6480 issue: huge delay in printing.

Question

The problem seems to be a lack of communication or hugely delayed communication between my pc and my printer. Once it starts to actually print, it prints at normal speed. If i print a document, it goes into the que, but won't print. Then all of a sudden, it will start printing anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes later.
If i clear the que, it won't clear at all unless i reboot or use the HP Print Diagnostic Utility to "fix" the que. it will just say "deleting" for a while and then disappear suddenly.
I've tried connecting the printer both wirelessly and with a usb cable and am having the exact same issues.
I've tried printing directly to the printer without spooling, this causes programs like word to lock up and just locks the to-be-printed documents in the que.
I've tried with spooling, this just puts items in the que and then delays the starting of the printer as described above.
I've used the HP Print Diagnostic Utility and if nothing is in the que, then everything comes up with green checks and shows all clear.
I've checked to ensure proper driver usage (using 6400 series driver, version 10).
I have plenty of RAM, hard-drive space and have my printer set to use "plain paper."
I'm using Vista 64 SP1.
All in all i've been busy with this for over 7 hours. I'm at a loss.
Can anyone please help me?
Thanks for your time.
Message Edited by Heezea on 04-15-2009 01:51 PM

Answer 1

Are you using a static IP, my printer is wired not wirless.  Solution Center (10), printer, scanner etc. was working just fine when I had my printer set to use a DHCP address.  Oh using Vista Home Premium for the OS.  After I switched it to a static IP (outside the DHCP scope) the connection to it went belly up.  I added the printer hostname and IP to a host and lmhost file which seems to have helped a (very little) bit.  Now if I turn the printer on after the PC is up the first print job hangs and a solution center pop up appears and if you open it, in the window is a fix it box that does a reconnect to the printer.  I think it is just restarting the print spooler or one of there many memory hog .exe's or .dll's 
THE PROBLEM as I see it (and apparently on other posts on all the other forums I've checked) is that the HP Solution Center Software is for Sh_t, and using the printer without it and with only the drivers does not work well either.  I haven't wasted my time as yet to contact their support but my first questiion to them is going to be how do I get a refund on the Solution Center portion of my purchase.  It's a simple thing using a static IP!  Did your developers not bother to try it on a printer with a static IP.  Sorry went off a bit on this reply as you can tell I am not pleased at all with the HP software, printer works well though when you can get connected to it.