Has anyone updated the software for 10.6 Snow Leopard and found that their printer no longer scans or prints?

Question

Last October, I bought a MAC desktop that uses MAC OS X 10.6.8 and an HP 1050 All-in-One Printer J401a.
Everything worked beautifully until messages kept popping up about downloading critical MAC software update. Eventually, I succumber to the persistence and took the 7 hours required to do the download.
Since then, the printer refuses to scan. A mesage informs that "HP Utility quit unexpectedly" and a report is being sent automatically to Apple.
A few days ago, I got an engineer to have a look. He re-ran the HP disk 3 times and managed to get the scanner to work, but only once. His second visit did absolutely nothing and now even the printer doesn't work.
HP informs that this is a problem with MAC OS X 10.7 and suggests downloading a correction.
Has the Apply update turned the 10.6 to a 10.7?
I have un-installed HP and disconnected the printer.
What can I do to get this important facility back?
Lis

Answer 1

Elisabeth Cumine wrote:
Thanks for the reply.
Even after the 7 hour update download the MAC OS X still says version 10.6.8 and nothing appears to have changed except printer and scan errors. I've uninstalled HP after 3 futile reloads and disconnected the printer.
Any suggestions?
Lis
Right 10.7 is a purchase of a new oeprating system. Software update will not upgrade your computer to 10.7.
The Software on the disk is very old software. Ushally it's a good idea to download the latest software from HP. As such, have you tried downloading & Installing HP Deskjet Full Feature Software and Drivers - Mac OS X v10.5 and v10.6?
You may need to go into system prefrences, Printers, and delete the printer, and then re-add the printer.
When opening the scanning software; it's really important to open the right program. If you look in the HP software folder there should be sevreal programs. There should be a program called scanner select or some thing similar. That's the one you want to open. it will have you select the device you want to scan from; then it will give you the option to open the scanning program.
if that dosen't work, do you have any other mac or pc computers? the reason I ask; is that the printer could be having a hardware issue. if you try the scanner / printer with another computer; and you still have the issue, then you know it's an issue with the printer it self and not your computer.
My HP all-in-one scanner died about 8 months into owning it. I couldn't even use the built-in copy button on the printer to make copies.