of the printer and delete the drivers and start over?

 

[ell]

What happens when you connect the printer to your laptop and try to print?
Did you try to remove all instances of the printer and delete the drivers and start over?

It shows just fine in printers, on virtualusb port, everything appears fine, but if I open office and try to print a document, theres a flash of what i think may be the spooler, but nothing goes to the printer que. Weird I unstalled, reinstalled, same result wireless. Know of a good tool that removes all residue? I found one but haven't been able to test it yet, I'm getting the printer/laptop back tomorrow and will try it with my laptop, but mine is vista, hers is win7 64bit.

 

[Encrypted Existence]

Have you tried to print from within safe mode? Also, have you tried to print a test page from printer properties within control panel?

 

[ell]

Have you tried to print from within safe mode? Also, have you tried to print a test page from printer properties within control panel?

I was trying to work on it remotely, my remote prgm failed to get me into safe mode, printing the test fails from windows properties, with no explanation, but when I run the HP diagnostics it passes everything???

 

[Encrypted Existence]

I was trying to work on it remotely, my remote prgm failed to get me into safe mode, printing the test fails from windows properties, with no explanation, but when I run the HP diagnostics it passes everything???

When you say HP diagnostics, are you running the test(s) from the printer itself or from a connected machine?

 

[ell]

When you say HP diagnostics, are you running the test(s) from the printer itself or from a connected machine?

From the connected laptop, the printer test page works from the utilities on the printer and from the hp software. Seems like anything msft fails, even notepad gives a error, "the handle is invalid"

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

From searching it looks like there maybe a folder named 3 in system 32. If so rename it then delete the printer and reinstall and test. Also you might look to see if there is a non-network driver on HP's site to try.

 

[ell]

From searching it looks like there maybe a folder named 3 in system 32. If so rename it then delete the printer and reinstall and test. Also you might look to see if there is a non-network driver on HP's site to try.

cool, you have a link to that? thanks I will give it a try when I get it.

 

['putertutor]

I have had similar issues with a HP printer (8500 wireless). When I reinstalled the printer, it would only work from HP software, nothing else. What I found was that there were remnants of the hp solutions software and the drivers still hanging around. Not sure what the conflict was, but completely uninstalling all hp printer software, and reinstalling did the trick. Revo worked well for me in that task.

Once that's done you can reinstall, preferably with the minimum of features (if smart web printing is not used, don't install it). Make sure you also grab all the updates once its installed. Hope this helps.

Also, if you are printing wirelessly, some security software can hinder that, specifically Norton. You'll need to make sure you allow this service in the Norton configuration.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...printing/e79c2802-bf0c-4b06-98c2-7c2299cf3de2

http://forums.techguy.org/digital-p...2357-solved-printer-error-handle-invalid.html

Using Revo like stated above would eliminate renaming the folder. It might have a different name by now too.

 

[ell]

I have had similar issues with a HP printer (8500 wireless). When I reinstalled the printer, it would only work from HP software, nothing else. What I found was that there were remnants of the hp solutions software and the drivers still hanging around. Not sure what the conflict was, but completely uninstalling all hp printer software, and reinstalling did the trick. Revo worked well for me in that task.

Once that's done you can reinstall, preferably with the minimum of features (if smart web printing is not used, don't install it). Make sure you also grab all the updates once its installed. Hope this helps.

Also, if you are printing wirelessly, some security software can hinder that, specifically Norton. You'll need to make sure you allow this service in the Norton configuration.

I think there are remnants messing things up, I did run the hp complete uninstaller, it doesn't completely remove the past installs, I can still see them in the properties, revo will be next. Everytime I installed I just used the bare drivers without all the extras. Thanks!

 

[ell]

Well, no so great, I connected again remotely and uninstalled all traces of the printer with the uninstaller then ran revo, there was nothing for it to remove so I tried this cool little tool for removing printer traces which did find tons of orphan keys. Then I downloaded the basic driver and it got 75% installed then a windows popup came up saving driver install failed, the installer sat there for 5-10 minutes then finally gave a failure message I did a remote reboot and lost her internet connectivity, perfect.

 

['putertutor]

Sounds like its time for a trip out there. Bummer. I hate HP cheapo printers.

 

[ell]

Sounds like its time for a trip out there. Bummer. I hate HP cheapo printers.

Yeah, I just got done with another 90 minute remote session, fail, it can't install the drivers now, not communicating with it at all. Too bad she didn't have another pc or printer to test with. Shes bringing it by tomorrow night.

 

[ell]

From searching it looks like there maybe a folder named 3 in system 32. If so rename it then delete the printer and reinstall and test. Also you might look to see if there is a non-network driver on HP's site to try.[/QUOTE

no 3 folder found in system32 in windows 7, dang.

 

[ell]

I've about had it with HP, now I tried to install my old hp printer to it, same fail, I completely cleaned out everything hp, ran ccleaner, revo, went into registry, etc. Then when I reinstalled the basic driver all I got installed was the scanner part of it, the printer driver fails with error 0x000003eb I turned off uac also, and antivirus, then I tried to install it to my own win 7 32 bit, fail. I look in device manage and the printer shows with no error, however it is showing as a disk drive and not a printer?!

 

['putertutor]

Are you using the most current driver set, from hp.com?

 

[dond]

I'm sure you tried "USB" install and plugged the cable in when you got to that step in the install process so that it found new hardware then.

 

[ell]

Are you using the most current driver set, from hp.com?

yup, tried both basic and full.