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A customer of ours recently called to say their HP L7680 printer had disappeared from their computer. On further inspection both the fax and the printer were missing from control panel – despite the printer being fully powered up and connected. I tried opening the HP solution center but it just said “No HP Devices have been detected”. But, it IS connected! The steps below outline how I managed to get it running again. Sadly it’s a bit of a long process, but it fixed the problem for me.

1. Enter the control panel and uninstall all the HP related software.
2. Unplug the USB connection – this step is very important.
3. Now, it is important to reboot the computer at this stage, to ensure you’re starting from a clean slate. Once rebooted you now need to download the HP removal software. There are various version of this. If you have a 7×00 series printer you’ll want the specific HP Software Removal Utility (recommended) or alternatively there is the more general All-in-One Software Removal Utility. Assuming you download the HP software removal utility, run the file and it will extract to C:/Temp/HP_WebRelease. Browse to this folder and look for uninstall_l4.bat. Running this file will perform what HP call a Level 4 cleanup – the highest level of HP rubbish removal.

****** Executing Level4 CleanUP ******
This cleanup utility will remove the HP Image Zone software and the
HP product drivers. Use this utility to remove software if you have a
problem using the software and would like to reinstall the software.

Use this LEVEL 4 cleanup if LEVEL 3 cleanup utility did not fix the problem
and you continue to experience software problems with your HP Officejet Pro

LEVEL 4 is the most comprehensive cleanup level and
will remove the HP product drivers, HP Image Zone software
and all HP components installed with your HP Officejet Pro device
****************

If you chose to UNINSTALL, Please do the following…
1. Unplug the USB cable from the back of your HP Officejet Pro device
2. After the cleanup finishes, restart your computer and wait for Windows
to start
3. Eject and re-insert the software CD that came with your HP Officejet Pro
device to start the installation
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation
5. Try printing a document to confirm functionality
Press ENTER to continue Uninstalling…
OR
Press Q followed by ENTER to QUIT uninstallation

As per the instructions, just hit enter and wait for the uninstaller to complete.

Now reboot your computer again. Do NOT reconnect the printer yet.

You now need to download the latest verison of the HP All-in-one software from the HP website – don’t use the CD which came with it as this is most likely outdated. I chose the HP Officejet Pro Full Feature Software And Driver – weighing in at an almighty 300MB.

Once downloaded, run the setup file. The setup will prompt you when it is time to connect the printer.

Follow the installation as normal and you should have a working printer again.

I hope this helps you on your quest for a working HP printer!