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HP supports Windows 9x no longer.

Sfor

By Sfor
in Windows 9x/ME

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Sfor

Sfor

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I've been trying to find drivers for some HP LaserJet printers, recently. The result is there are Windows 9x systems listed as a download choice, but there are no drivers available. All one can get is some management software without any drivers included.

Is there any HP driver repository with old systems drivers?

I've heard Lexmark did something similiar to HP. Since, I'm not fond of the Lexmark printers, so I had no opportunity to test Lexmark drivers servers.

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bizzybody

bizzybody

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To use European convention...

HP are arseholes, as are Microsoft, Intel and anyone else who does crap like this.

Microsoft removed all information on their verra nice-a Office Keyboard and Strategic Commander from their site. Intel has lied for years in the info for their chipset software- claiming they support all the versions of Windows, but when you run the installer you find your version of Windows "already supports" that chipset. (And trying to find the final version of the package that actually contains drivers for your chipset/Windows combination is extremely difficult due to Intel using the same filename for years for all versions!)

Driverguide.com are also arseholes. When they finally went to requiring individual logins, they also started this "Tech Upload" thing where new uploads would be restricted to paying members for a few months. Welllll, it ain't so! I was just there looking for 98 software for an HP Photosmart 3310 and ALL the software they have for it for ALL Windows versions is "Tech Upload", uploaded all the way back to 2004!

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gosh

gosh

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When a company puts drivers on there site they are taking responsibility. After all if you downloaded an hp driver and it hosed your pc, you would want hp responsible. Since hp no longer has anyone updating there 9x drivers, it would be irresponsible to put drivers on there site. HP is doing the only responsible thing.

-gosh

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Sfor

Sfor

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HP lost some points in my eyes. I will not buy any new printers from HP, for sure. There is no reason to do so, since HP does not support the OS I'm using now.

Luckily, there are plenty of used and cheap to buy and to print printers on the maket. The only challenge is to get drivers for them. I found no portal with easy accessible large HP drivers database. Many of portals are just redirecting downloads to the HP site, so they are useless.

So, is there a site we could build our own HP driver database?

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bizzybody

bizzybody

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Interesting... for the PhotoSmart 3300 series, the AiO_071_000_201_000_CDA_Default-Full_Network_AmericanEuro1.exe download from the 2000 and XP page has Win 9x drivers in it.

I ran it on my Win9x laptop and let it self extract (took a couple hours on a PII 300 with 128M RAM) then copied the hp_webrelease folder and contents from windows\temp so it can be installed without having the big wait. 'Course they couldn't use something extractable with WinZIP or WinRAR. :P

So at least for now, looks like some HP stuff that has a huge software download for 2000/XP may have the 9x/Me drivers in it as well. Makes it a bit of a pain to download though.

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Sfor

Sfor

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I can confirm.

The HP Point and Print Driver Bundles available on the HP sites do have drivers for both 9x and NT systems. The strange part is, they are located in the Windows NT/2000(...) based system options, only.

I was looking for HP LaserJet 4000 Windows 98 driver, and I found it in the Windows 2000 section. Strange, isn't it?

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bizzybody

bizzybody

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Driverguide has all the stuff for the 3300 series listed as "Tech Upload", which means you have to pay to download them. When Driverguide finally changed to requiring individual logins, they said new drivers uploaded would be only available to paying members for a short time, then would be released to everyone.

Some of the HP 3300 stuff is still on "Tech Upload" that was uploaded there in 2004!

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  • 2 months later...
modicr

modicr

Posted
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Hello!

I've been trying to find drivers for some HP LaserJet printers, recently. The result is there are Windows 9x systems listed as a download choice, but there are no drivers available. All one can get is some management software without any drivers included.

Is there any HP driver repository with old systems drivers?

I've heard Lexmark did something similiar to HP. Since, I'm not fond of the Lexmark printers, so I had no opportunity to test Lexmark drivers servers.

I've found small subset of Windows 9x drivers here:

http://admin.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=56

Cheers, Roman

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Analada

Analada

Posted
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Hello!
I've been trying to find drivers for some HP LaserJet printers, recently. The result is there are Windows 9x systems listed as a download choice, but there are no drivers available. All one can get is some management software without any drivers included.

Is there any HP driver repository with old systems drivers?

I've heard Lexmark did something similiar to HP. Since, I'm not fond of the Lexmark printers, so I had no opportunity to test Lexmark drivers servers.

I've found small subset of Windows 9x drivers here:

http://admin.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=56

Cheers, Roman

Hi there, This link may give you what you're looking for:

ttp://www.opendrivers.com/categorycompany/13/11712/printers-hp-free-driver-download.html

HTH.

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North of Watford

North of Watford

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Thanks for the links posted previously.

My additional warning about DriverGuide is that the first link points straight to the HP ftp servers, which appear to contain the relevant file, but it only downloads as a zero length file. This is true either through DriverGuide, or if ftp'd direct! I did get one through them (you just have to keep on signing up with new identities to get your five free "premium" downloads!) via the obfuscated (second) link, but not sure how reliable that is.

Jeff

PS: I tried to protest through the feedback channels on their website. After some prat in customer service told me to download the 2K and XP drivers in response to a specific Win98 request, all I have heard is a deafening silence. But from a firm that spies on its main board members, what else should we expect!

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Sfor

Sfor

Posted
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I can confirm.

The HP Point and Print Driver Bundles available on the HP sites do have drivers for both 9x and NT systems. The strange part is, they are located in the Windows NT/2000(...) based system options, only.

I was looking for HP LaserJet 4000 Windows 98 driver, and I found it in the Windows 2000 section. Strange, isn't it?

The HP offers drivers for Windows 98. But, it is called a "driver bundle" and it is located in the Windows 2000 and XP sections.

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