HP OfficeJet 5610 and Photosmart 385 - unable to find a core drive

I have both of the aforementioned printers. According to HPs website, the
385 drivers are supposed to be included in Windows. However, during the
device installation, I get the following error:

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while
attempting to install it:
Unable to find a core driver package that is required by the printern driver
package.

I get the same problem with the OJ 5610 although that driver was provided by
HP. The 5610 scanner was installed correctly.

How the heck do I find out what is missing so I can fix it?
Thanks.

 

Zabetprof,

I did a google search on this problem, and the several cases like this that
I reviewed were not resolved. I've also noted a few similar situations
posted on this forum that also were not resolved, as best I can tell from
what was posted.

Personally, I have no specific wisdom to impart. A poster on another forum
stated that he contacted HP who told him that he had a Vista installation
failure as far as the printer is concerned. But HP had no resolution for the
issue.

I the back of my mind I somehow feel that the problem concerns the .inf file
for HP printers, but I can't prove it. To explain, hardware must have
drivers and sometimes other software to work properly. To install drivers
and related software, Windows searches the related .inf (which stands for
information) file for information about what to install for that particular
hardware.

I looked at the HP .inf file (prnhp001.inf, located in C:\Windows\.inf) in
my personal computer, but I found no HP Phtosmart 385 included in the file.
The file contains numerous HP printers and other products, as well as
considerable other data that I don't understand.

In any case, I'm no guru in these matters, so someone who know more about
these matters is welcome to chime in and clarify this situation. My above
statements are about all I know about it. By the way, my printer, an HP
Deskjet 5550, was installed by Vista and the printer works properly. I found
the 5550 in the .inf file, so that's some evidence to support my comments.
Others may wish to review their prnhp001.inf file to see whether I missed
something.

 

I drew a blank searching it for 385 but photosmart_3 did produce this:

HPP0380T.GPD_LH.ICM,HPPHOTOSMART_380_SERA4B1,HP_Photosmart_380_Series ;
Hardware ID "HP Photosmart 420 Series"

When I did a Google on "HP Photosmart 420 Series" including the quotes one
of the references was to:

HP Photosmart 8200 Series Printer Windows driver

http://www.yournewdriver.com/HP_Photosmart_8200_Series_Printer_4267.htm

and listed on that page after the details of the driver for the 8200 was:

Support devices:

[ ... ]

Win 2K HP Photosmart 330 Series
Win Server 2K3 HP Photosmart 330 Series (DOT4USB)
Win ME HP Photosmart 330 Series (USBHUB)
Win XP HP Photosmart 330 Series (USBPRINT)
Win 98SE HP Photosmart 330 Series (USBSTORE)
Win Server 2K3 HP Photosmart 380 Series
Win ME HP Photosmart 380 Series (DOT4USB)
Win 98SE HP Photosmart 380 Series (USBHUB)
Win ME HP Photosmart 380 Series (USBPRINT)
Win 98 HP Photosmart 380 Series (USBSTORE)
Win Server 2K3 HP Photosmart 420
Win ME HP Photosmart 420 Series
Win 2K HP Photosmart 420 Series (DOT4USB)
Win ME HP Photosmart 420 Series (PTP)
Win Server 2K3 HP Photosmart 420 Series (USBHUB)
Win 98 HP Photosmart 420 Series (USBPRINT)
Win ME HP Photosmart 470 Series
Win ME HP Photosmart 470 Series (DOT4USB)
Win XP HP Photosmart 470 Series (USBHUB)
Win Server 2K3 HP Photosmart 470 Series (USBPRINT)
Win 98 HP Photosmart 470 Series (USBSTORE)

[ ... ]

I may be misreading that listing but it seems to imply that the one 8200
driver will serve a very large list of HP printrs including a bunch of the 4
x 8 / 5 x 7 in printers that go from PS330 up to PS470

This would fit in with statements from HP I have seen where they give
drivers to use when that specifically for a printer does not work.

ANy thoughts on that and how a HP PS385 printer knows to look for such a
different inf file?

OH -- furthere searching inside that file shows that there is:

HPP0380T.GPD_LH.ICM,HPPHOTOSMART_380_SERA4B1,HP_Photosmart_380_Series ;
Hardware ID "HP Photosmart 420 Series"

so the PS 385 should use a PS 420 driver. And the HP website say "in the
box" for both of those.

 

huwyngr,

If HP is telling people that Vista will install the driver for their
printers, but Vista doesn't do that because of some mistake in the .inf file,
then this issue should be addressed at level higher than this forum. I
suppose there's a way for this to happen, but I don't know what it is. It
does little good for this forum to find some possible workaround when the
Vista printer installer doesn't know about it. This Vista failure to install
a printer that HP says should be installed is not that uncommon. I've noted
several posts about this problem in the short time (1 week) that I've been
visiting this forum. Does anyone know how to bring this to the attention of
the appropriate level in Microsoft? There must be more to this situation
than is apparent to us here, I would think. Looking on the Internet, I've
noted this issue being discussed in other circles as well. But who am I?
I'm just the 800 pound guerrilla in the room. lol
--
freddy

 

We don't know enough to know that the problem is due to a mistake in
the INF file but in any case my concern is to help people with problem
since I know I cannot put the world to rights!

 

What country are you in?

What regional settings do you have in your computer?

See the FAQs for the HP Photosmart 385 and this one in particular:

HP Digital Imaging Products - 'Could Not Find the File Hpzrxxxx.dll or
Hpfmomxx.hlp on the HP CD' Message Displays in Microsoft Windows During
Software Installation

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?
docname=c00037552&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=443001&lang=en

[ ... ]

<< Cause
This error occurs when the computer is set to a language setting that
is different from your current country/region.
The installation software looks at the regional settings of the
computer to determine which language software to install. Some
languages will not be included on the CD-ROM, depending on your
country/region. >>

Good luck .....