vista and printer issue

[Pamela G]

My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A205-S4629, Vista Ultimate, 2 Gig RAM, etc.
My printer is a HP Officejet multifunction 7310xi. It works okay with the XP
drivers, but not perfectly (some of the extras just forget in Vista how to
function). I have been waiting for HP to offer Vista drivers for a while,
finally they did and I got a CD. Now, I have spent the entire afternoon
messing with this. The software is buggy and won't install correctly. HP was
totally unhelpful, after three attempts at a tech chat session that kept
timing out I finally broke down and called. 90+ minutes later, after
downloading the same software and still not able to install, their only
answer was that my 2 year old printer must be incompatible with Vista and I
need to spend $300+ to upgrade. Got pushy about it too. ARRGGHH!

So my question here is has anyone else been able to install the Vista
printer driver software and know how to get past the roadblock? [ it keeps
wanting to restart my computer after establishing a restore point, and never
gets past that point]

I am frustrated enough at HP right now that if I do have to replace a
perfectly good printer, I may go to another brand!

Other ideas?

Pamela

 

[Espresso]

Try to run it in compatibility mode from XP. When installing the software do
not auto install. Right click on the the program(setup file from the disk
drive) & click on compatiblity. Check the box for Windoxs XP SP2. I have done
this for my Fuji FinePix, Lexmark printer, Sony Ericsson phone & a few other
"Non-Vista approved" software items. They work fine & I have had no troubles
with them.