HP Devices & Leopard (my FAQ)

Since a lot of the postings regarding HP printers & all-in-ones are around the same few topics, I've created this posting to put what I know in one place. I know this thread won't stay at the top, but hopefully people will be able to find it searching. So with that being said here goes:

1) The print drivers included with Leopard ARE the latest drivers. If you are downloading drivers from the HP site, they are probably older then what is on the Leopard DVD. this will change over time, but today the Leopard DVD is the closest thing to being current that you can use.

2) There is no software update available from Apple for HP print drivers. The reason some of you have seen updates is that if you do not install HP drivers, but have an HP printer connected via USB, you will see a software update for the printer drivers available. These are the exact same drivers as on the DVD.

3) Lots of you have said that downloading the older drivers have solved issues. Well the installer isn't actually installing a new driver (since we don't overwrite newer drivers with older ones). I have done a little bit of digging, and the one thing that seems to happening is that a command line utility is being run. My suggestion is that if you did an Upgrade Install, your device is connected via USB, and you are having problems, open your terminal and try the following command:

/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PrinterNotifications.bundle/Contents/MacOS/m akequeues -u

The -u option updates the cache of installed drivers and this seems to be what is fixing the problem.

4) If you're having problems with HP Trap Monitor crashing on Leopard (you get the dialog "The application HPIO Trap Monitor quit unexpectedly."), you can remove it with the following command from your terminal:

mv /Library/Printers/hp/hpio/HPIO\ Trap\ Monitor.app ~/.Trash/

You can also simply copy the app from the above path to the Trash, but for some of you I know that is too much clicking. 😉

Note the implications of trashing this application is that front panel buttons will no longer work on your machine. But given this application is crashing anyway, the buttons are already not working. When updated installers for your device are available, they will include a Leopard compatible version of this application.

5) For some devices Duplex printing for side binding prints the last page upside down. This is a known issue and we are working on a fix. I don't have an ETA for when this fix will be available.

6) For some devices, the installer on the CD/downloaded from the HP.com Web site crashes/doesn't work. This is a known issue, and we will be releasing Leopard compatible updates as soon as possible. In these cases for the time being you'll be limited to print only functionality from the installed drivers, or if you installed the software before you upgraded to Leopard you may have some additional functionality present.

7) Scanning Issues - lots of the devices require an update to the software in ordered to support scanning. Updates are being worked on and will be released as soon as possible.

8) Faxing Issues - lots of the devices require an update to the software in ordered to support faxing. Updates are being worked on and will be released as soon as possible.

9) Presets Issue - Presets are not being saved/honored. This is a known issue and we are working with Apple on a fix. I don't have an ETA for when this fix will be available.

10) Printing from tray 2 issues - these are still being investigated. These are not as widespread and are still being investigated. Any information you can provide with the trouble you are having is greatly appreciated.

11) Airport Base Station attached printer not showing up after upgrading to Leopard - we haven't seen any widespread reports of this. Most threads I have read seem to indicate that making sure your Airport Base Station is running the latest software, and if so possibly restarting the base station, seem to clear the problem. If you're still having a problem, please let me know.

12) Some newer printers (released in the last few months), the installers show an error on install, but dismissing the error will lead to the solution being installed successfully. Certain pieces may have problems (as described above), but more functionality then print only should be there.

Note that I will continue to answer questions in this forum, and update this list as best I can. However please bear with me if I don't get back to you right away, I am monitoring this forum on my own time, and sometimes need to talk to other people before I have a clue as to an answer for the problem.

Just trying to help.

Andrew