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HP printer drivers and slowdowns under Mac OS X 10.x

HP printer drivers and slowdowns under Mac OS X 10.x

CNET staff
4 min read

Yesterday we covered reports of "sluggish" computer performance after installing certain HP printer drivers; specifically, the "HP Communications" daemon appears to increase its CPU use as time goes by, requiring the user to force quit it. We also noted a recently updated Apple Knowledge Base article about this problem that claims the issue only occurs in OS X 10.2.2 and that upgrading to 10.2.3 or later should fix the problem.

We've since received a significant number of reports from readers confirming this issue. In all cases, upgrading to the latest version of OS X doesn't fix the problem, contrary to Apple's Knowledge Base article, perhaps indicating that the problems discussed here are are slightly different from those described in the article, or that whatever "fix" was made in OS X 10.2.3 is not present in OS X 10.3.x. For example, reader Dan Belley writes:

"I also experience a similar issue. I have a PSC2210 multi-function HP printer with the latest driver and a 15" Titanium Powerbook running OS X 10.3.4. The situation gets worse if you turn off the printer after unplugging the USB cable and then re-plugging the cable. I've learned to keep the Activity Monitor utility running constantly in the dock just to keep an eye on the 'HP Communications' daemon's CPU usage."

Wordarounds Readers are often stuck using awkward workarounds to avoid the HP Communications daemon from eventually taking up too much CPU time. Reader Cameron Walters writes:

"I have experienced the sluggish performance of the HP Communications application [under OS X 10.2.4] ever since I got my HP Photosmart 7350 more than a year ago. For me, on an iBook 500MHz dual USB, 512MB RAM HP Communications starts at boot time and takes 10-15% of my CPU at all times. If I unplug the printer, the processor usage jumps to about 25%, but then settles back down to around 15% quickly. My (annoying) workaround is simply to use Activity Monitor to force quit HP Communications after each use of the printer. I must also restart it myself (I put it on the dock, since it's normally buried) before issuing any print commands, or the print job stalls and won't ever recover. This requires deleting the job, starting HP Comm. and finally reissuing the print request."

Reader George Schreyer writes that HP is aware of the issue, and reports that the problem is much worse when attempting to use the scanning function of HP multifunction devices:

"The 1210 drivers do indeed have a problem. If the scan function is used and then the printer is disconnected or turned off, the HP Communications process will go nuts trying to find the missing scanner and consume all of the available CPU in the process. HP is now aware of this and is working on it. The solution is to use the Activity Monitor to trash the HP Communications process. When the scanner software is rerun, it will restart the process, but then fail to find the restarted process. One then has to trash the scanner software because it won't quit and then restart it. This is only a problem when the scanner is invoked. Printing seems to behave fine."

Other potential "solutions" Reader Ric Getter notes that the HP Communications daemon is only necessary to use the printer's front panel buttons, so it's possible to disable the daemon completely:

"I had the process appear when I installed the drivers for an HP 7960 printer I was reviewing and realized that it was only used for funtions related to the printer's front panel controls (e-mail, save from card to disk, etc.). The process was behaving itself, but I didn't have any need to have it running. A client of mine suffered from having an HP background process hijacking her system back when their office upgraded to 10.2...If you do a search for 'HP Communications,' you will find that it is located in a folder that one doesn't normally associate with automatically-started background processes. Simply drag the application to the Desktop or Trash (or anywhere else) and it will cease to load."

Reader Barry Levine has written a small utility that forces the HP Communications daemon to quit without having to use Activity Monitor:

"Looks like the HP Communications app starts it march to 100% use once the PSC device is powered off or disconnected. To rectify the problem (because you can?t simply force-quit a ?faceless? application), I?ve written an app named 'HP Comm Killer' that has, as its sole function, the ability to quit the HP communications app without resorting to Activity Viewer. Simply drag my app anywhere you?d like and then [add] it to the Dock (right next to the HP Director is a good spot). Then, when the scanning function goes off to never-never land, you can click HP Comm Killer and start the scan process again. The Director will prompt you to click the ?reset? button and this will restart the HP Communications application. However, do be sure that the PSC device is running or the problem might recur."

Resources

  • Apple Knowledge Base artic...
  • HP Comm Killer
  • More from Late-Breakers