Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. Bought an HP printer lately? You probably want to avoid like the plague

Bought an HP printer lately? You probably want to avoid like the plague

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
sysadminquestion
47 Posts 26 Posters 3 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

    Quote:

    it was based on a state machine design and a thread changed states by throwing an exception

    Thanks! This just made my day. :laugh:

    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

    R Offline
    R Offline
    Rick York
    wrote on last edited by
    #14

    Apparently the design was some genius' masters thesis at UCSD. Had I been their professor that thesis would not have survived its defense.

    "They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • 0 0x01AA

      All HP Products? Not the same here. I have a EliteBook 8770w since about 10 years or more... And still I like that machine _very much_ ;)

      R Offline
      R Offline
      Rick York
      wrote on last edited by
      #15

      0x01AA wrote:

      All HP Products?

      Yes, most definitely, ALL of them. Between the ordeal of working with them and then the stupid stuff they have done as a company I want nothing to do with them.

      "They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • C charlieg

        So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

        Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

        T Offline
        T Offline
        trønderen
        wrote on last edited by
        #16

        charlieg wrote:

        it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing).

        WHAT??? I am in need of a new printer, but I am not permanently connected to internet (on the machine that will have the printer). Is that a common thing today, that printers won't work without an internet connection? So I will have to stay away from HP+ printers. Are there others that behave the same way? (One essential use for the printer will be for high quality photo output, so I am looking into Epson printers. Are they 'safe', in this respect? I assume that web ads do not reveal such nasty details as this!)

        C 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • C charlieg

          So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

          Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

          R Offline
          R Offline
          Ron Anders
          wrote on last edited by
          #17

          I remember the good old days when HP was a proud company that made top tier test equipment. Now their just dicks like everybody else.

          C 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • C charlieg

            So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

            Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

            J Offline
            J Offline
            jmaida
            wrote on last edited by
            #18

            Yea, HP printers are very much in their network business. In your case, with no options. Grrr

            "A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger

            S 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • J jmaida

              Yea, HP printers are very much in their network business. In your case, with no options. Grrr

              "A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Southmountain
              wrote on last edited by
              #19

              I like Dell printer.

              diligent hands rule....

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • C charlieg

                So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                S Offline
                S Offline
                Southmountain
                wrote on last edited by
                #20

                I like Dell printer...

                diligent hands rule....

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • C charlieg

                  So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                  Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                  J Offline
                  J Offline
                  Jacquers
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #21

                  I bought a Brother laser printer last year and had no issues connecting it to my Wifi.

                  V 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • R raddevus

                    We recently bought a little HP ($99) for my wife's WFH situation. It took only two cartridges (one black, one color -- which means if magenta is out then you replace entire color cartridge. yes, stupid but we were getting her a printer fast.) It wouldn't print unless you removed the print cable (yes we're using a print cable) and then re-attached the print cable. finally noticed it said we needed drivers. But drivers require a whole application to be installed that tries to register you to send you ink every month. NO!! So I returned it the same day & bought a Epson WorkForce WF-2850 online from Target (of all places) shipping was free. It was $89 & has a flatbed scanner, multisheet loader, and is a far better printer. Plugged it in, installed ink & works perfectly. I will never buy a HP printer so long as they take over your system the way they are now. Epsons are quite nice. We have two of them now & they work well (for inkjet) and have 4 separate ink cartidges so you only have to replace one at a time.

                    realJSOPR Online
                    realJSOPR Online
                    realJSOP
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #22

                    The only problem I have with my epson is that if you have an empty color cartridge, and select that you only want to print in black, it won't print because your color cartridge is out of ink. On windows it will still print after nagging you to replace the empty cartridge, but on linux, you are screwed.

                    ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

                    P 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • J Jacquers

                      I bought a Brother laser printer last year and had no issues connecting it to my Wifi.

                      V Offline
                      V Offline
                      vanniaz
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #23

                      A couple of years ago I bought an HP inkjet printer and when I read the label suggesting to subscribe to their "Instant Ink" service I said NO THANKS! But then I changed my mind and it turned out to be the cheapest possible solution, let me explain why: with Instant Ink you switch from a "pay per ink" model to a "pay per page" model. If you print a full color A4 photograph it counts 1. If you print an empty page with only a small black dot, it counts 1. So the strategy is simple: use the HP printer for ink-dense printing work, and send simpler pages to another printer (in my case an old Samsung laser printer). With my previous color printer a lot of ink was wasted in cleaning cycles. Now cleaning cycles are paid by HP, because you pay the pages, not the ink cartridges. This really made a difference! I suggest to subscribe to the lowest fee plan (i.e. the plan with less pages per month), unless you really print a lot. If you exceed the monthly pages you will be charged for a "packet" of 10 additional pages (1 euro for 10 pages here in Europe), but if this happens infrequently it is still better than having a higher constant fee. Of course all this works if you have a second printer available.

                      OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • V vanniaz

                        A couple of years ago I bought an HP inkjet printer and when I read the label suggesting to subscribe to their "Instant Ink" service I said NO THANKS! But then I changed my mind and it turned out to be the cheapest possible solution, let me explain why: with Instant Ink you switch from a "pay per ink" model to a "pay per page" model. If you print a full color A4 photograph it counts 1. If you print an empty page with only a small black dot, it counts 1. So the strategy is simple: use the HP printer for ink-dense printing work, and send simpler pages to another printer (in my case an old Samsung laser printer). With my previous color printer a lot of ink was wasted in cleaning cycles. Now cleaning cycles are paid by HP, because you pay the pages, not the ink cartridges. This really made a difference! I suggest to subscribe to the lowest fee plan (i.e. the plan with less pages per month), unless you really print a lot. If you exceed the monthly pages you will be charged for a "packet" of 10 additional pages (1 euro for 10 pages here in Europe), but if this happens infrequently it is still better than having a higher constant fee. Of course all this works if you have a second printer available.

                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriff
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #24

                        Or ... do what I did and throw the whole inkjet technology idea in the bin and get a laser. No more wasted ink, you turn it on, print, turn it off. For me, it has worked out loads cheaper - even considering the higher cost of toner over ink - than my inkjets, and way more convenient!

                        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                        "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • realJSOPR realJSOP

                          The only problem I have with my epson is that if you have an empty color cartridge, and select that you only want to print in black, it won't print because your color cartridge is out of ink. On windows it will still print after nagging you to replace the empty cartridge, but on linux, you are screwed.

                          ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
                          -----
                          You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
                          -----
                          When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

                          P Offline
                          P Offline
                          Peter Shaw
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #25

                          The problem i had with epson, was the scanner. I got one of those multifunction jobs, and one day when it ran out of ink, I still had some scanning to do, but found the scanner wouldn't work until I replaced the ink. The problem with the ink however is this was now an unsupported model according to epson, so getting carts wasn't exactly easy. After a very heated debate over Twitter with epson customer service, I was basically told "that's the way they are designed, when the printer can print nothing else is enabled, suck it up and go but a new one" At the time all epson printer boxes proudly carried the "Green PC printer company, 3 years in a row" badge, and here they where telling me to throw out a fax machine and scanner that still worked. I did eventually buy a new one, or rather a relative did, as a surprise, and that was another epson, which a year later the heads gunned up on, could not be cleaned, and guess what else stopped working? 4 years down the line however, I now have a HP laser, which I've not had any issues with, and quite happily uses non HP toners too..... More interestingly though, I discovered an app for win, Linux and Mac called "naps2", this by-passes the disablement code in the epson printers allowing me to use the scanners once more, don't know about the fax though..... I might have to dig about inside for that one.

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • C charlieg

                            So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                            Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                            V Offline
                            V Offline
                            vanniaz
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #26

                            A couple of years ago I bought an HP inkjet printer and when I read the label suggesting to subscribe to their "Instant Ink" service I said NO THANKS! But then I changed my mind and it turned out to be the cheapest possible solution, let me explain why: with Instant Ink you switch from a "pay per ink" model to a "pay per page" model. If you print a full color A4 photograph it counts 1. If you print an empty page with only a small black dot, it counts 1. So the strategy is simple: use the HP printer for ink-dense printing work, and send simpler pages to another printer (in my case an old Samsung laser printer). With my previous color printer a lot of ink was wasted in cleaning cycles. Now cleaning cycles are paid by HP, because you pay the pages, not the ink cartridges. This really made a difference! I suggest to subscribe to the lowest fee plan (i.e. the plan with less pages per month), unless you really print a lot. If you exceed the monthly pages you will be charged for a "packet" of 10 additional pages (1 euro for 10 pages here in Europe), but if this happens infrequently it is still better than having a higher constant fee. Of course all this works if you have a second printer available.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • C charlieg

                              So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                              Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                              B Offline
                              B Offline
                              b1thunt3r
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #27

                              Back in May 2020 I bought a new HP Inkjet MFP. After 3 months (90 days on the dot to be exact) of installing cartridges (and 10 pages) it needed new ink! And no, I cannot just replace one of the cartridges, but had to replace all of them. And it was not a cheap machine, something like 199 EUR (would be around 199 USD in US, after taking account of VAT and conversion). Bought A Dell a Laser MFP 6 years back, and it stopped even scanning if it didn't have any ink. Bought a Brother Laser MFP for my parents last year, it needs a a suite for be able to print or scan. Doesn't matter if using cable or network. I try to buy SMB and Laser printer, had to buy HP Inkjet because it was the only one available at the time due to the pandemic. I think I am going to stay way from a printer for a while

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • C charlieg

                                So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                                Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                mdowd65
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #28

                                The ones with an 'e' at the end require and internet connection. Without the 'e' cost about $50 more but works offline. I found this out the hard way.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • C charlieg

                                  So my venerable Samsung Wireless laser printer gave up the ghost. Time to shop. Brother - would never connect to my wireless network. Back it goes. Canon - had hopes for this but it turns out the office supply store has incomplete dimensional specs. The paper tray is not included in the depth measurement. Back it goes. HP MFP 140we - still has dimensions wrong, but not as badly as the canon. Unfortunately, it is an HP+ printer that _requires_ you to maintain an internet connection (or it will stop printing). It also appears (not well described on the outside of the box) that you have to pay a monthly fee to use your printer. Well, that is not elephanting happening.

                                  Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Marc Clifton
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #29

                                  I have a probably 20 year old HP Officejet 470 that keeps on trucking. And yeah, what is with this BS of having to be connected to the Internet, auto-subscribe to replacement ink, can't even get the printer installed without an Internet connection, and I want a cable as I don't do wireless at home and many of my friends don't either - it's all CAT 5 here. There's invasive, then there's mutant CRISPR gene splicing alien invasion invasive. That's what HP is now, and probably all the rest. :mad:

                                  Latest Article:
                                  Create a Digital Ocean Droplet for .NET Core Web API with a real SSL Certificate on a Domain

                                  C 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • P Peter Shaw

                                    The problem i had with epson, was the scanner. I got one of those multifunction jobs, and one day when it ran out of ink, I still had some scanning to do, but found the scanner wouldn't work until I replaced the ink. The problem with the ink however is this was now an unsupported model according to epson, so getting carts wasn't exactly easy. After a very heated debate over Twitter with epson customer service, I was basically told "that's the way they are designed, when the printer can print nothing else is enabled, suck it up and go but a new one" At the time all epson printer boxes proudly carried the "Green PC printer company, 3 years in a row" badge, and here they where telling me to throw out a fax machine and scanner that still worked. I did eventually buy a new one, or rather a relative did, as a surprise, and that was another epson, which a year later the heads gunned up on, could not be cleaned, and guess what else stopped working? 4 years down the line however, I now have a HP laser, which I've not had any issues with, and quite happily uses non HP toners too..... More interestingly though, I discovered an app for win, Linux and Mac called "naps2", this by-passes the disablement code in the epson printers allowing me to use the scanners once more, don't know about the fax though..... I might have to dig about inside for that one.

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Jerry Owen
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #30

                                    I ran into a similar issue with an HP printer at the office. It ran out of staples, and therefore would not copy, print, scan, or receive faxes until the staples were replaced, even though most of the jobs did not require staples. Of course, we didn't have any on hand. This is not a small home office machine but a professional laser printer as big as a washing machine.

                                    C P 2 Replies Last reply
                                    0
                                    • J Jerry Owen

                                      I ran into a similar issue with an HP printer at the office. It ran out of staples, and therefore would not copy, print, scan, or receive faxes until the staples were replaced, even though most of the jobs did not require staples. Of course, we didn't have any on hand. This is not a small home office machine but a professional laser printer as big as a washing machine.

                                      C Offline
                                      C Offline
                                      charlieg
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #31

                                      You have to wonder what dumbass came up with that design.

                                      Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                                      R 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                                        Which one? The Samsung brick, or the HP hemorrhoid? Do you ship to Canada? :-D

                                        Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                                        The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                                        C Offline
                                        C Offline
                                        charlieg
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #32

                                        HP hem.... :).

                                        Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • J Joan M

                                          I've owned 4 laser brothers since 1998 that survived years of continuous abuse. Always laser multifunction... they always worked hard and fine. A pity yours has not been able to connect to your wifi... I had an HP years ago and it was much more delicate and lasted way less time. X|

                                          www.robotecnik.com[^] - robots, CNC and PLC programming

                                          C Offline
                                          C Offline
                                          charlieg
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #33

                                          The printer connected fine with my wireless network. HP could not finish the account connection process without me subscribing to their service. The funny part is that the error message was as useless as some of Microsoft's. One of the possible solutions was to check my system clock. I s*** you not. When was the last time a clock had any impact on a sign up process? I can suffer having an account so they can monitor things, even to the point of suggesting I order more toner. What I cannot abide is having a monthly fee so that they can watch me. Their terms and conditions were pretty nasty too - to use the printer, I had to legally agree to use HP toner.

                                          Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups