We have a 4250 that has been reliable. We run a domain and this printer was setup on the print server (win 2003). As we started to get Win 7 64 bit machines we could no longer run them through the print server, so they were setup to directly print to the printer via the fixed IP address.
A couple of days ago some users started to have problems with print jobs not coming out, coming out of the wrong tray, or printing backward. There have been no driver updates, or windows updates.
The problem is occuring on XP and Win 7 machines, some are printing direct and some through the server. The machine has been power cycled. On some machines that were currently not in use I tried the following:
Win 7 32 bit
Tried to add printer using HP install untility - chose Traditional mode - added port - entered IP adddress. Failed to find printer on network. (the printer responds to ping by address and name and I can browse to its admin page from this computer and all computers on the network)
Tried to add printer using HP install untility - chose Dynamic mode - when installed I went into the app and searched for network printers, it found the 4250 as well as another HP we have on the network. It listed its name and address. When it checked status it says - unable to communicate with printer.
Tried to add via windows add printer and add the port - it fails to add the port.
Tried to add via the server 2003 - success.
I have a problem in that I cannot add the printer through server 2003 on the 64 bit machines. I've tried browsing for the driver I know should work, but it says it isn't compatible.
So for the machines having problems I can't re add the printer as this only works through server 2003 for 32 bit machines.
Please help as I can't understand why the printer has stopped working for some people and I can't add it now directly to any machine (irrespective of 32 or 64 bit) and I can only add 32 bit machines through server 2003.