I’m never buying HP all-in-one printers again. I really can’t complain about the hardware that much because it is decent as with all HP products. But the software that comes with it is a total piece of shit.
Windows recognizes this printer without any issues, and the default XP drivers work flawlessly. Unfortunately to get the scanner and copier functionality you need to install custom packages from HP. Part of that software is a HP Toolbox FX (HPTLBXFX.exe) which sits in the task bar and listens for the events generated by the device. It also eats your memory and hogs CPU like there is no tomorrow.
I have noticed that since the software was installed the following processes compete for CPU cycles:
HPTLBXFX.EXE
WMIPRVSE.EXE
SVHOST.EXE
At times the machine is virtually unusable because the combined load of these 3 just causes the OS grind to a halt. The HP toolbox seems to be the source – WMI services are simply being taken for a ride by it’s buggy code and/or flawed design.
I’m not the only one having these issues either, but HP doesn’t seem to give a flying fuck about this bug. I have yet to find a workable solution that does not involve disabling the toolbox or uninstalling the software. After all, what is the point of having this multi-function device, if I can only use it for printing…
If you had a similar experience with the LJ 3055, and you were able to solve the CPU usage problem it, please let me know and I will love you forever. In the meantime, I recommend avoiding the all-in-one printers like fire – especially if they use this stupid toolbox.
I love the internet! Check this out:
Luke,
I tried to respond via your blog but got an error saying I needed a
password, so I will try to contact you directly via your email. I work
in the LaserJet division, and I saw your post via our HP blog feeds. I
am sorry to hear you have been so frustrated with your LaserJet 3055 AIO
product. I passed your post on to our lab and here is the fix:Step 1: The customer will want to download the image ‘HP LaserJet
3050/3052/3055/3390/3392 North America/Western Europe Full Software
Solution’ from the HP web site at the following link.Step 2: Once downloaded, the customer will want to make sure they have
admin privileges on his or her respective machine and to run the
uninstall program found in the HP LaserJet 3050 program group off of the
Start menu in Windows XP.Step 3: Once the uninstall has been completed, the customer would need
to run the exe that was downloaded earlier from the HP website with
admin privileges and re-install the software. This new install contains
the updated software and should alleviate the memory issues.This is a known issue and has been resolved for future products, however
we are working to get this fix posted on our support sites for our
current products. Feel free to pass this on to others that are
experiencing the problem. Again, thanks for voicing your concerns and I
hope you will continue to consider HP LaserJets in the future.Tom Codd
Director Outbound Marketing
Hewlett Packard LaserJet Business
I will try this out and post an update.
[tags]wmiprvse.exe, hptlbxfx.exe, hp lj 3055, hp, all in one printer, cpu usage, buggy software, hp toolbox fx[/tags]
We (MSU) had an all-in-one printer cause the OS (Windows 2000 at that time) to completely crash. It was weird. As soon as it was uninstalled it worked fine.
It might be a dumb suggestion, but if you can scan (this might be tricky) and copy from the device itself (some have buttons for it) could you remove the software then?
Sorry about your problems Luke, and sadly I can’t help ya solve it. If ya can’t find an answer in google my only suggestion is write them and hope for an upgrade. I know you’re tried google and probably wrote them too. I use a Lexmark all in one printer and have absolutely no problems using Win 2000 pro as ya know. I seldom even notice it is there, the lexmark Device monitor seldom uses any machine cycles unless it is actually printing or something. And BTW above do ya mean SVCHOST.EXE instead of SVHOST.EXE? I think ya do as svhost.exe is “a process which is registered as the W32.Mydoom worm.” I would expect tho am not certain my Lexmark Series 4300 all in one printer would work fine in Win XP too. It might actually be a windows problem too ya know, hard to be certain tho i think it probably is Hp’s “buggy code and/or flawed design.”
Miloš – you can copy and scan using the buttons. Copying actually works fine, but scanning doesn’t. Windows does not seem to recognize the device as a scanner…
I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to just set it up as a regular scanner but I’m not sure if that would work since both devices would share the same USB port…
Starhawk – I think the process is a typo. At the first CPU spikes I started scanning the shit out of it with everything I could figure out (Norton, Sophos, rootki revealer, Spybot, Adaware, Windows Defender and etc…). I also ran the CWShredder and Vundo remover on it, and studied the Hijackthis log weekly… So it’s the correct process on the machine – I probably mistyped it here…
Actually that machine belongs to a lady who has over 10GB of email spread over 20+ Outlook PST files she uses daily. Ugh…
That’s nice that the guy from HP contacted you about it…that’s what customer support should be all about: supporting the customer. HP gets 5 Jenn points for this.
Yup, I was really pleasantly surprised. I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet but it’s the thought that counts.
They also get 5 Luke points from me :mrgreen:
I need to fix the same problem with my 3055, but I need the location of the link from HP. I click on the link and it goes to a HP web page with no information. Do you have the web address?
Emmet, I fixed the link in the post. It should be working now.
Thanks for this blog entry… i felt as frustrated as you and i agreed with everything you wrote. I am going to try this fix. I love the Internet, too!
hi,
I have gone through this entire and found very good communication and responce.
I am unable to scan OCR (document scanning) it only accepts picture. In Destination list there is no other softwares to scan a document, how can I do that?
I hope some one will help me with this.
I’ve experienced the same problem with a HP LSJ 3052, and solve it by renaming de hptlbxfx file. It’s great to find a “professional” solution. I’m also very surprised for the HP answer but only 4 points for my part. expect for a software to run without bugs.
Congratulations for this outstanding blog.
naresh – I guess the software that comes with the printer doesn’t do OCR. Not sure how I can help here. I would recommend looking for a good OCR package out there.
Javier – did the software work after renaming the file? Cause that’s kinda the whole point of having it – what’s the use of having a multi-function printer if you can’t scan or fax documents with it. :)
Haven’t tried. First I will try the HP solution (but 385 MB to download)
After install the software provided by HP, the system performance is normal (good) but I’m not able to scan (what a shit!!!!). Hope Mr. Codd continues reading the blog.
i have a laserjet 3055 too. the software is awful. who would imagine that a $400 professional grade printer would not have the ability to scane multiple images in one pass, just like the much cheaper HP photosmart inkjet printer/scanners can. I was so disappointed to lose this feature on the 3055.
What’s the latest on your troubles with it. I am going to try to fix the similar problems I have been having with the post you offered.
Question: is it possible to uninstall the toolbox entirely and yet just turn on the scan utility and only install a printer driver?
This information has been very helpful. I bought a LJ 3055 this weekend and have noticed major slowdown. I will try fix above ASAP – if it does not work, it is not too late to return it.
I am hoping someone here may be able to help me with my connection question.
I connected the LJ 3055 to my laptop docking station via USB and got all of the functions working. Next, I got the LJ 3055 to work (i.e. print only) using wireless print server connected with USB, I can print from anywhere in my house.
QUESTION: When my laptop and I are at my desk, near the LJ 3055 , the only way I can figure out how to access the scan, fax functions from my laptop is to unplug the USB from the wireless print server and plug into my laptop/docking station. Plugging and unplugging the USB cable works ok (but I am finding I have to sometimes re-start the printserver, LJ 3055, router (or all of the above – haven’t figured out best sequence yet).
Could I try (i.e. would I break anything) by connecting the LJ 3055 to a USB hub and connecting a USB cable to both the wireless print server AND another cable to my laptop docking station?
I would use the two different “printer setups” (one for wireless and the other for USB hard wired printing, etc.), that I have already set up, but I would not have to continually plug and unplug the cable depending on the functionality I need.
I would not likely be using both wireless printserve and hard wired USB cable to send information to the printer at the same time. (I have another laptop that could also connect wirelessly for print only).
QUESTION IS: Is this a USB “no-no” to start with? Can the LJ 3055 handle 2 USB sources? Would I break anything by trying this?
IS THERE ANOTHER WAY to accomplish the goal of printing wirelessly OR connecting hard-wired to have fax/copy/scan capabilties without plugging and unplugging USB cables?
I am not very knowledgeable about networking. Is there a simple networking solution via Ethernet that I am missing? I have read about lots of network probs with the LJ 3055, and don’t know if I am sophisticated enough to figure out the troubleshooting.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone is willing to offer with this.
You’ve got to feel bad for the little guys. No one told HP that Vista was coming. And then HP was mislead into thinking that their printer was “Vista Ready.”
Who can blame them for now pretending that XP is the latest operating system. Vista? huh? What Vista?
Very impressed by the HP rep that posted above, but the web doesn’t even provide a straight answer as to whether I should eat my $500 and get a new machine, or wait for Vista drivers. I have a real job and need a real printer/scanner now, not in a few months.
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The newest software for the LJ 3050 Version 3.0 works fine on my Xp computer. I had to download it from http://www.hp.com. The copy and fax are standalone machines you do not need a computer to do these functions. I would like someone to name me 10 printers that have full software capabilities for that OS and at least one from HP. I have yet to find a HP printer that has software capability for this OS. Scanning does work for Vista but you have to scan through a 3party program such as MS paint or MS photo gallery. For Carol the LJ 3055 has an internal print server you do not need a print server attached. If you really need wireless maybe try a HP jetdirect wireless print server but I would just connect your printer to your router and have a wireless router.
If you would like just the printer go to control panel –> printers and faxes –> and double click on ‘add printer wizard’ this is for adding just a printer driver to the OS.
I have a problem with my scanner from a HP 3055 4 in 1
I have a 3015 all in one machine. LIke you, I think the hardware is fantastic; never had a problem with it…. BUT….I agree that HP’s software stinks. It seems to cause a crapload of problems on many different OS’s. Also, it seems every time there is an update, upgrade or new version release of Windows, HP has left the building and all the people with HP products are left out in the cold for months on end until somebody there deems it finally time to release new versions. (seems to be anywhere from 1 to 12 months after the windows releases. Like you, I will never again buy multifunction.
Btw, my golden rules of upgrading to the newest windows release is “don’t do it yet”
Wait for the first service pack. Once MS gets around to rolling up all the bug fixes into a big package like that, the OS will be mature enough to be semi-stable, and 3rd party hardware and software vendors will have enough time to catch up.
I replaced my HP 3030 (that wore out) with the new and “Improved” 3055.
The 3055 is the WORST product I have ever dealt with. I have wasted hours and hours of my time with this machine. We have paid our IT guy about $1,400 to work with this piece of crap.
Our law firm won’t buy another HP product after this nightmare.
PS: I have written to HP several times on their support page and never received ANY response. I do, however, continue to get updates for the 3030 that we no longer have.
Since this incredible machine (HP Laser Jet 3055) has been installed on a proper P4 everything started to stop working. ReadIris (3rd Party app ) worked for a small while. This new tech software hacks into your system and do more destruction than some of the leading worms. Should any one have a brainwave on how to solve this dilemma please update all the innocent victims. This is clearly not the ideal solution for any enterprise business or the private Jack. The business is now using a flatbed scanner (value -+18 Pounds / R 250) doin a better scanning job that the 289.8 Pound Sterling / -+R 3900. The Pretty this is that for paying HP u get the best of their support when u most need it providing u with no solution. This monster machine caused hours of frustration and brain – pain. I recommend u to buy it the moment the sky fall, then only HP will have a solution.
Support HP for this product and give it to the friend you care least as this WILL ensure the termination of is sanity and the pc’s productivity. Rest assure that these are still on the market and might not disappear soon, as they are sold for only A FREAKING 300 POUNDS / R4000.
This will rob your enemy from his limited time and few hard earned money for all the needed trouble shooting and fixes.
I wish u the best of luck.
I think Peter babblefished his comment. LOL I’m not exactly sure what you are saying Peter, but I think I agree. :mrgreen:
That printer sure did ensure termination of my sanity – I tell you that. LOL
To Mr. Ashworth,
I am sure HP will be sad to see that your lawfirm will not be buying anymore HP products. Since, however you failed to mention a) What was the issue with the printer and b) The fact that you spent over triple the cost of the entire unit. You have either too much money or a very stupid IT department and will most likely with the spending habits you seem to have be out of business within a couple years. Honestly, who in their right mind spends $1400.00 to fix the “WORST product I have everhad to deal with” are you insane? You posted messages and quite honestly said that you in no way, shape or form spoke with anyone from HP. Now I am neither a rocket scientist or a lawyer but did you ever consider picking up a phone and calling HP tech support or even getting your so called IT professional to do so? My advise fire your IT guy and tell your secretary to teach you how to make a phone call you freaking moron.
Dear David,
Thanks for your input. I assume you are in high school, college or have never billed for your time.
Our IT guy spent most of his time on the phone with HP. Their fix would last about 2-hours then dump.
I know this is a crazy concept, but one you might grasp: time is money. When I buy an HP product, I expect it to work. The 3055 is a piece of garbage.
HP is already dealing with several class actions. I’m sure this will be another. I just don’t have time to waste in a class action suit. I’ll leave that to people like you.
Read “Peter’s” comments above. You might learn something.
Regards,
If you think that HPTLBXFX.exe is evil, you don’t understand. It is WAY PAST evil. If you let this beast loose in your building it will take down any Linux smb servers !!! It will cause smbd to grow it’s memory size until the entire server is burried in swap. Not only will the PC gasp and die, but this evil will take out your servers too !!! Under NO cirsumstances should this POS be installed anywhere, by anyone, at any time !!!
I have not been having any memory issues with HPTLBXFX.EXE. My issue is with the fact that it keeps loading my small business server connection to my company. i work from home and the SBS connection is required to access the main office servers. It’s almost imposible to access anything if the HP porgram is running. Killing the process does fix the problem, but I’m not sure what impact this has on the printer performance. So far it seems to work fine.
The hptoolboxfx stands for hp toolbox software this software was specifically designed to access and keep in constant contact with your printer the old version were flawed and did cause a lot of havoc on pc’s the newest version available to download from HP. Honestly it does not need to be running the scanning software is different. The software has some neat bells and whistles but nothing you can not do or get from either the manual or the printer itself. I have stopped mine and if I wish to use access it from the desktop. Hope this helps.
The HP ToolBox FX works a little bit fine for me. Scanning and other functions works well. I have used the updated software from HP. One downside though is that sometimes or intermittently, when I receive my fax through my pc, it gave the wrong one (I know because the date is wrong) and so I have to go to the printer and print it manually. Sad thing is, the reason our company bought that product is because we can receive our fax in softcopy in my pc (to save paper because of so many garbage fax transmittals/messages). We are suppose to print what we need to print. My verdict for the HP Toolbox FX;
IT IS A PIECE OF JUNK
Prior to a few days ago, I had no problem with either my HP Laserjet P2015 or HP scanjet 5590 through my Microsoft XP system. Now, I’m having a HPTLBXFX.EXE error SCREEN #1: After booting up, a blue bordered screen with a white background appears. In the upper left corner is a white x in a red circle. Below and to the right of that is Win32NT – 5.1.2600.0 and below that is the OK button. SCREEN #2: After hitting the OK button, a screen appears which reads at the top “HPTLBXFX.EXE – Common Language Runtime Debugging Services” and below that is “Application has generated an exception that could not be handled. Process id=0x9fc (2556), Thread ide=0xa08 (2568).” SCREEN #3: Clicking CANCEL to debug the application brings up a third screen that reads “Registered JIT debugger is not available. An attempt to launch a JIT debugger with the following command resulted in an error code of 0x2 (2). Please check computer settings. cordbg.exe !a ox9fc.” The options are to retry the JIT debugger request or cancel. How do I fix this problem?
My advice would be to uninstall and reinstall the HP software. No clue what happened there but I don’t think it’s related to this issue.
The debugger thing is normal. Unless you actually have a debugging software and it is on, that option will actually bug out.
Now, everything is working fine now. I am using LJ3055. I remove first the driver and HP toolbox FX software from my pc. Reinstall the latest one from HP website. Then install the firmware update. Everythingis now working great and there are no problems now. HP Toolbox FX is working fine if and only if the software is always open. This solved all my problems. I just hope HP will do a better job next time.
Well, it is now Jan 3, 2008. I downloaded the software from the HP website for Windows Vista. Although the problem appears to have been fixed on XP, I am still seeing this same problem on Vista. =(
@Thomas – well… Vista, you see, is an entirely different animal. Very buggy, slow, buggy and buggy animal. :P This is why I don’t have it installed anywhere – so I really don’t deal with Vista.
Maybe Tom Codd might be of some help here? Are you guys at HP are supporting Vista at all or are you just sitting back and silently hope it goes away like the rest of us?
Dear Luke,
1st of all nice to find you all here. I hope you will find a solution for my problem too.
I have this Hp 3390 All in one which until last week was working perfect.
A couple of days ago, after a major crash of the Windows system, I had to uninstall several hardware including my 3390 HP.
I had no problem re-installing the drivers and software. But now I can’t get my Hptoolbox to work. I find the HP shortcut in my Start menu but when I go from the shortcut to “C:\Program Files\HP\ToolBoxFX\bin” I only find a couple of .dll files inside and not the actual program. Apparently it did not install at all. I did the whole procedure of uninstalling and re-installing 2-3 more times, no good.
What I did figure out is that the “HPTLBXFX.exe” is no where to be found. I even went to msconfig to see it there, nope.
Finally when I browsed in the Hp 3390 installation cd and found Hpptoolbox.exe my PC will not allow it to be installed on its on.
Any help please?
Thx a lot
Pantelis (all the way from Greece)
P.S. Oh, if it is any help I am running under Windows Xp SP2
Guys
I too am having problems with HP3055 on Vista Business. Downloaded the new drivers and the new firmware. Works sometimes, then after 4 or 5 print jobs could be mroe could be less, the whole thing stops. Can not even delete the print job without turning the printer off and the PC off. Then it works again for a while then the same thing. I have a tech call into HP, but they have not comback to me. Microsoft have said they know about this problem and it is HP’s problem and even if/when SP1 comes out this will not fix the problem.
Dan
From the Land Down Under.
Mate maybe because we are hangin upside down the printer does not work – thats as much sense as I have got out of MS & HP
I bought four 3055 all-in-one and the only issue i have with them is the software!
the software is not well built :(
sometime i’m reciveing errors during startup or I should unistall the software after some month.
I have no issue with other printers in our office
Come on.. it’s almost March 2008.. and their most update software package is dated March 2007? What gives?
Where is the x64 support?? I can’t scan at all using x64.. i mean.. crap.. I can’t be the only one using x64! Please more support for those who actually use more than 3GBs of memory.
I have recently purchased the machine HP LJ3055. I occasionally encountered the same issue as this one:
After booting up, a blue bordered screen with a white background appears. In the upper left corner is a white x in a red circle. Below and to the right of that is Win32NT – 5.1.2600.0 and below that is the OK button. SCREEN #2: After hitting the OK button, a screen appears which reads at the top “HPTLBXFX.EXE – Common Language Runtime Debugging Services” and below that is “Application has generated an exception that could not be handled. Process id=0×9fc (2556), Thread ide=0xa08 (2568).” SCREEN #3: Clicking CANCEL to debug the application brings up a third screen that reads “Registered JIT debugger is not available. An attempt to launch a JIT debugger with the following command resulted in an error code of 0×2 (2). Please check computer settings. cordbg.exe !a ox9fc.” The options are to retry the JIT debugger request or cancel. How do I fix this problem?
Any progress? I want to uninstall the hptlbxfx.exe from booting. I guess this probably fix the issue.
Figured out how to use the scanner under x64.. Used VirtualBox to run Windows XP 32bit as a virtual machine. Noticed the scanner does not work with their March 2007 software. It still requires the Feb 2006 Scan Fix. What the F***?
We have two HP printers and one is in an AIO, HP 7310 …any way last year sometime the scanning software quit, the other a 2015 Laserjet doesn’t yet have any problems but it does use the file listed above.
After I really needed to do some imaging I had to research the whys and wherefores of this problem.
According to HP Support, some motherboards with the Intel USB Controller 82801DB/DBM have ‘handshake” problems with this HP product, and they suggest using a USB powered HUB between the host computer and the device. BTW We have this exact problem, but have not as yet tried the suggested solution.
Instead we are using the Windows provided Scanner Wizard to do all our scanning, but feel that it really sucks to have bought the appliance precisely because it could do OCR and now cannot do that.
I am currently in the process of getting back a loaned scanner to do all my OCR work, which I know does work under XP SP 2.
Just a wild guess, but doesn’t HP now do a lot of it’s coding in Asia? or with Asians here? Maybe their higher qualifications aren’t as good as at first believed?
Hi Mickey!
This is about HP problem. Do not involve ASIAN People. You sounded kind of a racist here. Just an advice. My LJ3055 still sucks by the way.
@mickey – crappy programmers come in all shapes and sizes and race, creed and nationality usually doesn’t impact the ability to code. :P
I agree that outsourcing often doesn’t turn out well, but that’s because usually you outsource to the lowest bidder who hires the lowest paid, low skilled programmers. Race has little to do with it.
@Vhon – sorry if you were offended by mike’s comment Vhon.
Guys,
Is anyone out there using Vista??? Or am I the only Aussie stupid enough to give it a go.
I am still havign problmes. Works in the morning – doesn’t in the afternoon
I am on Vista Business.
regards
Dan
Luke, did you ever install the software that HP recommended and did it fix your problem? I have had problems with my HP 3390 and I’m pretty sure its a driver problem that is causing the blue screen. Have tested all the hardware and nada. So I start plugging things back in and sure enough, I get to the printer and bam! Blue screen!!! Any further thoughts? Deanna.
@Dan – sorry, not running Vista so I can’t help here.
@Deanna – ah, these intermitent BSOD issues are so hard to diagnose. You could try to analyze the stack dumps to see what was the last executable in memory before the kernel exception caused the blue screen. But yes, it is probably a driver and it could be the printer. Or a combination of something and the printer driver. These things give me a headache.
Luke, I’m going to try the printer driver the guy suggested on the beginning of your post. Will keep you posted on how it goes. Might just hang the whole thing after a while and get away from the multifunction and get a separate printer and scanner. Got my eye on a very nifty double sided A3 scanner that looks pretty good. D.
Well Luke, there is no help to it. The new software from HP does not solve the BSOD. The darned toolbox software is just awful. My system was running quite happily until I re-installed the software and it BSOD on me again. I’m going to try just installing the printer drivers without the toolbox and see what happens then. Fingers crossed. D.
40 minutes without a BSOD and counting ….
Thats a good news that you dont get a BSOD so far. If you see it again, look for the description of the BSOD screen which is written in the caps. (Eg: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE). One more thing, once you unplug the Printer, do you get the BSOD? Have you updated your motherboard drivers?
Thanks
It turns out that mine was a combination of the HP printer software and an inconsistent power supply. A new power board and uninstalling the printer software did the trick.
This process keeps hogging my CPU. Did that fix that HP suggested work for you?
I have 5 qty of HP2727 MFPs, and unfortnately i am starting to replace one by one with other brands like Brother etc., HPs hardware is the best (i heard hp is using Canon engine!) but the software bundle with is buggy, as posted above. Their software support is very limited. I dont know any update on this issue since 6 months, I was fed up with troubleshooting above 5 pieces and gave up its ‘multi’ function using only printing and copying.
If there are any stable solutions issued by HP, i wuold appreciate to get updated
I discovered that a general user on this XP machine was having a completely different experience than I (difference was lack of admin privileges). Her hptlbxfx.exe was 100% if it could get it and mine was 2% on occasion. I changed her to an admin user and since logon highest has been 3%.
Did not glean evidence in this thread that the massively inconvenient download/uninstall/reinstall did the trick for killing the resource hog (I’ve taken that bait before) so I am giving up and leaving her as admin.
Nothing conclusive about my testing but hey, might be worth a try.