Read This If Your Mac Uses Hp Scanner Software

[rogerdee123]

Some of you who are using HP Scanners may already know this issue/solution but perhaps not ....

I just solved a nagging problem with my MacBook Pro and thought I'd share this info in case anyone else has similar problems.

The battery life on my MacBook Pro went way down some months ago. I thought the battery was dying and bought a new one however there was no improvement. Also another irritation has been that the heat coming off the MacBook Pro was high enough to make it uncomfortable in my lap.

Yesterday I checked out my Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities) for the first time in a couple of years and I saw that my CPU was maxed out. The culprit was "HP Shortcut Manager Startup". I googled this program and discovered that this is a fairly common problem among Mac users worldwide. The HP programmers were sloppy in writing the code for HP Scanner software.

The HP Scanner software loads at startup and then CONTINUOUSLY checks your HP scanner to see if you've pressed any of the "shortcut buttons" on the scanner (i.e. the hardware buttons on the scanner lid). It does this whether you are using the scanner or not and even when you aren't connected to a scanner. If you have HP scanner software installed, it's constantly looking for these hardware buttons and it maxes out your CPU, draining the battery of the laptop in a couple of hours, keeping the computer hot, and generally slowing down things.

The solution for this problem is:

1- Remove (delete) "HP Shortcut Manager Startup" from your login items (System Preferences/Accounts/Administrator/Login Items)

2- Restart your computer

2- Open your hard disk and go to (Library/Application Support/ Hewlett-Packard/HP ScanJet Scanner) and delete "HP Shortcut Manager Startup".

Everything should (continue to) work normally as usual regarding using your HP Scanner.

From what I read on the internet, HP has been aware of this problem in their scanner software for Mac OS since early 2010 but have yet to fix the problem and current HP Scanners you buy today still contain this bug.

I discovered that some Mac Users won't use HP software (or HP hardware) at all because of sloppy programming for Mac OS. An alternative scanner software for HP and other scanners is VueScan, a shareware program easily found on the net.

This experience also reminds me how important it is to check out my Activity Monitor every so often to see what programs are accessing my CPU.

Anyway this solved my main issue with my MacBook Pro and I occasionally see complaints about heat and battery life on the web .... so I thought I would share this bit of trivia in case any TV members are experiencing similar problems.

[Jimi007]

I'll have to check that out. Is it on a stand alone scanner or an all in one? I have an HP all in one, but I never turn it on or connect it unless I'm using it. I just did have a battery issue though. My battery was heating up and swelling. Enough so that the track pad wouldn't work right. I called Apple care and they gave me a phone number and address for an authorized repair place in Phuket. I called them, gave them my case number and serial number and they said bring in you computer for a system check. They didn't find anything wrong with it, other than the battery being swollen and they will order me a new battery and ship it to my house all free of charge. I'm still under the extended Apple Care warranty...

[rogerdee123]

I'll have to check that out. Is it on a stand alone scanner or an all in one? I have an HP all in one, but I never turn it on or connect it unless I'm using it. I just did have a battery issue though. My battery was heating up and swelling. Enough so that the track pad wouldn't work right. I called Apple care and they gave me a phone number and address for an authorized repair place in Phuket. I called them, gave them my case number and serial number and they said bring in you computer for a system check. They didn't find anything wrong with it, other than the battery being swollen and they will order me a new battery and ship it to my house all free of charge. I'm still under the extended Apple Care warranty...

My HP Scanner is a G4010 model. Stand alone scanner. Not an all in one. But I highly recommend you open your Activity Monitor (in your utilities folder) and look and see what percentage of your CPU is being used when your computer is idle and keep an eye on CPU usage for about 5 minutes. If it's the bad HP scanner software, it doesn't matter if you are connected to your scanner or not .... it will constantly access your CPU.

Yes there was a problem with Apple batteries (from one of their suppliers in China) in the MacBook Pro's a couple of years ago. I think the 2007 or 2008 models. Apple was replacing the bad batteries free of charge for that particular model. I also got a free battery replacement (in Bangkok!) from that experience. But I think the free replacement offer was within a one-year time frame only, which has passed already.

[negreanu]

It's not really over-heating. Over heating the laptop shuts itself down you would be looking at 105c-120c CPU model dependent on a macbook pro to be overheating.

[Jimi007]

I'll have to check that out. Is it on a stand alone scanner or an all in one? I have an HP all in one, but I never turn it on or connect it unless I'm using it. I just did have a battery issue though. My battery was heating up and swelling. Enough so that the track pad wouldn't work right. I called Apple care and they gave me a phone number and address for an authorized repair place in Phuket. I called them, gave them my case number and serial number and they said bring in you computer for a system check. They didn't find anything wrong with it, other than the battery being swollen and they will order me a new battery and ship it to my house all free of charge. I'm still under the extended Apple Care warranty...

My HP Scanner is a G4010 model. Stand alone scanner. Not an all in one. But I highly recommend you open your Activity Monitor (in your utilities folder) and look and see what percentage of your CPU is being used when your computer is idle and keep an eye on CPU usage for about 5 minutes. If it's the bad HP scanner software, it doesn't matter if you are connected to your scanner or not .... it will constantly access your CPU.

Yes there was a problem with Apple batteries (from one of their suppliers in China) in the MacBook Pro's a couple of years ago. I think the 2007 or 2008 models. Apple was replacing the bad batteries free of charge for that particular model. I also got a free battery replacement (in Bangkok!) from that experience. But I think the free replacement offer was within a one-year time frame only, which has passed already.

Yeah mine is a late 2008 manufacture date with the battery from China. But as I said they are replacing it for free, it's still under Apple Care. I looked at my activity monitor, which I hadn't done in years! I've had Apples since 1995. It says between 85% to 91% idle. And that's with it downloading bit torrents at around 800 KBps and several programs open. It must be different software for the scanner and the all in one. I do have two old stand alone HP scanners, but they're OS 9 units... No upates to OS X are available, but still work fine with my older machines.

[Jimi007]

It's not really over-heating. Over heating the laptop shuts itself down you would be looking at 105c-120c CPU model dependent on a macbook pro to be overheating.

The CPU wasn't overheating, the fans only come on when I'm encoding video files. But the battery was a bit hot, even when the battery was fully charged.

[prepress]

Thanks 'rogerdee123' for your detailed information and how to solved it. Just read it today.

Good that members contribute their experiences and solutions to this forum.

[321Rich]

OP, your first mistake was purchasing a HP Scanner but we don't need to go there. Good luck.

[rogerdee123]

OP, your first mistake was purchasing a HP Scanner but we don't need to go there. Good luck.

Yes indeed. Which scanner would you recommend for a Mac user?

The Epson scanners I looked at didn't come with Mac drivers. But of course there is always Vuescan And the bottom line is, drivers have kind of become unnecessary for most Mac accessories.

The HP driver for Macs is WORSE than no driver ...

[321Rich]

OP, your first mistake was purchasing a HP Scanner but we don't need to go there. Good luck.

Yes indeed. Which scanner would you recommend for a Mac user?

The Epson scanners I looked at didn't come with Mac drivers. But of course there is always Vuescan And the bottom line is, drivers have kind of become unnecessary for most Mac accessories.

The HP driver for Macs is WORSE than no driver ...

Epson and Apple computer had an excellent relationship. You can go online and download tons of Epson Drivers and scanners for every machine they have made in recent years - even ones discontinued long ago. Pair up an Epson Photo Printer with official Epson paper and you get brilliant prints that last over 100 years. On the other hand, get the most expensive Epson Printer and use HP paper or some other brand and the resulting print will be a POS.