HP 6310 printer shows up as Unspecified

tppk · 02 Oct 2011

Hi,

I'm having trouble installing a HP Offcejet 6310 Printer on Windows 7 Pro 64. When I plug it in, it tries to install it as a set of 3 Bluetooth Peripheral Devices (the printer doesn't even have bluetooth), and fails since it doesn't have the correct driver for it. In Devices and Printers (within Control Panel) it shows up in the Unspecified category as "Officejet 6300 series." If I right click->Properties->Change Settings->Update Driver->Browse computer...->Let me pick...->Printers and then select the 6300 series, I get an error saying that the driver is not digitally signed or not signed appropriately.

Some background: I had it installed as a network printer at work and had no problems. Then I brought it home and it mostly worked, but I had to reinstall it every time I turned it on. Then I changed networks again, and it doesn't work at all, either as a network printer or usb printer. USB problems are described above.

I tried downloading and installing the (very bloated and annoying) HP software and driver and that didn't help.

Anyone have any ideas about what's wrong and how to fix it? Thanks!

TVeblen · 03 Oct 2011

Hello tppk. Welcome to the forum.

Normally when you install a USB connected printer you install the driver software first, and then when prompted you connect the printer to complete the installation.
Did you do this (the first time)?

If not you will need to completely remove the HP device(s) and uninstall and/or delete all previous software related to the printer. After that, if you can do a System Restore to a point before you first installed the printer that would be even better.

Then unplug the printer from the computer before installing the driver package.

Note: for HP's bloated driver packages, choose "Custom Install". Then you can uncheck all of the unneeded bloatware and install the driver software only.

bassfisher6522 · 03 Oct 2011

To go with what TVeblen's suggestions, go to HP's website and download the latest version of driver and software package. I have an old officejet 5610v all in one and started having some issues with it when moving it from office location to home location, which was just down the hall. I went to HP's site and got latest version and haven't had a problem since.

tppk · 03 Oct 2011

Thanks for the suggestions! But sadly, I didn't have any luck.

I tried uninstalling all HP software. I also uninstalled the printer by doing this: Device Manager -> Other devices -> Right click on Officejet 6300 (with yellow ! triangle) -> Uninstall. The I unplugged the printer.

Then I downloaded the latest driver from HP's website and installed it. At the end of the install, it said to plug in the printer, and when I did that, Windows tried to install the driver but it failed and said that it couldn't find the driver. The HP install utility recognized that the printer was plugged in, but then got hung up on the install screen. I let it run for 15 -20 minutes but it didn't change. I unplugged the printer and quit out of the install utility.

If I uninstall the printer from Device Manager, then plug the printer in, Windows tries to install the driver and fails, saying that it can't find the driver. If I try to install the driver manually, it says that the driver is not appropriately signed.

Any other thoughts on what might be wrong?

By the way, I was able to plug the printer into two other computers (one PC, one Mac) and both recognized the printer right away and installed the driver on their own.

Thanks!

TVeblen · 04 Oct 2011

No, that is strange.

You could check your device installation settings:

Go to Devices & Printers
Right click on your Computer > Choose: "Device Installation Settings"
Check your settings.

If you do not want Windows to update drivers automatically then you could try the setting "Install driver software from Window Update if it is not found on my computer" temporarily - just to test and see if Windows will recognize the Plug and Play printer as the other boxes did.

You could try a different USB port - a long shot - but it happens.

I would uninstall everything again before doing anything more, to start.

But the key here is that Windows does not recognize the HP as a printer (it thinks it's a bluetooth device). You may need to find and remove those phantom bluetooth devices.
For that you may look at a more advanced method of finding and removing phantom hardware (be careful while uninstalling devices):

Get rid of old device drivers hidden in Vista | TechRepublic
(works in W7 too)

Layback Bear · 04 Oct 2011

I would not only remove the driver but also the program completely and start from scratch with the c/d it came with.

tppk · 05 Oct 2011

Thanks again for your suggestions. Still no luck though.

- I had already tried the trick to remove hidden devices.
- I removed and reinstalled HP software drivers multiple times.
- I tried changing the "Device Installation Settings" so that Windows won't install the device automatically.
- I tried this: Remove a Driver Package from the Driver Store
- I would have tried this, but there were no entries for HP in the registry after uninstalling the driver:
Removing PID Keys from the Windows Registry HP Photosmart p1000/1000 Printer - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

Anyone have any other ideas?

One strange thing that I noticed is that now when I try to install the driver manually the only manufacturer listed under printers is "Hewlet-Packard" and it only has four printers listed, none of which are my printer. This is true both with and without the HP software and driver installed. I don't know when this changed, but I used to have a long list of manufacturers, including both "Hewlet-Packard" and "HP." Hewlet-Packard has always had just the four printers that it has now, but the HP category seemed to have every HP printer ever made, including mine. Do you think this is relevant?

Another thing I noticed is that after uninstalling the HP software, it forces a restart, and when the computer restarts it tries to install the Bluetooth Peripheral Drivers (6 of them now) even without the printer plugged in. Then I uninstall those devices (which don't really exist) and when I plug in the printer, three of them show up again. Strange.

One last side note: When using the HP setup utility, even though I deselect everything except for the driver, it still installs all the auxiliary software. All that adds a bunch of time to the install and uninstall process. I certainly don't think that's contributing to the problem but I just wanted to complain a little, since it is contributing to my frustration.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions.

TVeblen · 06 Oct 2011

The only other thing that I can think of is to install the printer drivers manually, but navigate to the actual driver files on the CD or contained within the driver download package. These are usually in a folder along with the .inf files that the OS is looking for.

But what you describe is very unusual. Since the printer is recognized and can be installed on other computers it suggests there is something wrong with your computer or the W7 installation on it.

So I guess now would be a good time to ask you what we are dealing with here. Laptop or desktop? Can you give us the model number and your system specs? Include any other connected devices too.

You might also want to check the W7 system files with System File Checker.

Start > type: " cmd " > Right click on cmd.exe > Run as Administrator
Then type " sfc /scannow " and press ENTER.

If you do not want Windows to make any system changes but just want to check the system files then type sfc /verifyonly and press ENTER.

serpentracer · 06 Oct 2011

1. install the drivers/software from hp first!
2. when promted plug in the printer...
3. exit out of the windows popup. follow the hp instructions to a T.

if you don't do it this way it'll never work right.

this might help..
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...sw_lang=#N3116

pay special attention to this part,

Step two: Clear temporary files and folders Follow these steps to remove temporary files and folders. It is important that you complete this step to make sure that the problem files are not reinstalled.

<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click the Windows icon ( ), type %temp% in the Search programs and files box, and then press Enter .
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click Organize , and then click Select All .
Click Organize again, and then click Delete .

CAUTION:An 'Access is denied ' error might display. If you receive this error, close the error message, and then continue deleting the remaining files.

Step three: Turn off Terminate and Stay Resident programs (TSRs) and other background programs

When the computer is on, the Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) software programs load. Occasionally, TSRs prevent the product software from loading, and the software does not install correctly. In Microsoft Windows 7, the MSCONFIG utility prevents TSR programs and services from starting.

<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click the Windows icon ( ).
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">In the Search programs and files box, type msconfig , and then press Enter . The System Configuration Utility window opens.
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click the General tab, and then click Selective Startup .
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Remove the check mark next to Load startup items .
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click the Services tab, and then click the Hide all Microsoft services check box.
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click Disable all .
<LI style="MARGIN: 1em 0px 1em 14px">Click Apply , and then click Close .

NOTE:If an 'Access is denied ' error message displays on the computer when you make changes, click OK , and then continue. The message does not prevent you from making changes.
Select Restart to apply the changes to the computer.

NOTE:After the computer restarts and the desktop displays, you might get a prompt stating 'You’ve used system configuration utility to make changes to the way windows starts .' To prevent this message from displaying again, select Do not show this message again .

Step four: Reinstall the HP software

you really screwed the pooch by letting the printer install via windows then installing the hp software/drivers second. I made the same mistake and it was a total nightmare that took me 2 days to fix.

they used to have a scrubber that would remove all traces of the HP install. didn't really work for me. I had to go into the registry and remove all traces of it before it would install correctly. Huge nightmare that was. but it finally installed correctly.
I'll never make that mistake again.
unfortunately HP is making a lot of people rather fed up with their printers because of this issue.
I was about to throw mine out and buy something else.
I have a officejet pro L7680. which is practically the same thing as yours.

let the full feature suite install. then go into the start menu and into the hp file. you can uninstall everything you don't want. it's kind of backward but it will guarantee everything you NEED installed gets installed.

and if you ever hook it up via the network set the printer to a static address. or risk having the solution center never recognize that you turned the printer on. (another annoying quirk about the printer)

the most ironic thing about this printer is, it works flawlessly in linux with the standard linux drivers lol. it has every feature the windows version does and it installed itself in a few seconds. I spent days with windows getting it to install.

tppk · 11 Oct 2011

Hi All,

Thanks for the suggestions and sorry I haven't tried them yet. I'm moving this weekend and the printer is already packed up, partially because I'm sick of fighting with it. I'll give your suggestions a shot once I'm unpacked and feel like dealing with it again.

For system specs, I've got a Sony VAIO VPCCW27FX laptop with Windows 7 Pro 64. The only other thing connected while setting up the printer was a bluetooth mouse.

Thanks again.