HP Color Laserjet & windows update...

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gtvr

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I have a networked HP color laserjet 5 (yes, the lights dim when I turn it on, and you can smell the ozone). No driver on the win 7 printer list. HPs website says you can get it from Windows Update. Question is, how do I force this download - do I have to try to plug it in directly, with a parallel cable or someting, so it tries to plug and play it?
 
Solution
Ijack
When talking about Windows Update in this context it is not talking about normal Windows Update but the button labelled thus in the "Add Printer"/"Install Printer Driver" dialog. This will add a lot of printers to the ones that Windows 7 knows about. I got a driver for my HP930C that way and I see that I also now have a driver for "HP Color LaserJet 5/5M PS" which may be the one you need. (That sounds like a postscript driver, but if it works....)
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Ijack

Ijack

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When talking about Windows Update in this context it is not talking about normal Windows Update but the button labelled thus in the "Add Printer"/"Install Printer Driver" dialog. This will add a lot of printers to the ones that Windows 7 knows about. I got a driver for my HP930C that way and I see that I also now have a driver for "HP Color LaserJet 5/5M PS" which may be the one you need. (That sounds like a postscript driver, but if it works....)
 
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Solution
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aboxman

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Have you had any luck? I'm having the same problem. But I can tell you I have an XP machine on the same network that prints just fine, so I know it's a driver issue.

Tom
 
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gtvr

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Haven't spent much more time looking. Got the thing for free off of craigslist - it has some quality issues (the first few pages come out weird, need to print a few pages for the quality to be OK). Also when I turn the thing on, the lights in my entire neighborhood dim.
 
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aboxman

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Nice score...

Yes, they do like the power, I just turn it on when I want to print. The nice thing about these printers is that all of the print mechanism parts are replaceable, and the toner is dirt cheap. Do as self test and look at the report, there is a consumable level report on it. See what's on its last legs. If I had to guess it's the transfer belt (cheap) or the drum (not so cheap). Watch eBay for supplies, there are some great deals for this printer. Also, don't count out the coating rollers. Those are cheap too, and caused me some printing problems when I first got my "5".

I'll let you know if I find a solution to the Win 7 problem.

Tom
 
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ttocsic

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I'm having the same driver issue with mine. I actually paid for mine a few years ago and had it networked and working fine (still does) with both an XP and Vista machine. My new Win7 machine is the one with the issue. Both HP and Windows websites point fingers at each other and get you nowhere. I really think Windows 7 is purposely supplying bad drivers so you have to give up and buy a new printer (its their way of helping the economy). Does anyone know how i can copy the driver from my vista machine and force it to install on my windows 7 machine? Where is it stored and how do I install it?
 
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aboxman

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Good to here that it even works on Vista, you should be able to copy the vista driver and get it to work, but I don't know the specifics. I'm seriously considering buying the Postscript Memory Chip from eBay (about $35). Because I understand the default Win7 Driver is actually a PS driver.
 
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joanne83

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The Laserjet Series II driver works under Win7 for the Color Laserjet 5 (PCL), altho it turns into a B&W printer. It's better than nothing... If anyone finds a color driver that works please post!
 
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ttocsic

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So.....Where can I locate, copy and ultimately install the vista driver in windows 7?
 
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aboxman

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I have found a working solution. Go to this link and download the PCL 5c driver for your version of Win7
http://support.ricoh.com/bb/html/dr_ut_e/re/model/mpc25/mpc25en.htm#Microsoft Windows 7 (x64) I had already installed the Series II driver, which worked for B&W (thanks joanne83). So I just downloaded and extracted the driver and pointed the Series II control panel to the new folder. When asked for what version I used the MP C2000. And now I can print in COLOR!!! :bounce: :pt1cable: :bounce: :pt1cable: There are a few options that don't apply, but I just ignored them.

The key to this solution was that I found out that the HP Color Laser Jet 5 uses PCL 5c command language from this site http://printerspecial.blogspot.com/2008/08/pcl5-pcl6.html . That little "c" was the key. Then a simple search for PCL 5c drivers for Win7 yielded the Ricoh page. Now that I know what to look for, I'm sure there are some better drivers out there, but I think I'm done looking. If someone finds a better driver please post it...
 
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joanne83

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I tried changing the Series II driver and also a clean install, both the linked Ricoh driver and the Windows Ricoh driver, neither worked. I even tried some other Ricoh PCL 5c drivers and no luck. Back to the Series II... :cry:
 
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dunringil

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A few of us have tried your solution without success, could you please revisit it?
 
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jgugel

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Hello,
ABOXMAN's solution worked for me for both the C2000 PCL 5c and C2500 PCL 5c. I had trouble at first too because of settings I changed while trying other drivers. Protocol is set to RAW and Print Processor is set to HPZPPLHN. I also replaced my JetDirect printer server with a TrendNet TE100-P1P printer server. I'll retry the JetDirect with this driver when I have more time. Thanks ABOXMAN for a working solution.

JoeG
 
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dunringil

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Maybe you can expand on this statement in more detail;
""So I just downloaded and extracted the driver and pointed the Series II control panel to the new folder.""

In windows 7 if I use a different driver, it just changes the printer type to that driver all together.

If I install the series II printer then point the printer to the new driver "c2000pcl5c" then it just changes the printer type to c2000pcl5c

Thanks, Steve
 
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jgugel

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Right after my post, I tried to install the printer on my wife's computer, initially, without success. This is a new computer operating under Windows 7 Home that came pre-installed. Nothing else has been installed on the computer. After my first attempt, I uninstalled (deleted) the printer. I then went into the install printer menu and installed the HP color LaserJet 5/5m PS printer. After installation, I went into advanced tab and in the Driver: drop down selected the C2500 PCL 5c driver. The printer changed from the HP to the Ricoh, however, it now printed a color test page and I was able to print color pictures from the Internet as well as from file. I have now used this method on two computers (Windows 7 Ultimate & Windows 7 Home).
Joe
 
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dunringil

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:eek: :bounce:

Thanks so much, it worked!

TO further clarify, I have the HP color laserjet 5 printer. Not the 5m. The postscript simm is not available for the laserjet 5 only the 5m, so I had no solution for color.

I installed the 5/5m ps driver like he said.
For windows 7 x64 I downloaded and unzipped pcl5c from
http://support.ricoh.com/bb/pub_e/dr_ut_e/0001096/0001096364/V3600/r46171en.exe

RIght click on the 5/5m printer choose printer properties.
click the advanced tab
pressed the new driver button and pointed to the oemsetup.inf file
selected c2500 from the three options

Happy camper now....
 
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