HP Officejet 6310v or Photosmart C5140 plus Windows XP-an exercise in installation futility

My Samsung office printer/fax/scanner/copy machine/trash compactor/cat food dispensor bit the big one. Although it was a quirky machine having the requirement for very hard to find, expensive toner modules, it was possible to use most of its features from Linux, Mac OS X and both Windows XP and Vista. Since the repair costs were very likely to be higher than just replacing it, one of us went to the local WallyWorld and picked up an inexpensive machine, an HP Officejet 6310v, to serve in the short term. Can you spell b-i-g  m-i-s-t-a-k-e?

As attempts were made to to persuade the devices here to be on speaking terms with the newcomer, it was quickly found that the MacBook Pro and Dell/Linux machines quickly welcomed the newcomer to the network. The big surprise is that Windows XP couldn't be persuaded to speak with the device at all.  Since the other computers had no problems printing on the 6310v, that effectively ruled out the printer as the source of the problem. So, the problem had to be with HP's software.

HP's HUGE POS (piece of software) refused to load. Here are the steps taken in the vain hopes of making everything work.:

• Email was sent to HP's customer support folks. They responded quickly, but their suggestions weren't all that helpful. Attempting to load patches that were already part of Microsoft's service pack 3 consumed time and resulted in many small failures.
• The next step was invoking HP's online chat function. I tried using their online chat line five different times. On each occasion, it took forever for a support rep to connect to my call and each one of them asked me to download software from HP's website rather than to use the software that came with the product or what was downloaded the last time. Each and every time, I'd lose the connection with the chat service somewhere along the line and have to start over. When I told them that I had done this before and already had the newest software, they wanted me to download it again.  After the fifth time, the procedure was getting a bit old.  I guess the folks on the chat line are required to use the standard script regardless of whether that's the right approach.
• Next on the list was calling HP's telephone support line. Over the next two days, I spent 8 hours on calls, spoke with three different service representatives (one in New Delhi and two in Bangalore) and watched them download the software time and again. They also downloaded and installed an updated version of the Windows Installer, Microsoft's XML processing software and a few other items. One of the reps cleverly tried installing software for a different, but similar HP all in one device. That software loaded immediately and, of course, wouldn't work with the 6310v.

In the end, no joy was felt at KG. Another hour has been devoted to removing all of the leftover HP software. Although it really didn't want to go, the device is back in its box and will go back to WallyWorld today. Sorry 6310v, if you won't work with all of the systems in the office you're going back to the pound.

HP, you've developed a hardware/software combination that allows you to address nearly all of the requirements of a home, home office or small business. Well, at least you can check all of the relevant boxes on their want list.

Unfortunately, the approach you selected is fielding a fairly stupid device requiring very complex, large and, obviously buggy software. The software is obviously badly designed if it requires so much disk space, is composed of so many pieces and is so fragile.

Although all of the support reps were polite, friendly and tried to help, even they couldn't get the pieces to talk to one another, talk to the operating system and talk to the printer.  If my experience is similar to others, your support costs, HP, must be eating you alive.

I found it rather outrageous that a support rep would suggest that I re-install Windows XP, all of the service packs, all of my applications and all of my data just to get a $159 printer to work properly. <Buzz> Sorry HP! Wrong answer. Johnny, tell them what they didn't win....

After this experience, KG would have to suggest that folks needing an inexpensive all in one device to consider offerings from other suppliers.

1 PM Update

After returning the 6310v, I tried a Photosmart C5140. As with the 6310v, the software wouldn't load. This time, I didn't take the printer out of the box. I just tried to install the software. After spending 2 hours on the phone with an HP support rep from the Republic of the Philippines, we were not able to install the software. So, that printer was returned as well.

I went to a different store and purchased a Lexmark printer. The software took 15 minutes to install and everything works as expected.