MacLochlainns Weblog

Summer’s almost over and it time to start blogging again. It’s strange to think that Oracle OpenWorld is only a month away, and MySQL and JavaOne are all in the same event. I’m looking forward to it! As I did two years ago on my MacBook Pro, I’ll blog during the event on my iPad.

Anyway, I want to provide an observation about the HP LaserJet 1606dn and HP support. As a late reminder to me, always test purchased equipment within the return window. I failed in this case and Murphy’s law struck. I bought a DOA HP LaserJet 1606dn from Staples. I must go through the RMA process because I didn’t take it out of the box until after the 14 day return policy.

I thought explaining it to a store manager might allow me to return it, but I was wrong. Their policy is ironclad. It’s actually a wonderful example of why Staples’ Easy Button ISN’T EASY for consumers when you fail to test the product within 14 days of purchase. Make that 13 days, so it can be returned on the 14th day.

Anyway, HP’s Support Chat Queue works well. It was responsive but the RMA policy leaves much to be desired in a world of identity theft. Their shipping group wants to call you at their convenience to secure a credit card for the RMA. They don’t provide you with a number that you can confirm, or a process that supports your schedule. Clearly, the cost of support is more important to HP than customer satisfaction.

I’ll update what happens as it all sorts out. The problem with the HP LaserJet 1606dn is that it doesn’t recognize ink in the LaserJet toner cartridge. It appears to be a sensor defect but the support staff person maintained excellent transparency, which means I’ll never know for sure if they shipped a bunch of bad units. The quickness in agreeing with the sensor failure gave me the impression that they may know something they’re not saying. Alas, we may never know for sure …

The moral of the story is always: buy, immediately test, and return failures to avoid RMAs. Especially, do so with brick-and-mortar stores like Staples, so you can walk it right back for a full refund and avoid the RMA.

After I dig into their Registry management, I’ll have more to say about working around HP’s approach to drivers. Their approach requires uninstalling the printer software and then re-installing it when you use DNS licenses for the printer IP address. It appears their logic is in a combination of configurations files and the Windows Registry. When I sort it out, I’ll post it and how to work around it. Oops, that’s hack it, isn’t it. 🙂

About 8 months ago I published how to set up a shared network printer in Windows XP, using VMWare Fusion on a Mac OS X. Recently, I went to follow my own instructions and found they failed with an older Windows XP media – OUCH!

When I checked whether or not the version of Windows XP knew about my much newer printer, the problem became clear. If you want to set up a newer printer than Windows recognizes, you’ll need the vendors media.

Here are the steps to install a printer when Windows can’t recognize the network printer:

1. First make sure you navigate to Virtual Machine on the VMWare Fusion menu, choose CD/DVD and then Connect CD/DVD to proceed.

2. Insert the disk that came with your printer. My disk is for my HP 2420 duplex printer on Windows XP, 32-bit. If you’re installing to a 64-bit version of Windows, the installer will die and the complexity rises as you download the media from HP and manually install the driver files.

The screen shots are those for configuring a printer because I neglected to capture the driver install shots earlier and didn’t have the time to do so. When I have to setup another similar version, I’ll add those. The first screen shot after the welcome screen and choosing your language follows. Click the Next button to continue.

3. Choose the Add an additional printer on printer driver radio button, then click the Next button to proceed.

4. Choose the Connected via the network radio button, and then click the Next button to continue.

5. Choose the Basic network setup for a PC or server (recommended) radio button, and then click Next button to continue.

6. Choose a method to search by enabling the Search from a list of detected printers (recommended). This choice fails from the normal process that adds a printer because it can’t detect newer printers. Click the Next button to continue.

7. This next screen is a progress bar, and it takes enough time that you’ll notice it. Click the Next button to continue.

8. Hopefully, you’ll find your printer. Click the Yes, install this printer. Click the Next button to continue.

9. The following confirms the settings. Unless you’ve manually assigned the Network Interface Card for the printer to a fixed IP address, I’d leave these settings alone. Click the Next button to continue.

10. If you’ve manually installed the Post Script driver you may want to enable it here. As to the HP LaserJet Toolbox, I would definitely leave it alone. Click the Next button to continue.

11. This is where you can rename your printer if you have a desired name. Enter any change from the default, and then click Next to continue.

12. Generally, it’s a very bad idea to share a printer from a virtual machine instance. The only time I’d even think about it would be if I were trying to replicate a problem with a nested virtual machine. Therefore, I’d suggest you choose Not Shared, and then click Next to continue.

13. Here you can put a location in for the printer and any comment you’d like to have for it. Click the Next button to continue.

14. Everything to here as been choosing the configuration. Click the Install button to install the printer.

15. This progress bar fills four times, so take a break. When it is done, click Next to continue. Don’t click that Cancel button when it hangs for bit because it may do that. You’ll need to be patient, after all it is Microsoft’s operating system and most likely an HP driver.

16. You’ve now completed the installation, click the Finish button to complete the process.

Hopefully, this helps a couple folks that are configuring a Windows XP printer inside a 32-bit Windows XP installation.