HP Officejet Pro-X551 : Tips & Fixes

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Bit of an odd quirk to have to deal with here but having sourced one of these HP ProX551 printers I've found that trying to print a booklet from MS Publisher (2013 in this case) has been particularly annoying because it refuses to allow pagination in booklet mode.

Instead it prints off the first sheet for the requisite number of copies, then moves on to the next sheet, etc... so you're faced with manually paginating everything to get your full booklet.

However, I did find a work-around that does the job.

1. Save your file as a PDF at the suitable quality for printing
2. Select File > Print
   
3. Click "Properties" and choose your standard print settings for a single sided output
   
4. Click "OK"
5. Now choose "Booklet" under "Page Sizing & Handling" and set your binding options, etc..
   
6. Set the "Copies" to the appropriate amount and anything more than one copy will immediately result in the "Collate" option appearing.
7. Tick the "Collate" option
8. Check for any other settings you need to adjust and then hit print

... et voila! you get your output printed in collated form.


Took a while to figure out what was going on but here's the really bizarre part... Having gone through all of that, I returned to Publisher and tried printing directly again and now the collate option has appeared as soon as I update the copies number.

Very strange... Either way, hope that's of some use to someone... Probably the usual driver mistakes as I found with the earlier HP K5400 drivers at release.

 

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Converted this thread into a tips & fixes general one because I've finding more things to post about as I go.

The latest ones are as follow:


1. The cartridge bay drops down when the printer is in use.

This was something of a shock when my homebrew CIS system jammed everything up due to overly wide bore tubing and fitting being used. If you're fitting a CIS system then make sure you use thin tubing and fittings that don't extend too far out past the cartridge length.

I was able to recover from that "great" start with a little care and "gentle" persuasion but it could have been game over.

This information isn't included in CIS installation videos, etc... so watch out!

2. There's a firmware update available

Not sure if this helped solve my problems (see 3. below) but as with all HP products it seems, there's always something that has been messed up with early drivers and firmware so contrary to issues with other brand firmwares, you should update.

Oh and don't bother with the enterprise version that shows as compatible. That's not for your home user version.

3. Power lock-ups/Freezing

Not seen any reports of this anywhere else, so I have no corroborating evidence, but the earlier firmware had some issues with the power saving mode failing to engage properly and locking up the system.

Now, it could have been the compatible 970/971 chips I was using on the CIS but something wasn't playing ball.

My "fix" was to turn the pull the printer power, plug back in, max out the power saving timings, update the firmware then turn it off and leave it off overnight. It now plays nice again but that could simply be because I haven't let it get to the point where power saving/sleep-mode kicks in.

4. Allow drying time for folding machines or other processing.

This probably won't affect anyone else but as I use this printer for my documentation booklets, etc... I use a folding machine to cut down on the labour required to fold them all. One key thing that makes a huge difference to stopping it jam up the machine is to fan-apart the print-outs and then leave them over night to dry... Reduces the "stickyness" between the sheets and makes it easier to fan-apart the paper properly so it will feed into the folding machine properly.

 

[Tim Reed]

Hi:
I am interested in buying an Hp officejet pro x551dw.
For many years I have used an officejet pro K8600dn and k5400dn. We originally bought 4 gallons of ink and have finally used up the gallon of black. We print heavy volumes.

The only problem we have had is replacing printheads every year and a half to two years.

I understand you are using an x series printer using aftermarket ink and either refillable carts or CIS?
What brand of ink have you successfully used?
I am concerned about this because of the pagewide printhead.
Have you experienced problems with the x series printhead?
Thanks
Tim

 

[thanhhuy123]

Just in case someone is interested in the ink for HP PageWide technology, here is a technical white paper that explain things in detail: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2015/PageWideXL2015/PageWideInks.pdf

 

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Hi Tim,

Ok... first off I need to declare a commercial interest in these printers as I've been working hard on a CIS system for the HP970/971 model printers for longer I care to think about. So bearing that in mind I have just a smidgen of bias which I'll try to put to one side as best I can...

First up... The newer production models (ie: recent production runs) have an upgraded firmware which appears to have a "nice" little routine in errors when it comes to compatible chips. We've only tried on the ARC chips we have but the upshot is that the chips are rejected. This appears to be causing problems for other retailers and as near as I can tell has only recently started to appear as a "known issue". Whether it also hits compatible one-time chips I've not confirmed but if I were to bet, I'd say it's highly likely.

Secondly... The firmware in question was released in Spring/Summer 2015 so as with most things I would seriously NOT install it if the printer you have/source is an older model with older Firmware.

On the back of that point, if you have got the older firmware you'll find that compatibles and ARC's will work.

So, skipping along to point number three. Inks... There's a few out there... Personally I'd rate the Inktec type over anything else... Like you, Tim, I was VERY dubious about clogging and opted to take an empirical process on print output to see if we'd get a clog.

The results surprised the heck out of me as I started out printing a quality report every hour, then every couple of hours, then one per day. At this point I remember we hit indications that black was clogging slightly so I immediately did a head clean (crossed my fingers, sacrificed a small chocolate bar) and printed off a fair number of instruction sets so see if things would degrade or resolve..

Turned out it resolved nicely so me being an optimistic, happy go lucky type I didn't trust it an inch! I assumed it would come back and printed every day for about a week. The clog indications didn't return so I did a load of printing for a weeks worth of jobs then mothballed it (ie: let it sit for 10 days doing nothing). switched it on, chocolate -> sacrifice, closed eyes and tried another quality report...

... opened eyes.. All fine.. Picked self off floor and realised we had a winner. Since then I've kept at it and not had any problems despite the warm weather (which usually clogs pigments up).


So all in all I can recommend the ink and simply didn't bother looking at anything else. Photo quality is good, some bleeding between black on the cyan output but that's about the worst I could find. Paper feed works fine (unusual for an HP)...


The other lessons we've learned though.
1. The outlet ports on the cartridges can easily be FUBAR'd if you aren't careful (read: ink flowing all over desk experience) so a good adapter is a must and care when refilling via the outlet port.

Oh and for the love of all things Pete/holy/sanity-saving have kitchen/absorbent tower to hand when you refill and/or prime a cartridge... (see ink flow/desk experience!).

2. The printer will retain ink pressure monitoring even with compatible chips (if it will let them work at all) so you have some protection against air ingestion. The equivalent was available with HP88 systems if you used a kit with the bulb pump system intact on the carts.

3. Error messages aren't always "End of the world is NIGH!!" but more often than not related to ink running out, chips being soiled/dislodged or the usual "If you continue to use this compatible cr** your children will never pass their exams" type warnings.


As I said we have a vested interest and a system that's pending release which may or may not be suitable. There are DIY installs which are pretty reasonable if you want to go that route though and may suit you better if you're wanting to buy in large ink quantities.


Last thing I'd note though... Do not buy the lower priced Pro-X45x series... They're poorer quality IMHO... The 551dw is the sweet spot and I wouldn't bother with the MFD 576 with the scanner on top. Cheaper to buy a seperate scanner frankly.

Probably quite a bit to be going on with but hopefully useful...

 

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Oh and last thing... Bear in mind that these printers have a duty cycle that's not huge... You may want to factor in the cost of replacing them and if I were you, I'd seriously buy double the number of machines that you want to run at any one time.

HP are regularly running offers with cashback and trade-ins here in the UK so timing things to take advantage of those would be wise...

I suspect the limiting factor on these printers will be paper feed rather than printhead related but we're only around 20,000 prints into our 551dw so not in a position to judge.. Maybe someone else can help with that but likely to be on other more office-based forums... Oh and reviews on that score vary..

Some have had nothing but trouble, so keep that in mind...

 

[thanhhuy123]

I'm just curious that how HP x551dw is comparable to RISO 3110/7150/9150 printer? Those printers are also inkjet but seem to be able to handle an unbelievable volume of printing at an incredible speed (even higher than laser one). In what printing case do each of these products fit in well?

 

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I'm just curious that how HP x551dw is comparable to RISO 3110/7150/9150 printer? Those printers are also inkjet but seem to be able to handle an unbelievable volume of printing at an incredible speed (even higher than laser one). In what printing case do each of these products fit in well?

While the printhead technology might be similar you're not comparing like for like.

The key is in the duty cycle data:

X551dw
Duty Cycle = Up to 75,000 pages / month
RECOMMENDED MONTHLY page volume: Up to 1,000 to 4,200 pages
Refs

Riso ComColor 7150
Duty Cycle = 500,000 / Month
Refs

Whereas the RISO will undoubtedly have maintenance options, the Pro-X will be print, break, replace.

As an aside, predictably HP have brought out the new Pro-X range with the 980/981 cartridges.

 

[thanhhuy123]

Hi:
I am interested in buying an Hp officejet pro x551dw.
For many years I have used an officejet pro K8600dn and k5400dn. We originally bought 4 gallons of ink and have finally used up the gallon of black. We print heavy volumes.

The only problem we have had is replacing printheads every year and a half to two years.

I understand you are using an x series printer using aftermarket ink and either refillable carts or CIS?
What brand of ink have you successfully used?
I am concerned about this because of the pagewide printhead.
Have you experienced problems with the x series printhead?
Thanks
Tim

While the printhead technology might be similar you're not comparing like for like.

The key is in the duty cycle data:

X551dw
Duty Cycle = Up to 75,000 pages / month
RECOMMENDED MONTHLY page volume: Up to 1,000 to 4,200 pages
Refs

Riso ComColor 7150
Duty Cycle = 500,000 / Month
Refs

Whereas the RISO will undoubtedly have maintenance options, the Pro-X will be print, break, replace.

As an aside, predictably HP have brought out the new Pro-X range with the 980/981 cartridges.

So do you think for "heavy volume printing" (well, it also depends on what "heavy" means, and @Tim Reed has to based on his use, define it ), RISO printers are recommended compared to HP X series?

How about HP Officejet, but Enterprise X series instead of Pro X series? For example:
HP Officejet Enterprise Color X555 series

Somehow it seems to me that the 2 printers are designed toward totally different users and use cases: HP, though with its largest duty cycle and fastest speed printers, are more toward office use, while RISO seems more toward photocopy service house or printing press house.

To be honest, in Vietnam, I have never seen people use RISO printer in the office. I've only seen people use RISO digital duplicator to photocopy thousands of copies, not in office but in digital press house.

 

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I suspect you've answered your own question here... The difference in price for the Enterprise Pro-X series is likely to be as much down to the service plan that comes with the machines as the printers quality assurance testing they carry out on those models. HP printers are notorious for paper feed issues and the standard Pro-X models are no exception if you look at the X451dw reviews for example.

Whether RISO are better is something I can't begin to answer as I've not played with one in a very long time but I do know that for the corporate, medium to large business or even education establishments, the benefit of having a lease with service level agreement means it's likely to be more attractive and reliable (supposition on my part).

All in all, it takes well outside the remit of the DIY style community we have here but again that's just my opinion.