Help needed with HP5650

[Les]

Just bought one of these printers.

How on bloody earth do you fit the ink cartridges!?!?!?!?

Follow the limited instruction manual, which says put paper in tray->turn
printer on->open printer cover->lift cartridge latch->slide cartridge in

but it doesn't seem to work? there is a bit of black plastic in front of
where the cartridges go, the pictures in the instructions show it as being
up when cart is in place, but magically down when either inserting or
removing ink cart wothout saying how this comes to be.

I have checked for any kind of restraining devices but non are obvious.

I may be missing something blindingly obvious but I have never owned a HP
printer before.

TIA
--
Les
AMD64 3200+
2x512 MB corsair platinum 3500
ASUS K8V
Herc 9700 Pro
SB Audigy

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

Just bought one of these printers.

How on bloody earth do you fit the ink cartridges!?!?!?!?

Follow the limited instruction manual, which says put paper in tray->turn
printer on->open printer cover->lift cartridge latch->slide cartridge in

but it doesn't seem to work? there is a bit of black plastic in front of
where the cartridges go,

A "bit" of black plastic? Not on my 5650. There is only the plastic
latch, with cartridge number printed on it, that is to be first
lifted. What shape is the "bit"? How is it fastened? Perhaps
someone put some extra packing in your machine.

the pictures in the instructions show it as being
up when cart is in place, but magically down when either inserting or
removing ink cart wothout saying how this comes to be.

The latch (black) is, of course, up when inserting the cartridge and
down when after the cartridge is in place and the printer is usable.

I have checked for any kind of restraining devices but non are obvious.

Devices that restrain what, the cartridge? There is the latch that
you lift only while inserting the cartridge.

There is a fixed metal support under which the cartridge must be
inserted, with its type number facing upward (and the protective tape
removed from covering the jets of the cartridge). I was puzzled for a
while before I realized that the cartridge has to be inserted UNDER
this metal strip.

I may be missing something blindingly obvious but I have never owned a HP
printer before.

I bought my 5650 after my 932c gave out and nobody could economically
find out its problem and fix it. I only bought the 5650 because I
wanted a printer that could automatically print on both sides of a
sheet of paper. (An additional "duplexer" is needed for this.)
Otherwise, I would have bought anything but HP. While I think HP
inkjet printers printer more beautifully and faster, the company is
about the worst as far as providing instructions and tech support that
anyone can understand, and the tech support people neither understand
much of anything nor are ever given the knowledge they need to
usefully answer qurestions. I have been fighting with several levels
of them on both of these printers I have bought. A letter to the
printer division chief's office only got me a call from another
tech-support level.

My next attempt to get useful info on the 5650 will be to take the
names of HP printer engineers listed as inventors within patent
applications, which applications I have viewed online at the US Patent
and Trademark Office Website -- and to try reaching them by phone,
possibly using adjacent phone numbers, until I get someone who has
actually had his hands on a 5650 or very similar machine and knows how
to make it work right. The hard-copy instructions for the 5650 are
almost negligible, the instructions in the software supplied with it
very little better and the manual on the HP site also of little use.
And the HP site, as a whole, is near chaos.

If anyone has had luck in getting through to an HP-printer test (or
design) ENGINEER, I'd like to learn how this was done.

Ray

 

[Bob Headrick]

My next attempt to get useful info on the 5650 will be to take the
names of HP printer engineers listed as inventors within patent
applications, which applications I have viewed online at the US Patent
and Trademark Office Website -- and to try reaching them by phone,
possibly using adjacent phone numbers, until I get someone who has
actually had his hands on a 5650 or very similar machine and knows how
to make it work right. [snip]
If anyone has had luck in getting through to an HP-printer test (or
design) ENGINEER, I'd like to learn how this was done.

What exactly is the problem you are trying to solve? You could post questions
here, or try the online forum at:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=220
or
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=415 .

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

My next attempt to get useful info on the 5650 will be to take the
names of HP printer engineers listed as inventors within patent
applications, which applications I have viewed online at the US Patent
and Trademark Office Website -- and to try reaching them by phone,
possibly using adjacent phone numbers, until I get someone who has
actually had his hands on a 5650 or very similar machine and knows how
to make it work right. [snip]
If anyone has had luck in getting through to an HP-printer test (or
design) ENGINEER, I'd like to learn how this was done.

What exactly is the problem you are trying to solve? You could post questions
here, or try the online forum at:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=220
or
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=415 .

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

Hmm. OK, I'll try it first here. Maybe, by doing so in this thread,
I'm sort of commandeering another's post, and also losing review of
this post by whomever already read and did not relate to the first
post of this thread -- thereby putting the thread out of mind. But
the title of the thread covers this.

Actually, I have several questions/problems on/with the 5650 that I
can't understand/correct. I'll try just the simplest describable (and
possibly resolvable) one first. All my concerns are in this context:

Win98SE
html or txt documents
8 1/2 x 11 plain copy paper
HP 5650, Ser. No. MY38R3K1C4 (Malaysia), purch'd 2/28/04 from Office
Depot, pkgd as brand new
HP 8955A duplexer installed in printer, Ser. No. Y3C91N2KT (Malaysia),
purch'd 2/29/04 from HP.com online
Printer driver: 5600_enu_win98x_me.exe, v. 9.4.2.0 (current)
2-sided printing set as default
Fast Normal print-quality mode of the 5650
Print cartridges installed: 56 (black) (genuine unrefilled HP
installed after depletion of same, full-19-ml cartridge
supplied w/ printer), 57 (non-photo color) (full 17-ml
supplied w/ printer
Single IN tray
Parallel connection to computer w/ Intel D850GB m'board w/ 1.4 GHz P4
processor
Geodetic coordinates upon request ;-)

Problem: Neither the black nor the color on-screen
approximate-ink-level indicator [HP Director / Utilities (part of
printer assistant) / view ink level] has ever shown anything but full
to the top.

The cartridge light [white-lit drop icon] on the printer front panel,
which serves for a low ink level in either cartridge properly
indicated a few times prior to the time I ran out of black ink. I
have not yet run out of colored ink.

Since this light serves both cartridges, it cannot tell me which
cartridge is low on ink. Also, it has lit a number of times when the
typical HP, non-robust-software has lost its cool.

The last tech-support type, at Site Code 95, said she was sending me a
program that would print out text on the 5650 that would tell me how
full each cartridge was individually. I did not even get her first
email. When I called back, it then turned out that what she claimed
to have sent was an email with a link to a public-access diagnostic
for such purpose on the HP Website. A second email did reach me, but
the link therein for that purpose was dead, but apparently the
contents of the linked page was that included in her email below here
link. It was entitled "HP Deskjet Printers - Printing Internal
Tests", but it contained NO diagnostic that had anything to do with
ink levels.

You take it from there: 1) How can I make the only approximate, but
color-separating, on-screen indicator work; and/or 2) do you know the
location of a publiclly available diagnostic routine that prints out
these levels independently? 3) I'll defer the extraneous panel
cartridge-light indications to later discussion of reasonable
bailing-out procedures for when the driver runs amok.

If you can solve those matters, I'll reward you with tougher meat.

Ray (w/ sore jaws)

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

I found the URL for the missing document [bud07098] claimed to have a
text printout routine indicating the levels of ink in each cartridge.
It is, indeed simply what was reproduced in the tech-support email and
does not contain any such capability:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=bud07098

Ray

 

[Bob Headrick]

Problem: Neither the black nor the color on-screen
approximate-ink-level indicator [HP Director / Utilities (part of
printer assistant) / view ink level] has ever shown anything but full
to the top. [snip]
You take it from there: 1) How can I make the only approximate, but
color-separating, on-screen indicator work; and/or 2) do you know the
location of a publiclly available diagnostic routine that prints out
these levels independently?

It sounds like you have a problem with bidirectional communications with the
printer. First check your cable. Is it an IEEE-1284 cable? If so it will
have IEEE-1284 printed along the length of the cable. If it is not please
replace the parallel cable with an IEEE-1284 cable (or use a USB connection).
Also make sure you have the cable connected directly to the computer, and are
not running the printer through a scanner port.

If this fails check the parallel port settings (control panes, system,
hardware, ports). Make sure the parallel port is functioning, it should be
configured as an ECP port. You may have to set this in BIOS, perhaps by
pressing F2 or Delete when booting to get to the BIOS setup menu.

You might also try accessing the ink level information through the toolbox
rather than the HP director. See the following:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ocname=bpd09737&product=304445&dlc=en&lang=en

Let me know the results and we will take it from there.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

Bob Headrick answered my above post with the below, but that post of
his has not shown up here; so, on his OK, I post it here now:

At 08:25 PM 5/2/04, you wrote:

Problem: Neither the black nor the color on-screen
approximate-ink-level indicator [HP Director / Utilities (part of
printer assistant) / view ink level] has ever shown anything but full
to the top. [snip]
You take it from there: 1) How can I make the only approximate, but
color-separating, on-screen indicator work; and/or 2) do you know the
location of a publiclly available diagnostic routine that prints out
these levels independently?

It sounds like you have a problem with bidirectional communications
with the
printer. First check your cable. Is it an IEEE-1284 cable? If so it
will
have IEEE-1284 printed along the length of the cable. If it is not
please
replace the parallel cable with an IEEE-1284 cable (or use a USB
connection).
Also make sure you have the cable connected directly to the computer,
and are
not running the printer through a scanner port.

If this fails check the parallel port settings (control panes, system,
hardware, ports). Make sure the parallel port is functioning, it
should be
configured as an ECP port. You may have to set this in BIOS, perhaps
by
pressing F2 or Delete when booting to get to the BIOS setup menu.

You might also try accessing the ink level information through the
toolbox
rather than the HP director. See the following:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ocname=bpd09737&product=304445&dlc=en&lang=en

Let me know the results and we will take it from there.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

Bob Headrick answered my above post with the below, but that post of
his has not shown up here; so, on his OK, I post it here now:

At 08:25 PM 5/2/04, you wrote:

Problem: Neither the black nor the color on-screen
approximate-ink-level indicator [HP Director / Utilities (part of
printer assistant) / view ink level] has ever shown anything but full
to the top. [snip]
You take it from there: 1) How can I make the only approximate, but
color-separating, on-screen indicator work; and/or 2) do you know the
location of a publiclly available diagnostic routine that prints out
these levels independently?

It sounds like you have a problem with bidirectional communications
with the
printer. First check your cable. Is it an IEEE-1284 cable? If so it
will
have IEEE-1284 printed along the length of the cable. If it is not
please
replace the parallel cable with an IEEE-1284 cable (or use a USB
connection).
Also make sure you have the cable connected directly to the computer,
and are
not running the printer through a scanner port.

BINGO! You hit this one right on the button. I guess I had retained
a parallel-is-parallel outlook, as things have gotten faster. (And
HP's very skimpy hard-copy instructions with the printer did actually
say "IEEE-1284", but none of the tech-support people double-checked me
on this. I had a 4-ft, 25-to-25-pin cable marked "AWM E101344 STYLE
20276 VW-1 80ºC 150V FT1" with -- are those ferrite beads? -- on the
ends. . .going to my Mustek 1200 III EP scanner, and a 6-ft,
25-36-pin, unmarked cable from there to the 5650.) Since I didn't
have a second parallel connection on my computer, I switched to using
a 6-ft USB 2.0 cable from it to the printer. The two ink levels now
show fine on my monitor. (But why do I have to pay $25 for a lousy
6-ft, shielded 4-conductor cable? It can't be the cost of materials.
Is it the tight manufacturing tolerances?)

But I was hoping this fix might solve the other big question /
possible fault I have with this printer. It didn't. I refer to the
fact that -- in Fast Normal, two-sided printing, of text -- all the
first sides of the sheets take much longer than the second sides to
print (counting only the time to actually print and space). Some of
the HP tech-support people regarded this as normal, trying to bring in
the data-transmission time for each full sheet as occurring during the
printing of its first side; but certainly all of that occurs before
the actual printing of the first side begins, right? And other HP
people regarded this time difference as a fault that they hadn't heard
of before. With a test print of two pages of X's with one space
between them both horizontally and vertically, I repeatedly got actual
print times of 20 s for the first side and 7 for the second. Do you
think this is normal, and if so, how do you explain it? Otherwise,
what could be the problem? Actually, I'm not extremely concerned
about speed in this printing, and it seems to me the time taken
between sides, for ink drying, rather defeats the duplexer action, in
comparison to manual two-sided printing. However, if removal of a
problem can bring the print time of the first side close to that of
the second, in this mode, I'd be happier. And if this time
discrepancy is normal, I'd like a cogent explanation of why it exists.

I'll assume the few times the printer had run amok and printed sheet
after sheet of small amounts of garbage at their tops probably related
to my poor cabling arrangement; but I would assume that, with the best
of conditions, the printer could very infrequently get into this
condition. What I don't understand about such a situation with this
printer is that it does not appear that there is any quick exit tactic
for this, other than both pulling the printer's plug and disconnecting
it from my computer.

Before, I noted that, on paper-out, the pertinent printer-panel light
lit, but no notice of the problem appeared on my monitor. I assume
this is now corrected with the USB connection but haven't checked it.
I was flagged this way, specifically for paper-out, by my old 932c
printer. I believe the panel indicator serves also for jams and other
problems.

I might further ask of you if you know that, for sure, the 5650, like
the 932c, prefers always to be turned off by its own switch
(apparently so that it can do some housekeeping before dropping its
power). I presently have my other peripherals plugged into
computer-current-switched outlets in a surge protector that is
modified by some circuitry of my own design, connected to the
computer's ATX power control and +12V bus, so that all of my system
except my printer can be turned on and completely shut off by a
external momentary switch on my desk. It would be nice if the printer
didn't have to be an exception to this slave brigade.

I note that you didn't post this reply of yours to
comp.periphs.printers. You don't think any of this could be of value
to others checking in there? I didn't choose to post this response
there, with your email included, without your permission.

Ray

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

And this was Bob's respond to my second problem inquiry:

From: "Bob Headrick" <[email protected]>
To: "Raymond A. Chamberlin" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Help needed with HP5650

Hi Raymond -

There are a few of things that can cause the first page to be slower.
First, if you are selecting "automatic" as the paper type the printer
will take 5 seconds or so on the first page to scan the paper and
determine which type it is. Try selecting "plain paper" and see if
this corrects most of the issue. Second, there is a delay after
completing a page before the back page is printed to allow the ink to
dry. You can adjust this delay time in the driver, in the Basics tab,
then select the Advanced box, then slide the "dry time" slider toward
the left. You may have to experiment with this; the default is "safe"
but slower. Third, when selecting two sided printing the printer
underprints the front side with color to make the black dry faster.

As for running amok, there is a reason for this and a solution if it
ever happens again (which it should not with USB). The driver for the
scanner occasionally checks to see if the scanner lid has been raised.
If printing is occurring during this time the printer stream will be
interrupted by the scanner commands, resulting in the garble. Since
you are now connected via USB you should not have this problem, but if
you do press the "X" (cancel) button on the printer. This will stop
printing and flush the rest of the print job.

As for the power switch, it is much better to leave the printer
plugged into a live outlet at all times. The printer automatically
goes into a low power mode when idle, where it only consumes a few
(<2?) Watts. The printer has an internal clock that keeps track of
the time since the last print job. Depending on this time the printer
will do more or less servicing before starting the print job. [This
could actually be another reason for the longer time to print the
first page....] This servicing will use some ink, and more if the
printer thinks it has been a long time since the last print job. By
removing the power to the printer you force the printer into thinking
it has been the maximum time since the printer will lose track of the
time since the last job. Removing the power will result in more ink
being used in servicing the cartridge.

As for replying in email rather than the newsgroup, actually you sent
the original post to me and the newsgroup and I replied the same way
(to you and the newsgroup). There may be more of a delay in some news
server along the way so you may not have yet seen the answer in the
newsgroup.

I would actually prefer to answer questions in the newsgroup so others
with the same questions could benefit. Feel free to reply to my post
in the newsgroup when you see it, re-ask these questions and I will
answer them there as well.

Regards,
Bob Headrick

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

And this was Bob's respond to my second problem inquiry:

From: "Bob Headrick" <[email protected]>
To: "Raymond A. Chamberlin" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Help needed with HP5650

Hi Raymond -

There are a few of things that can cause the first page to be slower.
First, if you are selecting "automatic" as the paper type the printer
will take 5 seconds or so on the first page to scan the paper and
determine which type it is. Try selecting "plain paper" and see if
this corrects most of the issue.

This response makes me think you didn't observe my wording that my
differential readings for the actual character-printing and spacing
times, of the first side with respect to those of the second, as being
3 to 1, specified the time periods for only actual character printing
and spacing -- NOT the total times during which the printer does ALL
necessary print tasks, during the periods from the time each side of a
sheet is positioned until the time either, in the case of the first
side, the sheet is first withdrawn for reversal or, in the case of the
second side, the time the printer ceases all operation on that sheet.
I did check to see that, of course, the time-period ratio I was
referring to DID, in fact, remain 3:1, when the printer was set to the
'Plain Paper' mode as the default one. I didn't check whether the
time period from the paper print-positioning to the beginning of
spacing to print the first character, in the case of a first-side
printing, was shortened by 5 s, but 5 s is small compared to the
unexplained 16-s difference in the actual print-space times of the two
sides.

Do you have any thoughts on the reason for the 3:1 1st-to-2nd-side
time-period ratio I speak of here. The HP jock. . .er. . .tech
supporters kept trying to include data-transmission time for the full
sheet into the per-se print time of the 1st side of each sheet.
Certainly all the control and character data for the full sheet are
transmitted before actual spacing and printing of the first side of
each sheet begins. Something very significant is missing from all
communications I've had on this quandary.

Second, there is a delay after
completing a page before the back page is printed to allow the ink to
dry. You can adjust this delay time in the driver, in the Basics tab,
then select the Advanced box, then slide the "dry time" slider toward
the left. You may have to experiment with this; the default is "safe"
but slower.

That (effectively an HP secret) is quite interesting to know, but that
is quite irrelevant to the time ratio I have tried to explicate above.

Third, when selecting two sided printing the printer
underprints the front side with color to make the black dry faster.

Hah! I'll bet that's a REAL HP secret. . .designed to make the
non-cartridge-refilling customer buy more cartridges. What range of
HP printers do this, the 5600 series, the full 5000 group, or even the
earlier ones that use the 45 and 78 cartridges?

As for running amok, there is a reason for this and a solution if it
ever happens again (which it should not with USB). The driver for the
scanner occasionally checks to see if the scanner lid has been raised.
If printing is occurring during this time the printer stream will be
interrupted by the scanner commands, resulting in the garble.

Are you saying that you really KNOW that this happens with the Mustek
1200 III EP? I don't see why the scanner itself couldn't just
interrupt my computer whenever its lid is raised. In fact, I never
could scan, using this scanner's lid-lift window directly anyhow
(except for OCR with the version of Textbridge that came with it. A
later, better version of Textbridge wasn't even supposed to be
compatible with this lid-open starting method.)

Since
you are now connected via USB you should not have this problem, but if
you do press the "X" (cancel) button on the printer. This will stop
printing and flush the rest of the print job.

Good. Not surprisingly in retrospect, it didn't do that with my
previous parallel lash-up.

As for the power switch, it is much better to leave the printer
plugged into a live outlet at all times. The printer automatically
goes into a low power mode when idle, where it only consumes a few
(<2?) Watts. The printer has an internal clock that keeps track of
the time since the last print job. Depending on this time the printer
will do more or less servicing before starting the print job.

If that's really true for the 5650, that's another undivulged bit of
knowledge nowhere documented for the general public. Are you sure
that applies to the 5650?

[This
could actually be another reason for the longer time to print the
first page....]

I don't follow the logic of that at all -- certainly that can't relate
to the time-period ratio I specify above.

This servicing will use some ink, and more if the
printer thinks it has been a long time since the last print job. By
removing the power to the printer you force the printer into thinking
it has been the maximum time since the printer will lose track of the
time since the last job. Removing the power will result in more ink
being used in servicing the cartridge.

If that's all really applicable to this printer, I guess it's somewhat
useful, but I don't want to leave any unnecessarily electrical stuff
activated when asleep or away from my house.

As for replying in email rather than the newsgroup, actually you sent
the original post to me and the newsgroup and I replied the same way
(to you and the newsgroup). There may be more of a delay in some news
server along the way so you may not have yet seen the answer in the
newsgroup.

Well, days later, this post of yours has not shown up; so you can see
what I did with it in the previous part of this thread.

I would actually prefer to answer questions in the newsgroup so others
with the same questions could benefit. Feel free to reply to my post
in the newsgroup when you see it, re-ask these questions and I will
answer them there as well.

As you can see, this action is not needed from you at this point.

Ray

 

[Bob Headrick]

Are you saying that you really KNOW that this happens with the Mustek
1200 III EP? I don't see why the scanner itself couldn't just
interrupt my computer whenever its lid is raised.

What it could do and what it does may be different things. I know for a fact
this scanner shared on a parallel port has issues with a pass through pritner
unless the automatic lid-checking for the scanner is disabled. The scanner
driver polls the scanner, and when it does this it causes communication issues
if it happens while printing. You can see
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpu02044
or the ending paragraph of
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpy20086
for some discussion.

Good. Not surprisingly in retrospect, it didn't do that with my
previous parallel lash-up.

The cancel button works independent of the connection method. Once the cancel
button is pressed the pritner will not print the rest of the print job, it will
simply send it to the "bit bucket". It may take some time to clear since the
remainder of the print job will still be sent to the printer.

If that's really true for the 5650, that's another undivulged bit of
knowledge nowhere documented for the general public. Are you sure
that applies to the 5650?

The Deskjet 5650 manual says "Caution! Always use the Power button to turn the
printer on and off. Using a power strip, surge protector, or a wall mounted
switch to turn the print on and off may cause printer failure." Translation -
please leave the printner plugged into a live outlet.

If that's all really applicable to this printer, I guess it's somewhat
useful, but I don't want to leave any unnecessarily electrical stuff
activated when asleep or away from my house.

Do you also unplug your television, lamps, etc? The printer is designed to
remain plugged into a live outlet and for best results you should follow the
manual.

- Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Raymond A. Chamberlin]

I don't get it; you didn't respond to what has been my main issue all
along, the fact that the 5650, in automatic two-sided printing, takes
3 times as long, in Fast Normal at least, to print the first sides of
sheets as it does to print the second sides -- "print" referring to
only the actual time for character impression and spacing. My switch
to a USB computer connection did not change this. All my other issues
and comments have been of much lesser concern, including the ink-level
one. Do you not have any further comment on this strange phenomenon
reviewed in my post of 5 May, 6:15 pm, in its first 3 paragraphs (plus
my later expressed perplexity from your comment suggesting that this
slower first-side printing could relate to the printer's time-out to
low-power status)?

(On the lesser issues and comments, I interleave more comments below,
but the above is what I have been trying forever now to squeeze out of
HP or whomever is knowledgeable on it.)

What it could do and what it does may be different things. I know for a fact
this scanner shared on a parallel port has issues with a pass through pritner
unless the automatic lid-checking for the scanner is disabled. The scanner
driver polls the scanner, and when it does this it causes communication issues
if it happens while printing. You can see
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpu02044
or the ending paragraph of
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpy20086
for some discussion.


The cancel button works independent of the connection method. Once the cancel
button is pressed the pritner will not print the rest of the print job, it will
simply send it to the "bit bucket". It may take some time to clear since the
remainder of the print job will still be sent to the printer.


The Deskjet 5650 manual says "Caution! Always use the Power button to turn the
printer on and off. Using a power strip, surge protector, or a wall mounted
switch to turn the print on and off may cause printer failure." Translation -
please leave the printner plugged into a live outlet.

OK, I see that that is true; I hadn't found that to date. However,
what you are now adding to this -- that the printer should not ever
even be turned off at all: where in the manual or in any other
expression by HP to the public should one find this instruction? It's
NOT in the manual. The only reference to low-power mode there is in
the description of the "auto-off" option, and nothing is said there
about keeping track of the time since the last print job or of
servicing anything before starting a new print job..

Do you also unplug your television,

No, that would efeat the use of a remote in turning it on.

lamps,

Lamp switches have a good-size gap of air when open and I don't think
conductive insects can get in them very easily. (Bugs from HP
software can never get there.)

etc?

I also leave my refrigerator, electric clocks and doorbell transformer
on -- for well-considered reasons.

The printer is designed to
remain plugged into a live outlet and for best results you should follow the
manual.

I AM accepting what's in the manual. What you add, of course, isn't
unreasonable IF the 5650 really does all you say, despite HP's secrecy
about it; but considering all the questionable behavior of HP's
printers, I'm not excited about leaving one of such free, on its own
recognizance, while I'm in Timbuctu.

A couple of other lesser concerns I have are:

1. Apparently, the screen flags signaling paper out, paper jam and
whatever else, which were active with my 932c printer have been
removed from the 5650 driver. I have to look at the down-arrow
indicator on the printer and check out what the problem is. No big
deal, but less convenient.

2. The 5650 uses the same dysfunctional print-status window that the
932c used. An HP tech-support person told me that window is a Windows
window and blamed its problems (current page number is usually much
greater than the total page count and there are at least two
independent sets of pause and purge settings and the cancel function
only works under some very odd set of conditions. If this software is
MS's stuff and is known, as this HP person stated, why doesn't HP opt
not to use it in their driver and opt to desing their its OWN status
window?

I can live with this nonsense. Of course, I can live with the
3-times-slower first-sheet-side Fast Normal print time also; but it
really bugs me that HP people can't give me a coherent reason for this
anomaly. They can't even seem to agree whether it's normal behavior
for a 5650 or not. If this model were marketed for commercial use,
certainly this matter would be documented in black and white somewhere
where the end user could read it and rely upon what is said there.

Ray

 

[Bob Headrick]

OK, I see that that is true; I hadn't found that to date. However,
what you are now adding to this -- that the printer should not ever
even be turned off at all: where in the manual or in any other
expression by HP to the public should one find this instruction? It's
NOT in the manual.

I am not suggesting that the printer needs to be left on all the time. As the
manual says the printer should only be turned off by the printer's power button
and the pritner should be left connected to a live outlet. I am only
suggesting that you follow the manual, and have (previously) indicated some
additional information as to why the manual says what it does.

I am afraid that I cannot help you any further.

- Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP