8th May, 2009  

HP ships critical update to partners, ignores paying customers

I know I’m angry about HP a lot, but it’s simply because they are continually awful. Remember my last rant about their inability to publish what they themselves called a “critical” update? It’s now been more than 2 months since they urged customers to install version 4.7.2 of their Universal Print Driver, yet at the time of writing it is still not available for download on their website.

I recently scoured their support forums to see if anyone knew anything about when the driver would be released, as I’ve found in the past that HP’s customers often seem far more knowledgeable about these things than the robots they employ to man the support lines. Curiously, a couple of forum posters seemed to intimate they already had the update, though were strangely silent when questioned as to how they obtained it. I was unsurprised to find someone else plainly asking whether the update even existed… and then utterly shocked to find someone with a definitive answer.

I now pass this knowledge on to you.

You can download the HP Universal Print Driver (UPD) version 4.7.2 now, here:

These include the 32-bit drivers for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, as well as the 64-bit versions for Windows XP and Vista. The files are hosted by a Dutch IT reseller called DPI, who are an HP Solution Business partner. I’ve examined and deployed the drivers and they are indeed the real deal; the drivers are marked as version 4.7.2.38 with a datestamp of 30th January 2009, and were WHQL certified and signed by Microsoft on 19th February 2009. It seems that HP have shipped this critical update to their partners, but your average customer is apparently of no concern to them. Even more galling is that, according to the dates on the files, this update was ready to go nearly 3 months ago.

As you install these drivers, please remember to raise a glass in one hand to our new friends in the Netherlands, as well as the pseudonymous ‘HPTestNow’, the member of the HP Business Support forums who posted the link there. With your other hand, feel free to gesture a well-deserved ‘up yours’ to HP for their continued disservice to customer relations.

Cheers!

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About The Angry Technician

The Angry Technician is an experienced IT professional in the UK education sector. Normally found in various states of annoyance on his blog. All views are those of his imaginary pet dog, Howard.

6 responses to “HP ships critical update to partners, ignores paying customers”

  1. Ellira says :

    Really doesn’t surprise me. I had my first contact with HP customer service this week, and it was, predictably, useless. A lady in complaints was very nice, and offered to bend the rules to get me through to tech support (I just wanted to return a faulty item), but the bloke I got through to then was an ignorant b****** who refused to even listen what was wrong with the item because it was so critically important I have the item in front of me. For all he knew, it might have had a part missing on arrival. I’m going to do my best to get my boss to stop buying from them, but I doubt I’ll have much impact. Really, really frustrating.

    I’ll er, stop venting now. Nice detective work.

  2. Simon says :

    Mate, thankyou so much for this. I’ll try it tomorrow at a customer site, if it sorts out their issue I’ll buy you a beer :)

  3. AngryTechnician says :

    Update: HP posted a new version to their website on 1st July.

    It’s version 4.7.0.30, built and signed in November 2008 – an earlier version than that I linked to above two months ago, and still not the version HP urged customers to upgrade to in March.

  4. Lee says :

    Thanks a million! I have been unable to find these anywhere and HP website has 5.0 only. I am running the 4.7 UPD with Citrix and am having major problems with my core application printing via a print server. Aparently the problem that 4.7 has that was fixed with 4.7.2 has now re-appeared with 5.0 so only 4.7.2 will work (according to the app vendor). Thanks again!