Update on my Windows 10 & big personal event of switching to Firefox

[UTUSN]

Well, up to now, these past couple or three weeks, it had seemed to have traipsed right along. (Reminder: I'm totally low tech, down to the point of being classified as NON-tech, had never clicked on anything other than IE.)

So the 5 yrs old laptop and wireless printer had seemed to have adjusted, the only little problem being my own minimal adjustment to finding things.

Until today. Or rather, yesterday. (Cue "Jaws" music.) I needed to scan something, not a much frequent event. The printer had been copying and printing before and after the installations. This was the first scan. Error error error. Danger Will ROBINSON!1

(I've never seen Lost in Space, is that the reference?!1 I'm so cute.)

So yesterday was the usual perfect storm - had to delay the gratification of calling tech support because of activities and schedules going on. Meanwhile I had tried all sorts of my repitoire of turning-on/off, plugging/unplugging, almost going so far as Uninstalling and reinstalling with the CD.

So delay delay delay until this morning, upon which hooked up with tech support and spent a marathon 2 1/2 hours on the phone, rehearsing the much-accustomed process of going through whole, Remote connected installations, three or more times with the same fatal errror outcomes, finally with the dreaded USB connecting to the rear end of devices.

The upshot is this: The technician (from El Salvador, I invited him to the U.S.) was able to get ONE scan, the one I needed, when the USB was connected. He tried it without the USB and it didn't work, but the copying and printing continued to work, meaning that, as we ended the call I would be able to scan only with the cable, while copying and printing any old way, which was FINE with me.

Well, after we rang off, the scanning WITH the cable also went out. The tech said they will be calling tomorrow to follow up on whether things were working the way we had agreed on. Which it isn't.

Oh, the real upshot is that we discussed whether this was about Windows 10, and he said it is, that Update/Fixes are being worked on, which might take a couple of months, that the problem is that Windows 10 is not accepting all of the features from old software?

[PennyK]

1. What do you mean, without the USB cable?

My printer is always plugged in to the computer. What is the advantage of doing it wirelessly?

And from what I've seen, Windows 10 does have the software/drivers to install any printer...it worked great with mine. I should add that I'm no techie, but this seemed simple.

Give it a try, and let me know how it goes.

[csziggy]

3. A lot of the newer printers/all in ones communicate via WiFi

I haven't taken that jump yet though I do have a WiFi capable all in one machine.

[UTUSN]

6. As I said, Windows 10 installed the printer fine, copying/printing works, just not the scan.

And it's wireless.

[steve2470]

2. unfortunately Windows 10 is *probably* still sorting out incompatibilities with....

a lot of hardware and their drivers. This might have affected you. The beauty of Windows 7 is, it's been out so long, damn near everything on the planet works with it. This is why some people don't upgrade for a year or more.

Suggestion: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10?tab=Threads

Go to that address. Sign up with an Outlook.com address (that you can throw away later if you wish), find the Participate link at the top of that page, click it, and post your problem in great detail. A staff engineer from Microsoft will help you within a day or two. If you're really lucky, you might get helped within a few hours. If you want faster help, I can give you more details.

[csziggy]

4. What brand and model of printer/scanning is it?

Maybe the company has an update?

Back when I used to do printer/scanner tech support most of the problems came with Windows updates or more often connecting the device before installing the software. The hardest to fix were problems with the scanner function of all in one units.

Back then I would have recommended the following:

Check with the device manufacturer for their newest drivers, especially if they have one for Windows 10 - most now will automatically check your operating system or have a drop down menu to select it. Download the the drivers and save to a folder on your computer. REMEMBER where you put it.

Then turn off the printer/scanner, disconnect any cables from the computer. Uninstall the current drivers. Check the Device Manager or whatever Windows 10 calls it to see if the device still shows up - uninstall it if it does.

Reboot your computer.

Install the newly downloaded drivers. The software should tell you when to reconnect or to power up the printer/scanner. If you want to use the wireless connection, make those choices during installation and follow their directions.

[UTUSN]

5. It's the Carly FIORINA hp. The one that's laying off 55K *more* jobs just now.

Yip an "all in one" thing - 4700 series. My low techness means my needs for features are that much less, it takes less to satisfy me, hence my unsophisticated brands, etc.

Thanks for the tips. I've paid my tech dues of 2 1/2 hrs today, so won't be trying things about now, besides that these gadgets are 5 yrs old so warranties and stuff are not in the cards.

[csziggy]

8. HP still has pretty good product support on their website

They have a whole section for upgrading that series of all in one printers:
http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Photosmart-C4700-All-in-One-Printer-series/3794613/model/3831738/document/c04773236/

The drivers are linked at: http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Photosmart-C4700-All-in-One-Printer-series/3794613/model/3831738/document/c04658195

The driver page is at: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Photosmart-C4700-All-in-One-Printer-series/3794613/model/3831738#Z7_3054ICK0KGTE30AQO5O3KA30R1

No charge for the updated driver, though the download is huge. You could try NOT uninstalling the old software, just unhook the printer, install the new driver and follow the directions.

[hobbit709]

7. Get rid of 10.

If it was working before you "upgraded" why mess with it.
windows 7 will work just fine for another 10 years. Hell even XP works just fine, M$ can't screw it up with updates now.

[Enthusiast]

9. Updates caused me problems.

At least I suspect they did. I can't modify music playlists or create new ones on my MS media player now. So I downloaded an old Winamp. Maybe I am overlooking something. That would be entirely possible.

[artislife]

10. I was on windown 8.1 and had a corrupted wifi driver

decide to show up after using a cleaner program. I was at a loss, borrowed a cable and thought...might as well install windows 10. This was after a couple hours of trying to find out the driver I needed.

Windows 10 cleared up came up and online easily and it said I needed updates. It was easy to agree to them and it fixed my wifi driver problem!

I am pretty happy with it.

[hobbit709]

11. Which cleaner program? Most of them are crap

Never had a driver program that couldn't be fixed by completely uninstalling it and then downloading the latest driver from the manufacturer.
Going to a completely new OS because of a driver issue is like putting a new engine in your car because the windshield wipers are flaky.

[artislife]

12. Piriform Ccleaner

I couldn't download anything, spent hours trying HP and Microsoft to find the fix...Finally remembered a tech who had given a talk at our BNI on new Windows etc who said something about Windows 10 being better at detecting problem. I had taken in my laptop to Best Buy thinking I may still be under warentee or had Geek squad. The young woman told me to try an ethernet or give it to them for a couple of days and a couple of hundred dollars.

So I borrowed an ethernet...and finally thought, what the heck. I installed Windows 10 and it installed easily. And it popped up a bubble that told me to click here for new drivers.

I did. I unplugged the ethernet and there you go.

I haven't had an issue and the interface is fine. Pretty happy with new choices, too.