HP Photosmart 6100 Series Printer Disappears

[Biff]

I just purchase a new laptop with the Vista operating system and have been
trying to connect to my HP printer. I have downloaded the correct driver
from the HP website and have been successful printing to the printer, but
when I turn off the computer and then turn back one the printer driver has
disappeared from the available printers. I try to open up the HP Solution
Center, but can't because it says that no printer is available. The only
think I can do is uninstall and then reinstall again, but then again when I
turn off the computer I disappears. Can anyone help. I have read the other
post and it seems that others have had similar experiences, but I haven't
seen a solution yet.

[Richard Urban]

So, who are you, Biff or Tom?

--

[Charlie Tame]

Far be it from me to criticize but I don't think the user's problem is
his name - more likely something to do with his OS forgetting his
printer's name don't you think?

If you can't answer his question, or at least try to say something
useful, why answer at all...

The question was...

I have come across a few instances where HP's installation instructions
are just plain wrong, or at least they just plain don't work in those
instances.

It would maybe help to have the model number of the printer and whether
it's a plain printer or one of those all in one things because I've
certainly seen the official HP install method cause trouble under XP
with an all in one, never mind Vista.

Also, how did you try and set it up, for example starting with nothing
installed the first time you tried:-

1. Plug it all together and then start the computer.
2. Start the computer then plug in the printer USB.

After that did you get "Found New Hardware" and try letting it find and
install automatically.

Or.

1. Install HP software first from the CD.
2. Install HP software from a downloaded package.

and either way was this with the printer plugged in or did you plug it
in after install.

There are lots of combinations and quite often in my experience the one
given in the instructions is the one that doesn't work, and each time
you have to uninstall everything and start over.

Sorry this isn't terribly helpful but HP printers seem to frequently
behave badly, others may disagree of course.

[maradufu]

I have encounter the very same problem as Biff and wondered if anyone
has solved this?

[AlexB]

I do not know who Biff is but I do have HP Photostat and I think it is 8250?
Could it be? I also do not know what Biff's and your problem is. it is
amazing you think people must read your mind.

You go to their website and there is a driver for Vista. Download it and
install. If you do not find a driver, buy a new Photostat.

[fitzgerald]

Here is a solution that works. I copied and pasted it without permission from a the IT Resource Center forums on hp.com. It was posted by Phil Martin, and I was not able to notify him because his email address is not listed in his profile.

Dissapearing Printer Icon in Windows Vista
------------------------------------------

There have been cases where if the PC is turned off or goes into hibernate the printer icon will dissapear from the Printers and Faxes folder. To work around this issue the "HP CUE DeviceDescovery Service" must be disabled:

1) Click on the "Start Menu" icon on the bottom left corner of the screen, type "services.msc" in the "Start Search" edit box, and hit enter. This will trigger Vista to pop-up a "User Account Control" dialog to prompt for permission to continue. Click "Continue" to allow Vista to open the Services management console application.

2) The Services management console application is made up of 2 panels. The right panel contains a list of all services available on the system. Scroll thru this list and look for a service called "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service".

3) Right-click on "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service" and select "Properties" to open the "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties" dialog.

4) From the "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties" dialog, click on the "General" tab. If the "Service status" shows that the service has started, click on the "Stop" button to force the service to stop.

5) Change the "Start type" to "Disabled" and click on the "OK" button on the bottom of the dialog to apply the changes.

For the record, I am in charge of "Total Customer Experience" for enterprise customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and work for HP. There is no updated driver for the issue. HP believes this is a problem with the Microsoft part of the equation. This is not an "official" HP solution, but it does work. I have five Vista PCs connected to a Photosmart C7180 by WiFi here at home and have installed the above on all of them. One of the five is on Vista Professional and the others are all Home Premium. I have not had any issues since using this solution. I had to completely uninstall the driver, then reinstall, and apply the solution. My driver file is named AIO_CDA_Full_Network_enu.exe and I downloaded it from hp.com.

Maurice Fitzgerald

[nellieschulz]

To All of You Who Know SO Much More Than I (including Maurice Fitzgerald):

Thank you for solving the disappearing icon problem.

I have another question about installing my brand-new HP Officejet Pro L7580 onto my brand-new HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop, unforetunately with a brand-new Vista 64bit OS. When I first bought these, the printer installed easily and worked perfectly for months.

When out of town, I installed another exact-same HP Officejet Pro onto my laptop and everything went fine. When I returned home and reconnected the printer and laptop, I tried to scan a document, but the icon was missing. Frustrated, I used the HP Scrubber program I downloaded from the HP website (to completely remove the software and drivers), but when I tried to install the printer again with the same original CD I used the first time, the download stalls and stops responding a few minutes into the setup.

I decided that maybe I damaged the CD, so (after re-scrubbing) I downloaded the "full" version of the software (for Vista 64bit) and, again, the program stalled and crashed. So, (after re-re-scrubbing) I downloaded the "basic" version of the same software. I got it to install, but only if I skipped the hardware install section.

So, (after restarting) the Vista autofind and install new hardware program popped up, the program found the drivers, but stalled and crashed, giving the error as "HP Installer Driver UI Plugin is not responding."

I guessed that the plugin referred to is the "HPZdui40.exe" application I found on the CD and also in the downloaded software. When I opened that file, it put me to the place in the installation where the program kept crashing - where the hardware is installed. When the application asked me to plug in the printer (using the USB cable), VOILA! the hardware was being installed -

BUT at step 7/8, the Vista "auto-detect and install new hardware" box popped-up - causing the installation to stall and crash. I've tried a zillion times to install the HP printer onto the HP laptop (you'd think they would be compatible - and YES I checked the MS and HP websites to ensure they are compatible) and now have wasted 2 days.

I am guessing that if I could get the vista "auto-detect and install new hardware" application to stop running, then maybe I could use the "HPZdui40.exe" application to install the hardware (printer).

Or I need to find out why Vista stops the installation with the popup error "the HP Installer Driver Plugin is not responding". If the HP Installer Driver Plugin is broken, where do I get one that works?? since I've downloaded it as part of the printer "full" and "basic" setup software - I don't think it could be corrupted, but of course could be wrong.

Help me someone, please!!

BTW - I'm losing my mind. Ever since I got the Vista 64bit OS, my life has been taken over by constant notices, questions, crashes, etc., etc., etc.. PLUS Vista isn't compatible with Adobe Flash Player so I can't see any photos on the web (and I hear Adobe is standing its ground and won't issue a Flash Player version compatible with Vista, especially since Microsoft is going to abandon Vista altogether any way).

Here is a solution that works. I copied and pasted it without permission from a the IT Resource Center forums on hp.com. It was posted by Phil Martin, and I was not able to notify him because his email address is not listed in his profile.

Dissapearing Printer Icon in Windows Vista
------------------------------------------

There have been cases where if the PC is turned off or goes into hibernate the printer icon will dissapear from the Printers and Faxes folder. To work around this issue the "HP CUE DeviceDescovery Service" must be disabled:

1) Click on the "Start Menu" icon on the bottom left corner of the screen, type "services.msc" in the "Start Search" edit box, and hit enter. This will trigger Vista to pop-up a "User Account Control" dialog to prompt for permission to continue. Click "Continue" to allow Vista to open the Services management console application.

2) The Services management console application is made up of 2 panels. The right panel contains a list of all services available on the system. Scroll thru this list and look for a service called "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service".

3) Right-click on "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service" and select "Properties" to open the "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties" dialog.

4) From the "HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties" dialog, click on the "General" tab. If the "Service status" shows that the service has started, click on the "Stop" button to force the service to stop.

5) Change the "Start type" to "Disabled" and click on the "OK" button on the bottom of the dialog to apply the changes.

For the record, I am in charge of "Total Customer Experience" for enterprise customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and work for HP. There is no updated driver for the issue. HP believes this is a problem with the Microsoft part of the equation. This is not an "official" HP solution, but it does work. I have five Vista PCs connected to a Photosmart C7180 by WiFi here at home and have installed the above on all of them. One of the five is on Vista Professional and the others are all Home Premium. I have not had any issues since using this solution. I had to completely uninstall the driver, then reinstall, and apply the solution. My driver file is named AIO_CDA_Full_Network_enu.exe and I downloaded it from hp.com.

Maurice Fitzgerald

[hahagranny]

*-::Hello,::-*
*-:: My hubby & I both have laptops & the same thing happens with the
HP6100 series printer. I think I have noticed that the printer
software disappears from our laptops after windows does new updates,
although this could be a coincidence. Then we have to go back to
reinstall software - this can be very frustrating~~~::-*
*-::::-*
*-::God Bless You & Yours,::-*
*-::hahagranny::-*


--
hahagranny