HP Office Jet 4650 Driver Unavailable Issue

What exactly is a printer driver?

A printer driver is a type of software that is responsible for communication between the computer and the printer. It relays information in such a way that the printer understands its form and then helps the device create an output. The drivers also serve the special purpose of letting applications print immaterial of the model the printing device belongs to. But HP comes with its set of drivers that are full-feature drivers that are best-suited for operation. Typically, different operating systems use varied drivers.

Operating Systems

The printers’ operating system is not similar to any of the computer OS. In turn, the printer drivers are specially designed to suit these platforms. Hence, it is extremely important that the drivers are installed and work well on every computer to enable printing. And that is also why you might face the HP Office Jet 4650 driver unavailable problem.

Software or drivers

There is a definitely a marked difference between a printer software and a printer driver. But this difference often melts away because they are fairly closely related. While the software is meant to provide enhanced features, the driver is a communication or translation tool. But most of the time, as the case is true with the HP Office Jet 4650 driver, they are often installed together. With only the driver installed the OS may work well. But the software does not work well without driver installation.

The driver is unavailable

So, what happens when you get the HP OfficeJet 4650 driver unavailable message?

If you have already been using your 4650 printer over the wireless and it has suddenly stopped working then you will the ‘driver is unavailable’ message. While you may have the basic software installed, may be the printer and computer will work best if you have the full-feature driver installed.

Install the driver

You can find the full feature driver for your product on the manufacturer’s website itself. You can automatically update your software and drivers with the help of the HP Support Assistant.

There are other troubleshooting methods you can resort to:

Hard Reset

• First, perform a ‘Hard Reset’ on the HP 4650.
• You just have to turn it on, wait for it to get silent and then disconnect the USB cable.
• Leaving the network connection on is not a big problem.
• Then take out the ink cartridges and disconnect the power to the printer even when it is on.
• After this wait for a while and then power it back again.
• There is a small warm-up period before the printer is ready for printing again.
• Wait for the printer to stay noiseless after it has completed its initialization.
• Once the carriage has stopped you can open it and reinsert the ink cartridges.
• Print the calibration page if the printer is prompting you to do so.

If the error seems unresolved

Finally, you can execute the HP Print and Scan Doctor to identify the ‘HP Office Jet 4650 driver unavailable’ issue and create a print.

Resetting the PC

• On your PC, you can go to the ‘Start’ button, and under ‘Devices and Printers’ click on ‘Print Server Properties’.
• Remove the driver that you wish to take out from under the ‘Drivers’ tab; for this you just have to click ‘Remove’ against it.
• Then go to HP’s website to reinstall it.