Grrr! Between Z3100 & Windows Glitches!

[walter.sk]

Well, it is time again to figure out how to blast through the problems in upgrading my Z3100ps GP drivers and firmware.

I finally was able to drill down to the Firmware page, and of course it said Upgrade the Drivers First, if not in those exact words.  I clicked on Printers & Faxes>Z3100>Properties, and got the message, and I am paraphrasing,  "Printer is not installed.  Do you want to install the driver?"

Suddenly I remembered this problem from the previous upgrades.  First of all, the printer IS installed, as I have been printing to it from CS4 and Qimage.  Second, at my previous upgrade time I ended up deinstalling the printer in response to the same message, and reinstalling the driver.  I also seem to remember the HP Catch 22, v7.0.x:  The driver installation instructions say to make sure the latest firmware is installed.  The firmware instructions say to make sure the latest driver is installed.

Please, if you use XP and the Z3100 and installed the firmware and drivers successfully, could you list the steps you took?

This "user friendly" software is driving me nuts!

[walter.sk]

Well, I just tried to install the latest firmware (TR12-7.0.0.3-5).  Watching the front panel on the printer, everything seemed to go correctly, and the printer rebooted and reinitialized.  However, when I checked the printer's firmware on the Information tab on the LCD, it still said TR12-7.0.0.3, without the -5.  

Does this mean that the firmware did not install, or just that printer doesn't print the last digit of the firmware?

[neil snape]

Well, I just tried to install the latest firmware (TR12-7.0.0.3-5).  Watching the front panel on the printer, everything seemed to go correctly, and the printer rebooted and reinitialized.  However, when I checked the printer's firmware on the Information tab on the LCD, it still said TR12-7.0.0.3, without the -5.  

Does this mean that the firmware did not install, or just that printer doesn't print the last digit of the firmware?

Not at all, I would look in the utility over the front panel. The front panel will probably be truncated, so let us know what the utility says.

[walter.sk]

Not at all, I would look in the utility over the front panel. The front panel will probably be truncated, so let us know what the utility says.

I accessed the utility by the address, 192.168.0.3.  When I opened the Settings tab and clicked on Firmware Upgrade, it said the current firmware was still listed at TR 12-7.0.0.3, without the -5.

Do you think I should download the file again and re-try the installation?

[walter.sk]

I returned to the HP website and found one of my mistakes.  I had downloaded and tried to install the firmware for the "Z3100GP with the Advanced Profiling Software package, which led me to a firmware file updated Feb 10, 2009.  This time I looked at the next printer, which was "Z3100 GP PS, which is the one I actually have.  This firmware update was from September '08.  I downloaded it and installed it.

Again it seemed to go smoothly, and this time it was listed as TR12-TR12PS_07_00_00-3_mvl40-86-optB.exe.  After unzipping and installing, the firmware version was listed both on the printer and through the utility as TR12PS_7.0.0.3, again without the -5.  However, it did include "PS."  I am assuming that this is the new firmware, as it read differently from the other one (no PS).

If somebody out there has the latest firmware for the Z3100gp PS, 24" for WinXP, would you let me know what version your printer and utitlity say you are running?