Design Jet 500 Plotting Issues with ACAD 2016

[Anonymous]

I have researched this in many different forums and can't find a solution that works.  We have an HP DesignJet 500 42" plotter (not PS, not HP-GL). I can plot to it from Autocad 2014, but not 2016.  When I try to select the plotter in 2016 it reverts to Plotter: None.  (Using Win 10 64 bit). I'm also able to plot to it using other programs (like Adobe).

Apparently ACAD 2016 only recognizes the driver v 8.10, and not older drivers.  Here's the problem:  When I download the 8.10 driver from HP (like other solutions suggest):

a) HPDJ500wx64pclen (found under Win 8 on HP.com) says on the website that it is 8.10, but when I install it actually says it's v. 6.07 (in the About section and the Readme file)

b) HPDJ510wx64glen (found under Win10) but it only applies to HP 500 HP-GL/2 & RTL. So when I install the driver there isn't an option for a plain HP 500 (just PS, HP-GL, plus, etc). I tried installing all the options.  ACAD then recognizes the printer in the plot dialog but the printer gives an Error 61:05 (I have the most recent printer firmware installed).

It seems that in order for AutoCad 2016 to print to the HP500 it needs driver version 8.10, however there is not an 8.10 for a plain DesignJet 500.

Any help is appreciated.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Have you tried manually uninstalling the driver before you install the newer one? Here is an article that describes that process.

If that still doesn't fix the issue I have heard that some customers have had success using the Universal drivers and faking out Windows by selecting one of the newer DesignJet printer models.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[jggerth]

If all the device supports is PCL, then I think that you haave two options (at most -- you may be stuck with the second choice)

A) try the universal printer driver

B) buy a current model plotter

c) use a printing service

That plotter has got to be 10 years old or more, so you got your money's worth. I feel your pain, since the device I have at home is that same generation and I've never gotten it to print past WinXP.

[Anonymous]

Thanks John, you're the man! This worked.

In case anyone runs into this in the future:  

-AutoCad 16 needed the DesignJet driver v8.10.  You can find this on the HP site under Windows 8 (Even though I was using Windows 10).  

-Download HPDJ500wx64pclen driver to your hard drive.  

-Go into your Control Panel -- Printers -- Right click the HP 500 -- Remove the Device.  

-Single click any of the remaining printers and an option pops up in the bar across the top "Print Server Properties" (this is the same window that John mentioned above by typing "printui /s /t2" in the Run Dialog, but for some reason my computer couldn't find the file).

-Select "Print Server Properties"

-Go to "Drivers" tab.

-Select all Drivers that relate to the DesignJet 500 and select "Remove". Remove the Driver and the Driver Package.

-Restart the computer

-Install the correct driver and it should now show up as v8.10 instead of 6.07.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick response.  I tried the universal print driver and that wasn't being recognized by the plotter.  I was considering that the plotter is just a dinosaur and needs to be let go.  Fortunately I figured out an option that can keep us running for the time being.