HP and Snow Leopard - HP software uninstall required?
HP and Snow Leopard - HP software uninstall required?
Before upgrading to SL, Is it necessary or beneficial to uninstall the HP software currently in the hard drive - particularly the files installed by the HP CD that came with the printer / all-in-one?
It's not required but you should check the HP web site to find out if a SL compatible printer driver is available for your printer. As of now there is a limited number of HP printers with SL drivers. You may wish to hold up on upgrading to SL if your printer is not yet supported.
If a printer IS on the list, would you uninstall the original, fat, HP CD files before upgrading? Does leaving them in the hard drive cause any conflict or problem?
I ran into a problem a while back with some of the hp-aoi files preventing my computer from auto-sleep. It was resolved when I trashed some of those hp files in the system library. Hopefully the new drivers will be complete as to function, and compatible with auto-sleep.
i bought a new macbook pro with snow leopard after my ibook died. within the last year i had bought an HP 2120 printer. i believe the HP website says it is compatible, but i downloaded the drivers and the computer and printer are not working together! is there any information you can provide me with at all... anyone? i really cannot afford to buy a new printer and this one
works just fine...
Is uninstalling necessary, no. That being said, if you are happy with the new In-OS software, or if your device already has a full solution available (you didn't mention the type of device you have), then I would certainly suggest doing it just to avoid any potential problems.
For your Deskjet F2120, already included in the OS are a printer driver, a scanner driver, and a full function utility, and now on HP.com is a full solution installer. So, when you say you downloaded the drivers, what drivers did you download? And when you say they are not working together, what is not working? I need more details to figure out what the problem is.
I use the MacBook Pro with HP 6100 (wireless), and HP 4100, all-In-ones. The CDs that came with the printers are installed.
When the computer would not auto-sleep, the fix was to delete from the / Library some aio & hpio files that came from the HP installation CD. This limited the scan & fax functionality of the printers to manual operations - using the flat bed and pushing the buttons. (I also use an old HP Deskjet 935 on an Airport - and probably have some files from that HP installer, too.)
Would it be wise to delete the HP CD files before installing SL? Also, would you use the Uninstallers or would you recommend manually uninstalling - HPs website doesn't seem conclusive about this.
BTW, you deserve an award from Apple for your helpfulness on these boards.
First, can you expand on which devices you have. I am going to assume the Photosmart C6100 series and C4100 series, if it is something different please let me know just so I can check if they are supported before you upgrade.
If you have the Leopard software installed on your computer, you should be fine. If you have older software (or potentially have older software left over) on your hard drive, there is no harm in running the HP Uninstaller before you upgrade. Actually to be extra safe, do the following:
1) Run the HP Uninstaller. Press Shift-Control-Command-Option when you press the uninstall button. Agree to the scary warning.
2) Go to /System/Library/Extensions and remove anything left over that starts with hp. Hopefully there shouldn't be much left there (if there is, it is older then the Leopard software and really should be removed).
3) Make sure /Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard is gone (it should be)
4) Make sure there is nothing that starts with hp in /Library/Frameworks (there shouldn't be)
5) Make sure that /Library/Image Capture/Devices, Support, and TWAIN Data Sources have nothing that start with HP (there shouldn't be)
6) Make sure that /Library/Printers/hp doesn't exist (it shouldn't)
7) Make sure the is nothing that starts with com.hp in /Library/Preferences (there most likely isn't).
8) Install Snow Leopard.
Now you have a 100% clean machine. Upgrading to Snow Leopard and you'll have In-OS Print & Scan functionality, plus a Utility. In Mid-October a full featured solution should be available for your device. This will give you HP Scan (a replacement for HP Scan Pro) and associated functionality (like button press support). If button press support is important to you, then I'd hold of upgrading. If HP Scan is important, then there is a post on my FAQ thread that tells you how to get that back up and running.
Thank you for taking the time to help, and giving me such clear, complete instructions to follow.
The all-in-one printers I use are Photosmart C6100 and Officejet 4300 (sorry if I misled you);
The computer is an Intel dual core MacPro with 10.5.8.
I have been using the scan and fax features "manually" - placing the document in the printer, pushing the button on the printer. Hopefully, I soon will be able to do this from the computer - You think?
My home printer, old reliable Deskjet 935, USB to Airport, was on the "good" list, although I'm not sure what the Geutenberg (sp) driver it requires is, and whether or not that driver is included in Snow Leopard? Any thoughts?
After recently upgrading to SL at home and just now at work, the only glitches I've had are with our HP printers (Laserjets & MFPs). Even after installing the "HP Printer Drivers 2.2" update from a few days ago, none of our HP printers are showing up when adding a printer. Apple tech support suggested a few things which did not solve the problem. Little help on HP's website, too. Hope there's a fix in the making... No problems with Epson or Tektronix or Canon drivers...
In that case I have good news for you. Already In-OS are Print, Scan, and Fax drivers for both of your devices, as well as a full feature Utility. The Scan drivers should show up as a tab in your Printer browser, or through Preview or Image Capture. If they do not, delete the print queues, and add them back. That should return Scan. As for fax, if you had any Fax queues that were migrated from Leopard, go in and manually delete them. Then add them back. The Fax part of your device should show up just like the print part does (although with a separate driver), but sometimes it takes a while for them to be displayed in the list (by a while, a mean seconds not minutes).
Finally the Utility (HP Utility) should give you the ability to configure your devices (including things like base station id for the fax). Full feature installers for both devices should be available sometime in October. First for the Officejet and then shortly after for the Photosmart.
The one thing missing without the full feature software will be that the Mac will not respond to button presses on the device. The full feature software will restore that.
If you are having troubles getting the In-OS features to work, post back and we can go through the trouble shooting steps.
As for the Deskjet 935c, yes gutenprint drivers are included with the OS. They should automatically be selected when you add your device. That being said if its hooked up to the USB port of an Airport, and the Airport isn't running the latest firmware (7.4.2) there may be some problems. This isn't unique to Deskjet however.
Can you provide some more details, like which devices you have, how they are connected, and how you are trying to add them? I may be able to help, but I need some additional details.
Thank you profoundly, Andrew. I think I'm good to go.
Here's the plan: Should the printers be disconnected during these steps?
• Uninstall old hp files, as per your instruction
• Install Snow Leopard.
• Put in the full feature software when available in October. (To be available from HP or Apple?)
If the device is connected via USB, its best to have it disconnected when uninstalling. If its on the network, its not necessary. In either case its fine to have it connected while installing Snow Leopard. And yes, it sounds right. As for the full feature software will be available from HP.
