Painfully slow scanning with HP Photosmart C309a...

Gordon,

The scan speed is directly proportional to the resolution. You can try HP Scan (available as part of the full Snow Leopard solution available for your device [here|http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=oj- 74786-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3737195&os=219&lang=en]). Let me know if using HP Scan is any faster for you. Also, how is your printer connected to your Mac?

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Andrew,

I am experiencing the same problem that Gordon reported. Following is a lot of additional information also posted on the HP Support Forum.

I have both a Photosmart Premium (C309a) and C7250 and scan from both devices using both a PC and a Mac. After noticing extremely slow scanning on the Mac, I started to do some measurements using a 2 page text document and realized that it takes almost 5 times as long to scan the same 2 page document on a Mac vs. a PC. Also, it takes twice as long to scan the same document using the Photosmart Premium (C309a) with the Mac as it does with the C7250. I can improve things by switching my Photosmart Premium connection from wireless to wired networking, but there is also an improvement on the PC and the C7250 thus maintaining a substantial performance disadvantage for the Photosmart Premium. My expectations were that the C309a would be at least as fast as the C7250 which it replaced in the HP product line and that Mac and PC scanning would take about the same time.

I have talked with both HP and Apple support. My metrics are provided below. Does anyone have any suggestions?



Scan Times for 2 page text document at 300dpi:

Wireless Network

Mac:
Photosmart Premium (C309a) connected via wireless - 4 minutes 39 seconds
C7250 connected via wireless - 2 minutes 20 seconds

PC:
Photosmart Premium (C309a) connected via wireless - 58 seconds

Wired Network

Mac:
Photosmart Premium (C309a) connected via wired network - 2 minutes 2 seconds

PC:
Photosmart Premium (C309a) connected via wired network - 45 seconds


I have used both HP Scan and Preview to scan with no difference in results. I also tried Image Capture and did not record a measurement because the results appeared to be about the same.

As an additional test, I accessed the scanner via its IP address and used webscan as suggested in another post. That was much faster, but the functionality is limited including no support for the ADF which is a large part of my workflow.

One other point is that I downloaded the latest software for the Photosmart Premium from the HP site, but did not download anything additional for the C7250 because everything is working fine with that device.

Hope this additional information helps us get to a solution.

Fred,

Thanks for the details. We'll look into this and I'll get back to you.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Andrew,

Thanks, the HP support center suggested that I get rid of the C309a and try to buy another C7250 which, of course, would be a ridiculously expensive solution.

Your help is much appreciated.

Fred

I do have a question for you. Are you doing duplex scanning (ie two sided scanning off of the document feeder)? It is quite easy to set up accidentally. The key question is are you using the document feeder, or scanning off of the glass, and if you are scanning off of the document feeder, are you seeing the paper go through the feeder basically twice? If so you have duplex scanning turned on.

Still investigating because you shouldn't be seeing this type of differences unless something else is going on.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Fred,

I've duplicated the slow scanning on the C309a here in the office, it is behaving differently then every other Scanner I have tested. I will continue to look into this, and let you know what I come up with.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Andrew,

That's great. I appreciate your effort. Because I have a C7250 to use for comparison, I have been convinced that there is something happening that is specific to the C309a. I will stop searching for now and wait for your results.

In the interim, one other observation is that the C309a seems to process a scan differently when scanning to a Mac than to a PC. In both cases, the scanner is driven by HP software although with different versions depending on the computer being used. On the Mac, the scanner seems to take in a page in thirds with pauses of approximately 20 seconds between each third. When the page is almost finished scanning, there is a final pause of about the same length. On the PC, the scanner takes in almost the entire page before pausing. The result is that the total of the pause times on the Mac is greater than the total scan time (including pauses) on the PC. It appears to me that the scanner should be able to buffer a full page before transmitting to the computer. Does any of this make sense in perhaps helping to understand the issue? I realize that not many people will have the ability to do such direct comparisons so wanted to bring this to your attention.

Thanks again,
Fred

Andrew,

I am sure that you are extremely busy, but did want to check to see if you have any additional insights regarding slow scanning on the C309a and how to get the issue resolved.

Thanks again,
Fred

Exact same problem here, with wireless OfficeJet J6400 series all-in-one printer/scanner. The automatic doc feeder used to take in the whole page at once using a Windows PC. Using my Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard with the latest drivers, it feeds every page in three or four bites, with an incredibly long pause between each bite.

We have identified a problem with Scan speeds on a class of devices. Not all HP devices, but the problem is not isolated to a single device. We are investigating the problem and will get to it as soon as we can. For those wanting faster scanning in the meantime, some of your devices have embedded Web servers that provide a Scan interface. This interface will provide the Scan at full mech speed.

Once I have an update, I will post it, but don't expect a fix any time soon.

Andrew

Andrew,

First, thanks for your help. I am not sure if your role on this Discussion Board is official or unofficial with regard to HP. In any event, I want to protect the messenger.

At this point, I am in a bit of a bind. I spent a few hundred dollars for a product that does not perform and a fix will not be coming any time soon. In fact, it now appears that multiple HP devices are similarly suffering so exchanging this product for another HP may not even help because who knows which devices work and which ones do not.

So, after spending a few days diagnosing HP's problem and laboriously documenting it for HP Support, I am left with nothing other than the knowledge that the HP C309a and some unknown number of other HP products are, in fact, defective. Given the apparent magnitude of this problem, there must be a way to get this escalated and quickly fixed. Otherwise, my two options are to try to return the HP C309a and get another brand and to send a letter to Mark Hurd, HP's Chairman. If the HP C309a was an old device, I might see this a little differently, but how can HP not support what appears to be its current top of the line device for consumers?

Finally, the embedded web server idea is flawed for anyone using the automatic document feeder which is a key feature of this device. The embedded web server only supports scanning a page at a time from the flatbed unless I am missing something.

Going back to my main point before I waste even more time, how can I get this escalated to the right level of management at HP for prompt resolution?

Thanks again,
Fred

Gordon,

If you open Safari, click on the bookmark button, and select Bonjour collection, you should see you device on the network. From there you can do all sorts of things. Some devices even have the ability to Scan through that interface. As for the c309a, I don't have one to test with at home, but I'll try to remember to check when I'm in the office tomorrow.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Edit: Based on Fred's post, it does support scanning through the Web interface.

Message was edited by: HP Mac Architect

Fred,

My role in this discussion forum is unofficial and on my own time. Just because I am an HP employee, I speak for myself, and all comments are my own and in no way reflect an official statement from HP or any policy of my employer.

Now with that out of the way I understand your frustration with a really slowly performing device. If I had the resources to fix the problem today, I would. I am not even sure where the root cause of the problem lies yet (the software on the Mac, the firmware on the device, or communication between the two). I have reproduce the problem, but that is about all. I am pushing to get to root cause, but there are only so many hours in the day, the Mac team is only so big, and I am already working far too many hours of the day. Snow Leopard has made things interesting for us to say the least.

I'd love to say more, but there is only so much I am willing to say in a public forum.

As for how you get it escalated, that is up to you. I will take your comments and bring them to work, but I don't think that will get you the escalation you want. You could try traditional HP support channels, or writing letters to whomever you choose, but again I am not sure you are going to get the results you are looking for.

Just trying to help.

Andrew