Bought an HP F4580 wireless printer to replace a 13-year-old HP “workhorse” inkjet. Like the printer. WiFi Protected setup didn’t work, though, so I went to the utility on the setup disk.
*arrrgghhh!*
If there is a circle of hell for the purveyors of rude software, HP will reside there for eternity. ALL I wanted to do was run the wireless connection wizard, but no! Attempting to cancel the installation of all the other HP crap canceled the wizard. *gag-puke-spew*
Now, I have to decrapify the computer I used to install the printer.
I like the product, but HP is working very, very hard to make me hate the company.
Yeh, yeh: this was one of those “I do these stupid things so others don’t have to” kind of things. Naturally, when I went to other computers to select this printer for others on the network to use, not one could “automagically” find and install the driver, so that had to be done manually, and no I did NOT allow the HP crap to install itself elsewhere (I didn’t need the wireless setup wizard at this point). But *sheesh*, could HP have made it more clunky to manually install the drivers? I don’t think so. What a PITA.
And now I have to dig out which of the drivers included on the CD is the TWAIN driver, so that folks can initiate a scan from their computers over the network, as well as simply print from their lappy or whatnot. All the drivers installed (along with all the crapware) on the computer I initially connected with a USB cable, but installing the printer driver apparently doesn’t include the full functions of the printer.
HP is really beginning to chap my gizzard.
It’s sad that their software is provided this way. It’s almost too much of a pain for all that the printers are worth. Even so, I say almost, simply because their combination printer/scanner/copier/photo printer/multi-format card readers are really nice for all in one units.
I was able to set mine up wirelessly, and even upgraded the firmware wirelessly from my Windows 7 laptop.
When I last drove home from Utah, I was in such a hurry to pack everything into the car that I didn’t notice that the power cord for the printer was partially hanging out the passenger side door, with the little tip that you insert into the printer dragging on the road. 250 miles later, when I was filling my gas tank I finally noticed. By then it was too late, the connector was ruined. I jumped on the HP website from the hotel that night and ordered a replacement. This was on Friday night. By Tuesday it had arrived at my house.
that seemed to me at least to be worth putting up with quirky setup packages. I haven’t had better customer service from ANY other hardware or software vendor.
Oh, I like HP products, for the most part, Perri, (its notebooks, notsomuch any more–too many problems, especially with “WallyWorld Grade” HP notebooks) and service is better than it used to be, especially locating things on its support site. But this rude software stuff is really, really irritating.
BTW, Perri, since about the only thing I used the multi-format card reader functions on an older HP printer for was for… well, nothing, I got the less expensive model without ’em. I usually do some editing/processing of photos before I print ’em anyway, and then sending ’em to printer (if printed at all), so I really didn’t feel a need for the added functionality. We do have a four-year-old Canon photo printer sitting in a corner somewhere here at twc central, but I’ve not even used it in years, so…
Big deal with this is a workhorse printer and the built in scanner to save room, so the Canonoscan 4200 can go back in a drawer.
It’s been some years since I was last willing even to consider buying an HP product. Back when I was willing, I tried one of their desktops, two of their laptops, and three of their printers — and all six units had to be returned to the vendor. Since then, I’ve had HP devices inflicted on me by my employers from time to time, but buy another one for my personal use? With my own hard earned cash? I don’t think so.
Well, Francis, you seem to have gotten some real lemons. I’ve had really good fortune with HP printers. I don’t see a lot of problems with them or with HP desktops when I’m out and about, either, apart from HP sending their desktops out the door with under-powered power supplies. HP notebooks have fallen down in recent years, IMO. Just not even nearly as reliable as Toshiba (?!? Yes, really) and Asus notebooks, which is why my Wonder Woman has a Toshiba notebook and I have an Asus. HP cameras and other electronic goodies? Not exactly great. “Consumer grade” I suppose one might call ’em to be generous. Cheap and work just OK and for a while. Not recommended by me. Oh, I have a lil HP camera I picked up six or so years ago for $50 that works for certain values of “works” about as well as one might expect a $50 camera to work, so no complaints about that, really. My Wonder Woman’s camera is a Canon and of much better (middle range casual use) quality and functionality, but then she makes more use of it than I do of my lil “I can afford to leave this laying around somewhere a sucker might steal it” camera. *heh*
BTW, my primary desktop is an HP “media center” computer. Good service. Of course, to the Asus motherboard with a nice AMD processor, I’ve added a full deck of better-quality (Crucial) memory, an upgraded hard drive, a MUCH better video card and a Corsair 650W power supply. I really do believe that HP makes a great BASE for a really good desktop. 🙂 The Asus mobo (with already-installed processor) was the key component I wanted, along with a well-built case. I didn’t replace the nice, dual layer, Lightscribe DVDRW drive, but I did yank the DVD ROM drive out to use in another computer.
Son&Heir had a (WOEFULLY underpowered) Pavilion at one time (he won it as a door prize) that served him well for years (after I replaced the power supply and added memory and a larger hard drive and a better video card :-)), before I built him a new one as a replacement. That lil old Pavilion then served as an upgrade computer for his grandfather for a couple of years until I replaced it. It’s now back in service as a file server here. Yes, it needed the three upgrades I made to it (almost all HP desktops seem to need some upgrading straight from the factory, I’ll admit), but still, it’s served well.
Just shows ta go ya: experiences differ, because people do, mostly. 🙂