Snow Leopard from Apple Incompatible with many HP Printers
September 6, 2009
Boston (DbTechNo) - Not all Mac users are happy with the newest OS X update dubbed Snow Leopard because it appears that the upgrade messes with already installed software.
Those users who upgraded to Snow Leopard on Friday experienced problems with Hewlett-Packard printers, resulting in a flood of messages on the company’s support forums.
Not all were complaining about problems with HP printers, others also found difficulties running printers from Brother, Canon, Epson and Lexmark.
We can bet printers at Apple will be working just fine, but consumers are very pissed off and not afraid to spout their feelings.
“We’re very disappointed with the way 10.6 has worked out in our office,” said Ed Mcknew in a message that kicked off a long printer complaint thread Friday night. “We have an HP LaserJet connected to our Airport Extreme router, and none of our three office computers can find it on the network. We also have an HP DeskJet 4180 printer/scanner connected to our main computer (a USB connection) and that won’t work either, because the HP printer software keeps crashing. Now we’re faced with having no printers tomorrow.”
A representative for HP visited the forums and waided in to lend a helping hand, but all he could say really was that the company is working on adding drivers to their software, which should be available “in the near future.”
Apple have also now published a list of printers which are compatible with their Snow Leopard including some HP and others from other manufacturers.
For those people with printers not compatible with Snow Leopard, is Apple going to replace their printer? Is HP going to replace their printer? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding no.
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Did people forget the problems when the world went from XP to Vista? If your printer has issues, it may be a big thing to you and I understand, but in the larger scheme of things, that is a minor glitch compared to whole machine crashes needing a reformat and re-install of XP to even get email.
This article is funny. Since when is it Apple’s fault that a printer company hasn’t updated their drivers for a new OS. When I updated to OSX Leopard, my 2-year-old Hewlett Packard printer stopped working. HP’s response was “we’re working on a new driver”. A few months later HP backtracked and they told me that my printer would no longer be supported with OSX Leopard, because they didn’t want to invest in new software for “older printers”. They told me to buy a newer HP model. Guess what? I’ll never buy another HP product as long as I live. The blame is squarely with the printer manufacturers!
This is an article written purely to attract attention to a site that few have ever heard of before. Any time there is an upgraded software product, there may be some incompatibilities, especially with regard to aging hardware. However, my two HP printers (2 and 4 years old), and my brother printer (2 years old) worked just fine. Older printers may be more difficult to support. Apple has by far they best rated service and customer satisfaction in the computer industry for a reason, because the make great products and stand behind them. So reader, if you are having a problem with your printer after upgrading to Snow Leopard, call Apple and they will help you resolve your issues. As for this sensationalized article, I suggest you read your tech news elsewhere.
I find it interesting that after flaming Microsoft in commercials for Vista’s compatibility with external devices, Apple has now created the exact same problem for its own users.
I thought that if it was a MAC it ‘just worked’ … so much for that hype.
False. Everything that Apple makes is perfect and beyond reproach, therefore all of the HP printers are defective.
Didn’t HP or Apple learn ANYTHING from the Vista debacle?!? Millions of current Apple users made the switch when Microsoft released Vista prematurely without providing basic printer drivers (and literally shut down many businesses in the process). Our HP 2600n stopped working when we switched to Snow Leopard. It’s inconceivable that Apple would have the same disregard that Microsoft showed for their customers! GET IT FIXED GUYS!.
Hey. I got my hp LaserJet p1005 working (finally) under Snow Leopard by installing a slightly older driver (1.0.4) rather than the most recent one (1.0.6 I think).
I got it here, but it may be available elsewhere too.
http://driverscollection.com/?file_cid=399489231573f9b4ad62f5159c3
Good luck guys.
We need a word for articles like this - something that combines old information, inflammatory intent, waste of reader’s time.
You make it sound like the business in question will come crashing down. All they need to do is restore, from their backup, the previous system. If they use Time Machine, it’s a couple of clicks.
I checked the list of supported printers ( a quite long list) before I installed. My printers were there. Everything works.
We installed Snow Leopard in 4 computers, and are able to run two HP printers as well as a Brother. There will generally be hic-ups when you install new systems but I have found Apple ready to update and get everything working fine. This was a big modification and as we all can see new problems present themselves but have faith, Apple will prevail in the end.
Apple should have released that list sooner.
Upgrading blindly without checking hardware compatibility (in this case external hardware) can sometimes lead to problems.
I don’t think the problem is as bad as you let on. I have 2 HP printers in my office, one of which is 10 years old (2100TN) and has always connected via AppleTalk and Ethernet. I had a bit of a scramble to get it working (detailed at http://www.mariasguides.com/2009/09/03/using-an-hp-laserjet-2100tn-with-snow-leopard/), but got it working within an hour or so after some research.
Oddly, the printer that HP said WOULDN’T work with Snow Leopard (2600n) worked without any problem at all. I just had to reinstall the latest driver.
I also have a Brother printer and it works fine. Again; just a driver install.
Please, guys! Don’t panic and point fingers until you do a little research on your printer situation. It might not be as bad as they make you think.
And good luck!
Modern operating systems are very complex. For Ed Mcknewb to install a new OS on all his office computers without any testing is reckless, no matter what the OS or software package you install. Better he learn the lesson now.
And someone above was right - if you followed instructions and had your computer fully backed-up before installing SL, it would have been quite easy to revert if something vital did not work.
It’s unfortunate that Apple appears to have missed a few important steps here, but I don’t blame them or Microsoft for minor bugs on a new OS version– there are just too many variables to contend with.
There’s a whole lot of hype on both sides, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
I think that abandoning support for serviceable printers and scanner is a hugh scam.
HP reply to my complaints about lack of support for my psc 2410 all in one scanner was to purchase the $39.95 Vue Scan program. You would think that a company HP’s size could purchase the device driver code from Vue Scan for us.
Not sure who I am more disappointed with.. Apple or HP. As a consumer however, I will not be using HP any more, and I will be very careful about future OS X upgrades.
Take a vote, how many MAC fanboys are reading/posting this.
This is a very clear and honest article about a problem with Snow Leopard. And the answer really is in “business” you are crazy to buy OSX and you are even more crazy to be one of the first to upgrade to a new version (wait a month or more) and then decide if you actually have a need for Snow Leopard.
And never, never did a major printer (like HP) not work with Vista, and for that matter Windows7. PC people install some much “junk” on their computers it is insane and I would say 1/2 the people PCs should not work after upgrading.
Well, minor issues it may be for some. Me I have been offline for more than a week.
I thought it time to upgrade fro Tiger to SL. HA Ha ha ha hahahahahaha!!!
Parallels - didn’t work - needed V 4.0 then that install went bad and I had to start from scratch with a windows environment - along with all the versions of software patches, trading software, you name it…
HP P1005 laserjet - current model 8 months old… well you can read the forums on that gem. I have gone through every ‘idea’ I have found, some work for 1 print job then the print manager says ‘enough’
HP Scanner - not a chance in hell - no longer supported.. blah blah blah…..
CAD drawing software - yes really cheap stuff - useless!
My main IMAC - drags it’s feet like it needs a shot of glucose. I upgraded to get on the back of the speed claims and some more mileage out of it and now……. Oh I get it, time for an upgrade… how silly of me not to realise a 3yr old machine is a dinosaur.
Gee I can’t wait for 10.6.2,3,4,6,7,8,9 maybe it will be stable by then.
The printer manufacturers have finally produced the drivers for the majority of the printers and scanners out there.
For Snow Leopard you can grab the combo pack for the manufacturer and odds are it will now have your printer or even scanner.
Issue is that you have to download ALL of the drivers for that manufacturer. So if you have an HP, a Xerox and a Ricoh at home, you’ll have to download the combo packs for all of them.
My understanding is that during Snow Leopard install if your printers are USB attached that Snow Leopard should discover and load only those printers if you are on the internet. I’m not willing at this time to try since the combo pack is enough for me.
Links to combo packs are here :
http://support.apple.com/downloads/#printer