Cannot successfully install HP printer...

I've tried posting on HP forums but to no avail; I'm hoping that someone here might be able to help me.

I have an old Deskjet F2280 all-in-one printer, which had given me no problems until the other evening when I connected it to my laptop to print something. For some strange reason, I got messages saying that I had to install the software again.

Thinking that the best thing to do would be to uninstall all HP applications and reinstall everything, that's exactly what I did. But almost immediately I started having problems with TrayApp messages, etc. Then when I inserted the original CD to reinstall, I found that it was no longer accepted (out of date drivers??).

I downloaded all the latest drivers etc from the HP site and so thought I would be okay. But the situation now is that I cannot successfully install the software; everything seems to run okay until the very end of the installation process when I get a fatal error message. I have followed all the suggestions I've seen on the internet, including removing all temp files, but nothing seems to work. At the moment I have no printer when I do install the necessary drivers, the TrayApp messages return while the printer does not work.

All suggestions welcomed.

Florio

Can you tell us the 'fatal error message' verbatim?

The fact that it was installed and working, and then just stopped working and can't find the driver, and now can't install drivers suggests to me that the printer itself went south.

Is it installed on just the one computer (laptop)?

Hi there TVeblen,

Offhand, I can't remember exactly what the error message said, and in any case I have an Italian language OS, but I think it was just 'Errore irreversibile durante l'installazione"(Fatal error during installation) without any code.

On the HP site, I did find a page offering solutions to this kind of problem, even in the case of error messages without number codes, and I followed the advice given (all three possible solutions), but nothing worked. At the moment I have no printer installed.

Yes, the printer was installed on just the one computer.

You could try installing the printer on a different computer. Just to rule out the printer being bad.