Category — how to

Success!

The scanner is now working. I’d like to tell you that I was diligent and patient with the process; that I sat calmly at my desk and simply worked away at things until I got them working. This would be a dirty lie.

I got Joe to help install the new version of the drivers – and at the 96% done mark, I got an error message saying “We can’t finish the installation because some of the drivers are screwed up and we don’t feel like helping you anyway.”

I decided a nice hot bath was in order and I left everything in Joe’s capable hands. Before I tell you what he did, please allow me to state a small disclaimer here: My problems with installing the HP C4250 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier were a) I am using Vista as my OS, b) the message window on the printer said the scanner could not detect the alignment page and c) Both the computer and the printer could not tell that I had plugged in the USB cable.

My issues were specific, if you have different ones, I’d really recommend calling HP Support.

Also, if you are using an HP computer, or any other HP software already – please call HP Support BEFORE you uninstall anything! At the very least, check out this list before uninstalling as there may be important HP stuff your computer needs to keep.

Now, before you even bother with the HP CD, there are couple of things you’ll want to do to save your own sanity. If your printer came with version 8.0 software and drivers CD and you’re running Windows Vista, head to the HP site to download the 9.0.0 version of the HP Photosmart Full Feature Software and Drivers file.

Assuming that Vista doesn’t have a full on temper tantrum and tell you it can’t finish downloading the latest drivers and software, save that file to your C: drive in a folder you might call HP Drivers and Software. So, the file pathname might look like this: C:\Program Files\HP Drivers and Software.

If Vista does have that tantrum – go back to the software and drivers link I provided above, and order yourself a copy of the CD. It’s just easier. 

Now you’re going to want to turn off those annoying “cancel or allow” messages in Vista. If you end up having to uninstall the HP drivers and software – even once – you’ll be glad you did this.

Disabling Vista’s User Access Control (UAC)

1. Click Start > Control Panel  > User Accounts and Family Safety.
2. From User Accounts, click Add or remove user accounts.
3. Click Go to the main User Accounts page.
4. Click Turn User Account Control on or off.
5. Uncheck the ’Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer’ option.
6. Click OK.
7. In the Microsoft Windows dialog box, click Restart Now.

That should take care of the “cancel or allow” messages, and when you’re done installing the HP stuff, I’d recommend following the same steps to turn the UAC back on.

OK, so you’ve got a copy of the latest software and drivers – either by download or on a CD – and the Vista UAC is off sulking quietly in a corner somewhere. Now what?

If you haven’t already done so, get the printer plugged into a power source (DO NOT plug in the USB cable yet. The computer will tell you when to do that.) and follow along in the guide provided with the printer. At some point of setting up the printer, you’ll be asked to scan in a sheet you printed – and the scanner might not work. You’ll get some unhelpful message about how the scanner can’t detect the alignment page. IGNORE THIS. Your scanner is not broken, it’s just stupid. Trust me.

Carry on with whatever instructions are left in the guide, if you are asked to restart your computer go ahead and do it.

Now we are going to scan that page you printed earlier – even if the printer told you that wasn’t possible.

1. From your desktop, click the HP Solution Center icon.
2. From the HP Solution Center dialog box, click Scan Picture.
3. The hp scanning dialog box will open and your page from earlier will appear in the dialog box.

This is the point where your All-in-One is saying “Oh! You wanted to scan something. Geez, why didn’t you say so?” Now you can pop stuff onto the scanner, and use the scan button directly from the printer/scanner itself!

And that’s it. You’re all done.

However, if you didn’t get a prompt to plug in the USB cable during the process, I can tell you already you’ll have to uninstall the HP software and drivers, restart your computer and start over.

Uninstalling HP Software and Drivers

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Programs.
2. From Programs and Features, click Uninstall a program.
3. Choose the HP feature you wish to unistall from the list.
4. Click Uninstall/Change and follow any prompts that come up.

You will have to uninstall more than one item. These items may include the following:

• HP Customer Participation Program 9.0
• HP Imaging Device Functions 9.0
• HP OCR Software 9.0
• HP Photosmart All-in-One Software 9.0
• HP Photosmart Essential 2.01
• HP Smart Web Printing
• HP Solution Centre 9.0
• HP Update
• HPSSupply

One last hint: if you get it all installed and then find that trying to copy text from the web results in a little box appearing which highlights things and gives you the option of copying as a picture – that’s just HP trying to do your thinking for you. Here is how to make it stop:

Disabling HP Add-ons

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools >  Manage Add-ons > Enable or Disable Add-ons…
3. From the Manage Add-ons dialog box, click HP Clipbook in the list to highlight it.
4. Choose the radio button for Disable in the Setting portion of the dialog box (lower left corner).
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for HP Print Clips and HP Smart Select.

And that should be all you need to get started with your HP All-in-One. Happy scanning!

P.S.: Joe? You’re awesome – and very patient – thank you!