Herbert West
04-04-2004, 07:08 AM
As a final addendum to this thread, I just threw the darn thing out.
I just restored a clean installation of Windows but could not find the
HP PSC1210 CDROM, so I went to HP's website to download the drivers.
HP no longer offers the driver for download! They did have available
for download a week ago, but now will only Mail or FedEx a physical
CD. I should have downloaded it anyway, but I I had the original CD
at that point, and was only looking for upgrades that might fix the
problem I had with it.
Anywayy the download was over 100MB (100 MB for a printer/scanner
driver is RIDICULOUS!!!) My guess is that they don't want to support
the bandwidth for such larrge downloads. IMHO, they should instead
produce reasonably sized drivers for their products.
I'm not going to wait a business week for a replcement CD, nor am I
going to pay FedEx rates for a driver (and probably have to wait while
some stockboy sits on the order for several days anyway).
The driver design on this machine was really stupid, but I was also
stupid enough to buy this item.
I NEED a printer NOW, not a week from now, so I have to buy a
replacement anyway. I'm definitely buying SEPERATE scanner and
printer, as I don't want to lose BOTH if one function dies (or the
driver for one function gets lost). I'm also going to screen my
prospective purchaes very carefully to be sure that they dont require
100 or more megabytes just for the drivers!
On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 06:02:03 GMT, Herbert West
<reanimator@miskatonic.edu> wrote:
I'm replying to both Ben and Charlie.On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:05:32 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net(Ben Myers) wrote:System restores are easy to do if the operating system is XP. Otherwise, it'sanother activity from hell to be avoided.The original posting gave no clue as to the operating system in use.Sorry. I LART others when they forget to mention OS in theirenquires, and I fsck up myself sometimes. Gee, I've been an engineerfor 30 years and should know better. <g>I'm running Windows ME and 98SE between several machines on a SOHObased LAN. (One of my servers runs Linux, but that's moot since thePSC 1210 has no current Linux drivers anyway). The actual machinesare all AMD Athlon XP 1800+ based, 512MB RAM, MSI mobo with VIA KM266chipset and at least 10GB free disk on each. I do mainly stillgraphic image processing on my machines, including scannedphotographic art, digitally generated artwork and still videocaptures. The Software on the various machines varies from none(fresh 98SE installation) to Office 2000, FrontPage 2000, AdobePhotoShop 4, Adobe PhotoShop 7, Paint Shop Pro 6, and ACDSee 3.0I've been running similar installations since about 1996, upgradinghardware and software as necessary without problems. These machineshave run perfectly with several other scanners for many years ofcumulative service-time.That said, all I can say is that the PSC1210 drivers were flakey onboth 98SE and 98ME.It's justa little unfair to accuse without having more information: "you may have botchedthe installation yourselfand / or your system was "hosed" before you ever brought the HP unit home."Thanks/ <g>Addressing Charlie's accusations:I doubt the 3 machines in my network I tried it with were hosed.One machine I tried it on had a fresh OS re-installation - I triedthat just to rule out any possible driver conflicts.My current computers have worked flawlessly for months and in one caseyears, without any problems with several other peripherals, includingCanon and Microtek scanners, Canon, Lexmark and Epson printers.Problems with HP printers and scanners and all-in-one devices may be in theminority, but on this newsgroup there are many very vocal and clearly writtenstatements about the issues and problems, which HP is either unwilling or unableto address. Issues with HP printer, scanner, all-in-one products are legendary.Consider yourself among the lucky ones to have a smoothly running product.The unit actually works well - IF i simply use the scan functionwithout changing the *defaults* prior to the scanning session. Thecasual user might never notice the flakiness. (I assume the Charlieand his family are 'casual' users).Unfortunately I need to set the scanner to *always* come up withslightly different settings than the factory default, as its scans areconsistently a little too light. I also prefer 300dpi as mygeneral-use resolution, not 200.I can change the defaults in 'HP Director,' per the Help fileinstructions, but the scanner software doesn't seem to want torecognise them. And when changed, I cannot scan directly from anyapplication other than the HP Photo & Imaging software that came withthe scanner. The TWAIN won't deleiver the image to PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro.I can change the settings and save them as new profile. When I loadthe profile, the scanner ionterface uses the loaded profie for thefirst scan but goes back to factory defaults for subsequent scans inthe session. Reloading a profile prior to every scan is as much awaste as manually changing the settings each time.... Ben MyersOn Wed, 10 Mar 2004 10:08:35 -0600, "Charlie" <charlie@excite.com> wrote: Herbert your experience is in a very distinct minority. From your verbiageand tone I strongly suspect you may have botched the installation yourselfand / or your system was "hosed" before you ever brought the HP unit home.I was terminally frustrated from a 3-day ordeal I had just(unsuccessfully) encountered to attempt what generally takes less than30 minutes. I don't usually rant. (Thats why I indicated it with the<Rant> </Rant>). <g>I doubt several systems, including 2 with fresh installations, werehosed before I even acquired the HP. They worked perfectly with theCanon and Lexmark peripherals I just retired.The Lexmark printer died, and since the PSC 1210's 600 x 2400dpioptical resolution suits my needs better than the old Canon with a600 x 600 optical dpi, I thought I mught save a few bucks.I've calmed down since. The problem still exists. The printer worksperfectly BUT the scanner will not run consistently when I change thedefaults in "HP Director." The scanner works perfectly if I leavethe defaults alone, and (like most casual users) use it without-of-the-box default settings. Since the defaults lead to scansthat are a little too bright and at a different resolution than isneeded, AND since I don't wish to manually change those settings EACHAND EVERY time I scan, the scanner is no good to me. It causesunnecessary work in the image processing stage. Every other scanner Ihave owned retains and utilizes user-defined defaults in gamma,resolution, etc.The problems do appear to be in the scanner driver, not the 1210itself or in the printer driver. Our PSC 1210 has worked fine for over a year now and our entire familyaccesses it with no trouble over our home network. The installation wastrouble-free. Just replaced the two ink carts yesterday and it sensed them,did a reset, printed a test page and declared itself ready for use..which itwas. We use it for all our family's printing photo print jobs and thequality exceeds our needs.As I said, the PRINTER and printer drivers work perfectly. I have noproblem at all with the printer side of this all-in-one.The Scanner, in a mechanical sense, also works perfectly.The scanner driver, however, has some severe limitations (at least onmy systems) when I change the default settings or attempt to use savedprofiles. BTW ..have you contacted HP support? It's a toll free call and they willget your issues resolved as far as their product is concerned.I will. As soon as I can get somebody to speak for me. I'm alaryngectomee. No vocal cords left after the surgery.I'll also be watching for updated drivers.Speaking of drivers, don't you think 350MB required hard drive spaceis a little absurd for a printer and scanner driver? Here is myactual folder listing! (The other HP software that comes with it arein a different 30MB folder).These are just the *support* files!Directory listing of: C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital ImagingName Size ModifiedProduct 167,480KB 3/9/2004 20:09DocProc 51,401KB 3/9/2004 20:38bin 50,955KB 3/9/2004 19:40{7C8BB31...} 19,669KB 3/9/2004 19:41Album 7,985KB 3/9/2004 20:37hp psc 1200 4,982KB 3/9/2004 20:44Help 2,758KB 3/9/2004 20:38bbfe 1,854KB 3/9/2004 20:38Unload 1,101KB 3/9/2004 20:38Migrate 816KB 3/9/2004 20:38Diagnostics 811KB 3/9/2004 20:38data 505KB 3/9/2004 20:38I think I can safely delete the "Product" subfolder as its all .msiinstallation files. But that leaves 150MB just to support a basicprinter and scanner device. That's about 120MB more than is necessaryfor the job!!!That's why I'm buying a Canon LiDE 50. Since the Canon User interfaceworks properly and has better ergonomics, AND because Hamrick'sVueScan supports it with even better ergonomics. And because thedrivers require less than 10MB of disk.Since the HP's printer works well, I'll keep it for printing, anddecide whether to get rid of it when the ink runs out. Sincereplacement ink carts often cost more than half the cost of a newprinter so I probably will give the HP away and just buy a new printerwhen the ink runs out. A new printer of same quality but much larger30-35ml ink capacity costs about $70.00 ( or $20-$50 with rebates)You mightunplug it..do a system restore from before the HP was added and - THEN -As I said in my original rant, and as amplified above, I tried it manytimes, including on a fresh installation. (And I don't do systemrestores in 98SE and 98ME, but tried it with a freshly Ghosted backupfrom last week on one machine. No joy).follow the installation instructions to the letter. I would bet a dollar toa doughnut you'll be successful if you do this and approach it with a coolhead...And yes, after getting a good nights sleep, I did an OS backup on oneof my boxes. I used a fresh Ghost image from when it was new and noother drivers of any kind other than which came with the motherboardwere installed. In other words, a cherry installation.Same results. The scanner driver ignores changed defaults and othersaved profiles after they are loaded. It scans perfectly, but usesthe out-of-the-box factory defaults unless I change then prior to*each* and *every* scan.I have Pay pal <g> But I'd rather have a doughnut.Herb.
I just restored a clean installation of Windows but could not find the
HP PSC1210 CDROM, so I went to HP's website to download the drivers.
HP no longer offers the driver for download! They did have available
for download a week ago, but now will only Mail or FedEx a physical
CD. I should have downloaded it anyway, but I I had the original CD
at that point, and was only looking for upgrades that might fix the
problem I had with it.
Anywayy the download was over 100MB (100 MB for a printer/scanner
driver is RIDICULOUS!!!) My guess is that they don't want to support
the bandwidth for such larrge downloads. IMHO, they should instead
produce reasonably sized drivers for their products.
I'm not going to wait a business week for a replcement CD, nor am I
going to pay FedEx rates for a driver (and probably have to wait while
some stockboy sits on the order for several days anyway).
The driver design on this machine was really stupid, but I was also
stupid enough to buy this item.
I NEED a printer NOW, not a week from now, so I have to buy a
replacement anyway. I'm definitely buying SEPERATE scanner and
printer, as I don't want to lose BOTH if one function dies (or the
driver for one function gets lost). I'm also going to screen my
prospective purchaes very carefully to be sure that they dont require
100 or more megabytes just for the drivers!
On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 06:02:03 GMT, Herbert West
<reanimator@miskatonic.edu> wrote:
I'm replying to both Ben and Charlie.On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:05:32 GMT, ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net(Ben Myers) wrote:System restores are easy to do if the operating system is XP. Otherwise, it'sanother activity from hell to be avoided.The original posting gave no clue as to the operating system in use.Sorry. I LART others when they forget to mention OS in theirenquires, and I fsck up myself sometimes. Gee, I've been an engineerfor 30 years and should know better. <g>I'm running Windows ME and 98SE between several machines on a SOHObased LAN. (One of my servers runs Linux, but that's moot since thePSC 1210 has no current Linux drivers anyway). The actual machinesare all AMD Athlon XP 1800+ based, 512MB RAM, MSI mobo with VIA KM266chipset and at least 10GB free disk on each. I do mainly stillgraphic image processing on my machines, including scannedphotographic art, digitally generated artwork and still videocaptures. The Software on the various machines varies from none(fresh 98SE installation) to Office 2000, FrontPage 2000, AdobePhotoShop 4, Adobe PhotoShop 7, Paint Shop Pro 6, and ACDSee 3.0I've been running similar installations since about 1996, upgradinghardware and software as necessary without problems. These machineshave run perfectly with several other scanners for many years ofcumulative service-time.That said, all I can say is that the PSC1210 drivers were flakey onboth 98SE and 98ME.It's justa little unfair to accuse without having more information: "you may have botchedthe installation yourselfand / or your system was "hosed" before you ever brought the HP unit home."Thanks/ <g>Addressing Charlie's accusations:I doubt the 3 machines in my network I tried it with were hosed.One machine I tried it on had a fresh OS re-installation - I triedthat just to rule out any possible driver conflicts.My current computers have worked flawlessly for months and in one caseyears, without any problems with several other peripherals, includingCanon and Microtek scanners, Canon, Lexmark and Epson printers.Problems with HP printers and scanners and all-in-one devices may be in theminority, but on this newsgroup there are many very vocal and clearly writtenstatements about the issues and problems, which HP is either unwilling or unableto address. Issues with HP printer, scanner, all-in-one products are legendary.Consider yourself among the lucky ones to have a smoothly running product.The unit actually works well - IF i simply use the scan functionwithout changing the *defaults* prior to the scanning session. Thecasual user might never notice the flakiness. (I assume the Charlieand his family are 'casual' users).Unfortunately I need to set the scanner to *always* come up withslightly different settings than the factory default, as its scans areconsistently a little too light. I also prefer 300dpi as mygeneral-use resolution, not 200.I can change the defaults in 'HP Director,' per the Help fileinstructions, but the scanner software doesn't seem to want torecognise them. And when changed, I cannot scan directly from anyapplication other than the HP Photo & Imaging software that came withthe scanner. The TWAIN won't deleiver the image to PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro.I can change the settings and save them as new profile. When I loadthe profile, the scanner ionterface uses the loaded profie for thefirst scan but goes back to factory defaults for subsequent scans inthe session. Reloading a profile prior to every scan is as much awaste as manually changing the settings each time.... Ben MyersOn Wed, 10 Mar 2004 10:08:35 -0600, "Charlie" <charlie@excite.com> wrote: Herbert your experience is in a very distinct minority. From your verbiageand tone I strongly suspect you may have botched the installation yourselfand / or your system was "hosed" before you ever brought the HP unit home.I was terminally frustrated from a 3-day ordeal I had just(unsuccessfully) encountered to attempt what generally takes less than30 minutes. I don't usually rant. (Thats why I indicated it with the<Rant> </Rant>). <g>I doubt several systems, including 2 with fresh installations, werehosed before I even acquired the HP. They worked perfectly with theCanon and Lexmark peripherals I just retired.The Lexmark printer died, and since the PSC 1210's 600 x 2400dpioptical resolution suits my needs better than the old Canon with a600 x 600 optical dpi, I thought I mught save a few bucks.I've calmed down since. The problem still exists. The printer worksperfectly BUT the scanner will not run consistently when I change thedefaults in "HP Director." The scanner works perfectly if I leavethe defaults alone, and (like most casual users) use it without-of-the-box default settings. Since the defaults lead to scansthat are a little too bright and at a different resolution than isneeded, AND since I don't wish to manually change those settings EACHAND EVERY time I scan, the scanner is no good to me. It causesunnecessary work in the image processing stage. Every other scanner Ihave owned retains and utilizes user-defined defaults in gamma,resolution, etc.The problems do appear to be in the scanner driver, not the 1210itself or in the printer driver. Our PSC 1210 has worked fine for over a year now and our entire familyaccesses it with no trouble over our home network. The installation wastrouble-free. Just replaced the two ink carts yesterday and it sensed them,did a reset, printed a test page and declared itself ready for use..which itwas. We use it for all our family's printing photo print jobs and thequality exceeds our needs.As I said, the PRINTER and printer drivers work perfectly. I have noproblem at all with the printer side of this all-in-one.The Scanner, in a mechanical sense, also works perfectly.The scanner driver, however, has some severe limitations (at least onmy systems) when I change the default settings or attempt to use savedprofiles. BTW ..have you contacted HP support? It's a toll free call and they willget your issues resolved as far as their product is concerned.I will. As soon as I can get somebody to speak for me. I'm alaryngectomee. No vocal cords left after the surgery.I'll also be watching for updated drivers.Speaking of drivers, don't you think 350MB required hard drive spaceis a little absurd for a printer and scanner driver? Here is myactual folder listing! (The other HP software that comes with it arein a different 30MB folder).These are just the *support* files!Directory listing of: C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital ImagingName Size ModifiedProduct 167,480KB 3/9/2004 20:09DocProc 51,401KB 3/9/2004 20:38bin 50,955KB 3/9/2004 19:40{7C8BB31...} 19,669KB 3/9/2004 19:41Album 7,985KB 3/9/2004 20:37hp psc 1200 4,982KB 3/9/2004 20:44Help 2,758KB 3/9/2004 20:38bbfe 1,854KB 3/9/2004 20:38Unload 1,101KB 3/9/2004 20:38Migrate 816KB 3/9/2004 20:38Diagnostics 811KB 3/9/2004 20:38data 505KB 3/9/2004 20:38I think I can safely delete the "Product" subfolder as its all .msiinstallation files. But that leaves 150MB just to support a basicprinter and scanner device. That's about 120MB more than is necessaryfor the job!!!That's why I'm buying a Canon LiDE 50. Since the Canon User interfaceworks properly and has better ergonomics, AND because Hamrick'sVueScan supports it with even better ergonomics. And because thedrivers require less than 10MB of disk.Since the HP's printer works well, I'll keep it for printing, anddecide whether to get rid of it when the ink runs out. Sincereplacement ink carts often cost more than half the cost of a newprinter so I probably will give the HP away and just buy a new printerwhen the ink runs out. A new printer of same quality but much larger30-35ml ink capacity costs about $70.00 ( or $20-$50 with rebates)You mightunplug it..do a system restore from before the HP was added and - THEN -As I said in my original rant, and as amplified above, I tried it manytimes, including on a fresh installation. (And I don't do systemrestores in 98SE and 98ME, but tried it with a freshly Ghosted backupfrom last week on one machine. No joy).follow the installation instructions to the letter. I would bet a dollar toa doughnut you'll be successful if you do this and approach it with a coolhead...And yes, after getting a good nights sleep, I did an OS backup on oneof my boxes. I used a fresh Ghost image from when it was new and noother drivers of any kind other than which came with the motherboardwere installed. In other words, a cherry installation.Same results. The scanner driver ignores changed defaults and othersaved profiles after they are loaded. It scans perfectly, but usesthe out-of-the-box factory defaults unless I change then prior to*each* and *every* scan.I have Pay pal <g> But I'd rather have a doughnut.Herb.