Hi -
I have had this problem occasionally over the years but I could never figure it out: the printer seems to disappear off my laptop. After using it successfully over and over, out of the blue it is just gone and when I attempt to use it, it searches for drivers and re-installs drivers. I could never figure out why.
Now, however, it happens every single time I use my printer. This has been going on for months.
Every time I attempt to use my printer, the device is missing. There is a constant icon in my taskbar for Driver Software Installation. When I try to use my printer, there seems to be movement in that icon, searching for drivers. I have searched the HP forums and followed various instructions. The one that seemed most complete was to remove printer software, then do additional steps to make sure every single HP-related reference was deleted. I installed the most current driver. I have HP Digital Imaging Monitor running all the time (I never used to).
I am using Windows Vista on a Sony Vaio laptop.
Printer is HP 6200 series Officejet.
I have a wireless print server and print wirelessly via this print server over my wifi network.
(I had this problem of HP software disappearing and reinstalling even prior to the wireless print server, and have had hte print server for years, running fine).
I'm not sure what happened in the last few months to cause this situation.
HP does have a driver update that fixes a problem with network software constantly reinstalling. But the driver I installed is dated more recent than that update. Plus I have not been able to install that update successfuly. It fails.
Here's what happens:
When I open HP Solution Center, the window for HP Solution Center flashes for one second, then a pop-up appears saying "No HP devices have been detected. HP Solution center will close now".
When I click on the Driver Software Installation icon in my task bar, here is what is displayed:
US Composite Device Ready to Use
HP Officejet 6200 Ready to Use
USB Printing Support Ready to Use
HP Officejet 6200 Series (DOT4USB) Ready to Use
HPOfficejet 6200 Series Searching preconfigured Driver Folders
(Please note there is no space on that line between HP and Officejet)
IEEE 1284.4 compatible printer-ready Officejet 6200 (DOT4PRINT) Ready to Use
I am attempting to scan photos.
Usually, if I wait long enough, I can eventually open HP Solution Center. It seems that at some point the drivers eventually reinstall.
ANY help is greatly appreciated. I'm ready to pull my hair out over this....