Windows 7: How to Uninstall / Reinstall Printer

Weird problem. I have an HP Photosmart Premium C309 that was a bit of a bitch to install on 7, but it's been working great for the last several months.

A couple of days ago it stopped working. I deleted everything from the print queue and tried to print a test page. Nothing. Stuck in the queue again. I deleted the job and clicked on devices and printers off the Start menu. No HP C309.

I remembered that the original installaion CD was pretty much useless, since it was not engineered with 7 as a choice. So I dowloaded the installation software from the HP site. Still a no go on printing - item stuck in queue.

I redeleted, and checked the Devices and Printers. There WAS an HP C309 listed, but it had (Copy 1) suffixed to the name. I deleted the printer and clicked on the 'Add Printer' tab on that page. I eventually got a message that the software for the printer had already been installed.

I reinstalled again, adn then tried to rename the printer - minus the (Copy 1). The system would not allow me to rename, saying that a printer with that name was already installed on the computer.

So now I look for help. I don't know how to delete a device that won't display, and I have no clue how to get this piece of s**t to work. HP wants to charge me an arm and part of a leg to help me Seems like if their software has bugs in it why should I have to pay them?

You could give this a try:

With the printer on, go to Devices & Printers and Remove all instances of the printer.

Then click on the Microsoft XPS Document Writer to highlight it, and click on "Print Server Properties" in the top Bar > go to the Drivers Tab > and Remove any Driver listed for the printer.

Turn off or disconnect the printer from the PC. Then restart Windows.

Once on the desktop, plug in or turn on the printer. It should be Found and the Driver installs automatically. Try a Test Page.

If it does not install automatically, then redo the D&P removal process (less the driver part), disconnect the printer, restart Windows, then install the driver download for Windows 7. Connect the printer when prompted. Try a Test Page.

Several possibilities here;

Use "Driver Sweeper" to remove all traces of old installations before reinstalling.

Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper

Use regscanner;

RegScanner: Alternative to RegEdit find/search/scan of Windows

to find all instances of HP in the registry and delete them.

Use Everything;

Everything Search Engine

to find all other instances of HP stuff on your machine, and delete them.

Regards....Mike Connor

I'll give both of these suggestions a try when I go into work tomorrow. This printer is used to print invoices.

Only problem is that the PC is also an HP, and I'm wondering about those scans displaying other HP product.

Thanks. I'll report back.

Yes, you are right to be cautious with automatic registry cleaners.

If you use one, check every line to see what is proposed to be deleted. If you are not sure of what it is, leave it.

Would it be worth trying a system restore to the point you know your printer was working?

Seemed like good idea, but every time I'd tried a restore I got an error (on restart, after the 'restore' had completed) that my antivirus was interfering with the restore, even though Norton had been disabled.

I ended up doing a level 3 uninstall, then reinstalled using the software from the HP site. All is now well, but I wonder what could've caused the problem n the first place.

Glad to hear you are back up and running.

I'd like to know the why too! Sometimes I suspect computer gremlins.

If you installed a print driver without uninstalling the old one first or if you had tried the printer in different USB ports it's possible the system registry was corrupted.

As for the system restore not working it may have done if you'd tried it in safe mode.

Anyway, pleased to hear you no longer have a problem.

I'm a little more cynical than you... I suspect HP. The conspiracy theorist part of me thinks they put a chip in the printer that activates a month after the warranty expires.