updating HP LaserJets from a DOS command line
This is actually pretty easy, but the information is so hard to find I though I would post it. One of our departments was complaining that a LaserJet 8150N printer they use would output gibberish when printing PDF files with more than a few images. Printer driver updates on the workstations did not help. All of the stations do IP printing directly to the printer. While looking into possibly more memory for the printer, I found that the printer was running firmware from 2001. The latest from the HP site was 2004, so I needed to try the update.
Of course, I’m a mac guy but the process seemed easier from Windows so I did all of this in a VMWare XP Pro session. Here were the steps:
- grab the updated firmware from hp, mine was lj8150fw_MB7.119.rfu
- Install the printer locally as a TCP/IP and make sure that works
- create a share for the printer (right click, sharing, etc)
- in a command prompt, capture the lpt1 port to the share which is: “net use lpt1 \\local-computer-name\share-name”
- copy the firmware file to lpt1 “copy /b lj8150fw_MB7.119.rfu lpt1″
The file will copy quickly. Go to the printer, you should see messages on the display to the effect of “updating firmware”.
If you prefer, you can delete the lpt1 capture using “net use lpt1 /delete”