HP Printer, help me rescue it

Here I am with a printer that will print test pages beautifully, but sends blank pages through the printer when I try to print anything from my computer.

I cannot figure out how to fix this, and I do not want to toss the printer because I KNOW it works fine. When I called HP, they said that the printer was obsolete and that I needed to use HP branded ink or it wouldn't work. That is false, since my printer is old enough to not need the HP branded ink, and it prints the test pages fine! It has to do with how my computer talks to the printer.

Anyone have any troubleshooting tips?

That is the model number of the HP printer.

Can you load up a file on a USB flash drive, walk over to the printer and insert it and then print from the printer locally?
Can you try doing that with a PDF file, a txt file, a word file and PostScript file and let me  now what the outcome is.
Is it possible for you to do a factory reset on the HP printer.

Assuming you are using a USB cable. Can you try using that cable on another printer to verify that the cable is working correctly. (or can you get your hands on another USB cable that has been verified to be working)

How are you connecting to the printer is a wireless, over the wire network, or wirelessly or is it with directPrint (wifi).
It could be that the printer is using some static IP address, with a conflict or on a different subnet, or you have wifi isolation and the (printer and PC) is on different vLAN.

Have you made any changes to your network/devices/etc recently (new switch, cable modem, new computer, etc)

What kind of computer, what operating system?
Did the problem suddenly start?
Did any part of your computer system change just before it started?
Have you restarted both the computer and the printer?
Did you restart the computer just before this began?
Did your operating system update just before it started?

There are some things that involve spooling your information before it goes to the printer that are supposed to, on my computer, start automatically. When it doesn't start automatically, it does something similar.
But that's MY system. Depends on what yours is.

if you have the option, look at all the autorun programs, and see if any look like they involve printers and might be turned off.

If you haven't rebooted both of them, start there.

:D

S Bengi wrote:That is the model number of the HP printer.

It is an HP OfficeJet 3830. The HP Rep told me that it is 15 years old

S Bengi wrote:Can you load up a file on a USB flash drive, walk over to the printer and insert it and then print from the printer locally?
Can you try doing that with a PDF file, a txt file, a word file and PostScript file and let me  now what the outcome is.
Is it possible for you to do a factory reset on the HP printer.

No input for usb drive, but that would work well for the kind of user I am. Did a factory reset, and nothing changed.

S Bengi wrote:Assuming you are using a USB cable. Can you try using that cable on another printer to verify that the cable is working correctly. (or can you get your hands on another USB cable that has been verified to be working)

USB cable works when used with my Cricut, which for all intents and purposes is also a printer. The computer, as far as I can tell, treats them the same.

S Bengi wrote:How are you connecting to the printer is a wireless, over the wire network, or wirelessly or is it with directPrint (wifi).
It could be that the printer is using some static IP address, with a conflict or on a different subnet, or you have wifi isolation and the (printer and PC) is on different vLAN.

I use the cable. I don't have home wifi, but used to. The printer used to work when the wifi was on, and it worked when the wifi was off as well.

S Bengi wrote:Have you made any changes to your network/devices/etc recently (new switch, cable modem, new computer, etc)

Nothing new as far as I can tell.

Pearl Sutton wrote:What kind of computer, what operating system?
Did the problem suddenly start?
Did any part of your computer system change just before it started?
Have you restarted both the computer and the printer?
Did you restart the computer just before this began?
Did your operating system update just before it started?

There are some things that involve spooling your information before it goes to the printer that are supposed to, on my computer, start automatically. When it doesn't start automatically, it does something similar.
But that's MY system. Depends on what yours is.

if you have the option, look at all the autorun programs, and see if any look like they involve printers and might be turned off.

If you haven't rebooted both of them, start there.

:D

Did the problem suddenly start? Yes, a few weeks ago. Just getting around to troubleshooting now.

Did any part of your computer system change just before it started? Nope, everything is the same

Have you restarted both the computer and the printer? Yes

Did you restart the computer just before this began? That's possible. The HP rep said something along the lines of they sent out a driver update, and now my printer is incompatible. They weren't super clear on that, and I couldn't get them to clarify. When I asked very directly if the driver update made my printer not work anymore, they said "It's a 15 year old printer. Just buy a new one." I didn't like that answer, since I know it still WORKS.

Did your operating system update just before it started? I'm not sure, but it may have. I don't typically allow my devices to update, but windows sometimes does things all on its own.

I'd like to know more about this spooling business. I'll check the autorun things now

The newest driver update sounds like it nuked your printer's ability to communicate with your computer. You will either have to install the previous driver and NEVER update it again or get a new printer.

I have run into this problem at my work with incompatible printers striking at the worst possible moment.

Timothy Norton wrote:The newest driver update sounds like it nuked your printer's ability to communicate with your computer. You will either have to install the previous driver and NEVER update it again or get a new printer.

I have run into this problem at my work with incompatible printers striking at the worst possible moment.

I believe this to be true. The newest driver on their product page is March 18th, which is shortly before I realized the printer failure. My computer likes to update things when I give it the smallest dose of wifi at the local library. I'm on hotspot now, trying to troubleshoot. The printer never gets doses of wifi, however.

They don't have old drivers available on their site, do you have any ideas on where to find old drivers for "obsolete" printers that still work?

Just a quick note -- during an update, Win 10 regularly "loses" the printer drivers for my old Canon laser printer. It's a nuisance, but I've found a quick method for reinstalling in my setup. Hope you can find the same.

Edit:
Sometimes you can go into Control Panel, Devices and Settings, and roll back the driver for an item to a previous version.

It does look like they have an updated driver posted. Maybe it's worth trying to install. The support people might be talking about the drivers built into Windows, which are often good but occasionally useless. Or, the new driver may assume you have updated the firmware on your printer as well.

I don't suppose archive.org would have a previous driver?

I followed everyone's advice in here and figured out that it really was the driver issue. I finagled with it for a little while, and couldn't get the universal driver to work.

I have a friend who works in IT at a local university, and I asked him if I could make him dinner in exchange for him having a talk with my printer. He came over, since he knows that I only tap him in when I've reached a dead end.

I'm not sure what he did, but he monkeyed around with it and had it rolling again in about 10 minutes. I gave him a jar of our dish detergent and he seemed pleased with the swap.

Do you have a CD that came with the printer? That would most likely have the fifteen year old driver on it. Not that you need it now, but hold on to it in case this happens again in the future.

Also, you could ask your IT friend what was wrong with it, and how to avoid a recurrence in the future. Maybe he got an old driver from somewhere that could be burned to disk as a means of future proofing.

At any rate, glad you got it working without too high a cost.

T Melville wrote:Do you have a CD that came with the printer? That would most likely have the fifteen year old driver on it. Not that you need it now, but hold on to it in case this happens again in the future.

This is good advice for someone who also has a 15 year old printer, but this one was a rescue so I don't have any of its original accessories. My IT friend has been known to make disks like this for me in the past (he thinks my attachment to my old tech is charming, and he is a more affluent collector of decades old technology than I am).

This was my thought, too. I've been in a similar situation. I had a very old HP printer that used a massive toner drum. It would go months and months before needing changed. Loved that printer. What eventually got me was either a software update from Microsoft, or from HP.

I hope installing an older version of the HP software works for you, because even if you found out what Microsoft changed that screwed it up, I think it would be nearly impossible to reverse unless you were a true IT guru.

Alas, I am not.

j

Timothy Norton wrote:The newest driver update sounds like it nuked your printer's ability to communicate with your computer. You will either have to install the previous driver and NEVER update it again or get a new printer.

I have run into this problem at my work with incompatible printers striking at the worst possible moment.

this happens to me regularly-- my printer is even older than yours. ;-D
I know when i need to i just go hunting online for the driver. i want to say driverguide.com is one site i've used (i think you may need to sign up).