Resetting HP LaserJet P1006

Hi,

As regaled in several (monster-)threads, there was a flurry of problems with HP printers under Snow Leopard. Most of those seem to have gotten resolved by Apple's 2.2 update of HP printers.

However, I have just spent about three hours with my HP LJ P1006 (served by my TimeCapsule, to which it is connected by USB) that stopped printing--- again, now with Apple's 2.2-updated printer software! This time, I have the culprit, and it is the printer itself:

1. I sent a document to print this morning, the printer queue App started up, the printer's rollers began rolling - and then I realized that there was no paper in the printer.
2. By the time I was putting paper in the tray, the red telltale light was on, and the rollers had stopped and had not resumed rolling when the paper was in the tray.
3. I pressed the red X button, the red telltale flashed some 10-15 times, and... nothing. The red telltale turned off, and the green telltale turned on, with the printer peaceful as a lamb.
4. Glancing back at the printer queue, the job vanished.
5. Sending anything to print again would not wake the printer from its peaceful slumber (no roller start-up noise, green light steady), and the queue App would variably show "Device busy" or "Connected through (server name)". Once in a while, the job would vanish from the queue, most often not, but just sit there.
6. No amount of turning off/on, with or without longs waits in-between, with or without holding the red X button while turning off/on (well, how does one reset the P1006? Most other printers have some sort of forced preset-reset/queue-flushing function...) unplugging/re-plugging the printer, with or without long waits, disconnecting/re-connecting the USB cable from/to the server would change the printer's state.
7. In desperation, I even deleted the /Library/Printers/hp/ folder (which necessitated restarting and then deleting, since two files were busy) and reinstalled the "HewlettPackardPrinterDrivers2.2" update from Apple... to no avail.

Then it occurred to me that I have not tried connecting it directly to my Mac, via USB. So I did. The USB queue showed up immediately in the printer list of the Print & Fax SysPref pane.

But, the printer still did not wake from its "I have my green telltale on" state. So I turned it off. The queue said it was looking for the printer. After about 25 Mississippies, I turned it back on. By now, the queue was "paused" (as it often becomes, I suppose correctly, when the printer cannot be reached). I "resumed" the printer, and.... (drum-roll)... the printer's rollers began rolling, and the darn thing printed!

Then, I reconnected it to the TimeCapsule... and it printed one more copy (which was presumably kept in queue by the TimeCapsule).

Sooo.... Lesson learned: while connected through the server, P1006 does not get reset properly when turned off/on - or does not communicate properly to the TimeCapsule that it's reset. Apparently, connecting it to a Mac directly and then "hard-resetting" (turning off/on) does the trick; direct communication with the Mac's USB port is somehow "more aggressive"?

Anyhow: I hope this helps some other HP LJ P1006 owner.

Cheers, Tristan