business support - frequently asked questions

Getting started

1. What is the Business Support Center site?
2. Who should use the HP BSC site?
3. How do I find what I need on the HP BSC site?
4. Are there access requirements?

How to personalize your HP BSC experience (registration and log-in)

5. How can I personalize the site? Is registration and sign-in required?
6. What are the registration benefits?
7. What does "Sign-in using HP Passport" mean?
8. Will my registration information be private and secure?
9. Can I edit my profile once I have registered?
10. What if I forget my HP Passport ID?
11. What if I forget my password?

Making the most of the HP BSC (personalization)

12. What kinds of personalization features are available?
13. How does the site's personalized product tracking work?
14. How can I get a history of the drivers and software I have downloaded?
15. How can I view information about my recent support cases?
16. How can I find the recent documents that I have accessed?
17. How can the HP BSC help me keep track of my warranties that will expire soon?

Key feature details

Getting help from HP

25. What if I can't find the answer to my question on this website?
26. What do I do if I have a problem using the HP BSC site?

Other information about the HP BSC

27. Where can I find legal and privacy information?

1. What is the Business Support Center site?

HP's Business Support Center (HP BSC) is the portal of choice for business professionals who need fast answers to technical support questions for personal computing and printing products. At the HP BSC, you can quickly and cost-effectively self-solve computing and printing issues - right from your desktop. Available free of charge, the HP BSC helps you save time and money.

The HP BSC brings together at one site access to a wide range of support resources needed by business people. You can:

• Troubleshoot problems whenever you want to
• Quickly access software and drivers online
• Perform regular maintenance on your products
• Find information to discover, use, and upgrade your products
• Receive proactive notifications of information you need
• Easily contact HP via e-mail, phone, Web chat, or online case logging
• Access a worldwide community of peers and HP experts to share expertise and solve problems fast
• Take advantage of personalization features including:
  • My recent downloads
  • My recent support cases
  • My warranties that may expire soon
  • My recent documents

Plus, you can take advantage of many other resources to keep your products performing at their best, such as automated diagnostics, FAQ's, manuals, warranty information, parts information, and more. Instead of searching multiple websites, you can go directly to the HP BSC for technical support for desktops, workstations, servers, storage devices, printers, scanners, digital imaging, and mobile devices. With the HP BSC's task-based navigation, you can quickly identify the task area you wish to work on and discover related topics and tools. The HP BSC has the tools you need, anytime you need them.

2. Who should use the HP BSC site?

The HP BSC is useful to people with a variety of responsibilities and technical abilities. This includes people such as business users, telecommuters, owners of small and medium-size businesses, and IT staff. Whether you are a small business owner supporting your own PCs and printers, or you're an IT professional looking to support your end users, the HP BSC is a convenient and cost-effective tool to help keep your systems performing at their best.

For example, if you need to find a product or a driver and you are on the road, remote from your normal IT support, or you prefer to work on technical problems yourself, you're at the right place. Everything is right here, accessible by anyone at any time. So when problems do arise, you can fix them fast and be more productive.

The HP BSC offers busy people the tools to keep their business up and running. It saves time and money by providing one-stop access to relevant information and tools that aid in solving problems and proactively maintaining products.

3. How do I find what I need on the HP BSC site?

At the HP BSC, you can use the site's task-based navigation to quickly identify the task area you wish to work on and to discover related topics and tools. You can choose from key tasks, such as:

• Download drivers and software
• Troubleshoot a problem
• Check on the status of a warranty
• Upgrade or extend a warranty
• Setup, install, and configure
• Discover and use a product
• Perform regular maintenance
• Upgrade and migrate
• Recycle and dispose

Or, choose from self-help resources or collaborative resources for more tools or assistance from peers and HP experts. For more detail, click on the self-help resources or collaborative resources links on the left navigation bar for quick descriptions of these tools and how you can use them.

4. Are there access requirements?

The HP Business Support Center is available for use by anyone, at anytime. Generally, use of the site does not require any log-in or registration. You can simply choose the tasks you need for the products you are interested in. However, we encourage users to register to take advantage of the personalization features of the site.

There are selected services that will require you to register and provide additional information, as described below.

• Submit a Support Case - The online case logging service requires you to register with HP Passport and provide product information to log a hardware case.
• Business Support Forums - This online community of peers and HP experts provides a gathering place for sharing knowledge, best practices, and experience along with solving problems. You can discuss key topics, search a dynamic database for solutions, exchange best practices among your peers, and contribute your expertise to the online community. Any visitor to the Business Support Forums can search and read, but members will need to register to participate.

While it is infrequent, in some instances a search for troubleshooting information will lead you to a knowledge database within the HP IT Resource Center (ITRC), HP's support portal for IT professionals. The ITRC requires separate registration to access its knowledge database and other resources.

5. How can I personalize the site? Is registration and sign-in required?

To personalize your HP BSC experience, you will need to register and sign-in. Although registration is not required to use the site, registering on the HP BSC allows many personalization benefits that will save you time and help you track the status of your HP products.

6. What are the registration benefits?

After you register and sign-in, your HP BSC session will be fully personalized, which will enable you to:

• Maintain a list of the products you have viewed on the site, as well as the warranty status and serial numbers (for products you have checked for warranty status)
• Track your download and recently read documents histories
  • Bookmark your favorite documents for easy access
  • Easy access to view your previous driver downloads
• Maintain a list of your support cases
• Customize communication alerts for newer drivers
• Maintain warranty information for your products

After you have signed-in, your personalized information will be shown on the right side navigation bar for quick access.

7. What does "Sign-in using HP Passport" mean?

HP Passport is a web-based application that will allow you to create a web profile that simplifies navigation through many of HP's websites by:

• Utilizing a single user name and password (of your choice) to store personal profile information
• Providing access to a rich array of electronic support services (e.g., knowledge bases, online support tracking, etc.)
• Information you have provided HP in prior sessions will be remembered, eliminating the need to repeatedly enter the same information

With HP Passport, once you have registered and signed-in, you are authenticated as a registered user across other sections of hp.com that use the common HP Passport registration process. Once you sign-in, you will not need to sign-in again when you move to other areas on hp.com that utilize HP Passport.

8. Will my registration information be private and secure?

HP takes privacy very seriously. When you register, you will be asked if you would like to receive occasional information on products, services and/or support that may be relevant to you. HP will keep your information secure and will not contact you unless you want us to. For more information on HP's Privacy Policy, click here.

9. Can I edit my profile once I have registered?

Yes! You can edit your HP Passport profile information such as:

• Change sign-in and other personal information
• Change user ID
• Change password

You may also edit your HP BSC profile information such as:

• View or modify my product list
• View or modify my software and driver downloads
• View or modify my document list
• View or modify my warranties
• View or modify my support cases

10. What if I forget my HP Passport ID?

If you have forgotten your HP Passport user ID, you can have HP Passport retrieve it from the database. Simply follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Forgot user ID" link on the HP Passport sign-in, registration, or forgot password pages.
2. Enter your first name, last name, and e-mail address.
3. If your HPP user ID is found, you will be presented with a Sign-in form with the User ID displayed, all you need to do is enter your password and submit.

11. What if I forget my password?

If you have forgotten your HP Passport password, you will need to choose a new one. Simply follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Forgot my Password" link on the sign-in page or registration page.
2. Enter your user ID and e-mail address. Your email address can be used as your user ID.
3. You will receive an e-mail message from HP containing a Web hyperlink that authorizes you to change your password. Click the hyperlink in the e-mail message to begin the process.
4. You will be prompted to enter your user ID again, and then enter a new password.

12. What kinds of personalization features are available?

The HP BSC has personalization features that are available to you when you register and log on to the site. The personalization features let you save important product, warranty, support and other information-saving you time and making it easier for you to track and support your HP products.

Once you register and log-in, you will have access to many time-saving personalization features. After logging in, you will be able to view personalized content on the Right Side Bar in the section entitled My support activities, including:

• My recent downloads
• My recent support cases
• My warranties that may expire soon
• My recent documents

For registered users, when you search for information about your products, the HP BSC keeps track of your list of products. This lets you refer to your product list for future reference and quicker access to the product information you need.

13. How does the site's personalized product tracking work?

After logging in, when you search for a product on the HP BSC homepage or the Download drivers and software page, your product will automatically be saved in your product list. If you have not logged in, your selected product will only be "in focus" throughout your navigation of the site, or until you either leave the site or choose another product. If you register and log in, then all products that you have looked at will be saved in your product list for future reference. You can delete products from your product list on the Products page or by choosing Remove this product from my list.

14. How can I get a history of the drivers and software I have downloaded?

After registering and logging in to the HP BSC, a history of the drivers and other software you download will be tracked and saved in My recent downloads. This download history is helpful to remember what versions of the drivers and software you have downloaded.

The most recent three downloads will be shown under My recent downloads. When you click the View all link under My recent downloads, a complete list of the drivers and software you have downloaded will be displayed. When you view the complete list, you can also view a description of the driver or software item, its release date , its version, its file size, and the date you downloaded it.

15. How can I view information about my recent support cases?

When you log in to the HP BSC and submit online support cases, those cases will be saved and updated in My recent support cases. My recent support cases gives you quick links to more detailed information about your recent support cases. When you or an HP support agent updates your support case, that information will be stored in your support case history. Support case histories can be viewed at any time when you log in to the HP BSC.

16. How can I find the recent documents that I have accessed?

When you find helpful support documents such as answers to support questions, new features, read me files, etc. you may save them for future reference by simply clicking the Add to my list button at the top of any reference document. Links to these documents will then be saved in your My documents list. These documents can be easily and quickly retrieved using the My recent documents link on the HP BSC right-side bar. The most recent three will be shown in the list and the link to View all will present all of your favorite documents.

17. How can the HP BSC help me keep track of my warranties that will expire soon?

When you log in to the HP BSC and check the warranty expiration dates for a product, the serial numbers you enter will be saved and the expiration dates will be tracked. When a warranty service for a saved serial number is within 90 days of expiring, the serial number will be displayed under My warranties that may expire soon, on the right side bar. Up to three serial numbers will be listed. When you click one of the serial numbers, the summary of the warranty details for that serial number will be displayed. When you click on View all, a complete list all serial numbers with a warranty service that may expire soon will be shown.

When you check the warranty expiration dates for a product, you are given an opportunity to assign a "nickname" to the serial number, product number and country of purchase that you enter for the product. When you assign a nickname, the next time you want to check the warranty dates for that product, you will not need to enter the serial number/product number/country information, but would instead select the nickname you assigned and the serial number/product number/country information will be automatically entered for you. Additionally, this nickname will be used under My warranties that may expire soon to make it easier to recognize your products with a warranty that may expire soon.

You can use any alpha-numeric characters for a nickname. For example, a nickname could be something like, "John Doe’s PC - Denver Lab". There is currently no size limit for the nickname; however, longer nicknames may be truncated when displayed in some areas of the site.

HP Care Pack Services extend your standard warranty with easy-to-buy, easy-to-use support packages. For many products, post-warranty HP Care Pack Services are available when your original warranty has expired. During your warranty experience on HP BSC, you'll now see links to find and order warranty extension/upgrade services and post-warranty services. If your warranty has expired, you can click on Post Warranty Care Pack to purchase a Care Pack service. If your warranty, is active but will expire soon, you can click on extend it now to purchase an extension. (Note: Purchase options vary by country.)

18. How can I get a release history of a software or driver item?

When downloading drivers you have access to the revision histories for those drivers and software items. When the list of drivers and software is displayed for the product you've identified, the title of each driver and software item is a link to a description of that item. From that description, there will be a Revision History tab that when clicked, will display the revision history for the item. The revision history will list each version of the driver or software item, along with the release dates. Some revision histories will also provide some information about what fixes or enhancements were implemented from the previous version of the driver or software item.

19. How can I get notified of new drivers or support alerts, or find out if my printer drivers need to be updated?

When downloading drivers, you will see a section called Useful links. This section provides several driver-related links to help you get the information you need-and other information you may not have known about, such as how to subscribe to driver and support alerts and how to run a tool to automatically check to see if your printer drivers need updating. The Useful links will apply to the specific product you have in focus (in some instances the automatic check for driver updates may not apply to some products).

20. How can I submit and track support cases online?

Support Case Manager Professional Edition allows you to submit hardware questions directly to the HP Solution Center. Select "submit a support case" to log a support case online. By logging a case, you get expert technical guidance as well as a viewable history of the problem from submission through to solution.

Support Case Manager supplies a form on which you describe a problem and give us contact information. A prequalification process routes your case to the engineer best qualified to answer your question. You get the added benefit of viewing the status of each question you submit on the Case Summary page.

21. How can I get a summary of my warranty information?

When you enter and submit your serial number and product number using the Warranty lookup tool, the Warranty lookup results page will be displayed with a summary of the warranty details. When you click the View Details button, the more detailed information about the warranty will be displayed.

22. How do I extend/upgrade my warranties?

HP Care Pack Services extend your standard warranty with easy-to-buy, easy-to-use support packages. For many products, post-warranty HP Care Pack Services are available when your original warranty has expired. During your warranty experience on HP BSC, you'll see links to find and order warranty extension/upgrade services and post-warranty services. From the warranty information page, you can click on the Warranty upgrades and extensions links to learn more about available extensions and to order these services. (Note: Purchase options vary by country.)

Use the Warranty link in the Left Side Navigation Bar to check if your product's warranty is active or expired.

23. How do the Business Support Forums work?

This online community of peers and HP experts provides a gathering place for sharing knowledge, best practices, and experience, along with solving problems. You can discuss key topics, search a dynamic database for solutions, exchange best practices among your peers, and contribute your expertise to the online community.

The forums cover more than 35 content categories covering desktops and workstations, mobile products, printing and digital imaging, servers, storage, and other business-related areas. Any visitor to the Business Support Forums can search and read, but members will need to register to participate. Community members can also subscribe to personalized e-mail notifications based on areas of interest and be automatically notified of replies to questions and new message threads.

24. How can I search for solutions in the Business Support Forums?

To find answers in the Business Support Forums, you can either interact with other professionals in the online community, or use the searchable database of knowledge, best practices, and experience.

To post a question, you first must locate the correct discussion area first. Go to the Support Forums home page and select a relevant "family"area. You will be directed to a page that includes a host of sub-categories. Select a category that best fits your question or topic. To create your message, click the "create new thread" button. A message creation screen will appear. Enter a subject line - this will be the title of your message. Compose your text in the text box, attach any files you wish to include, and then click the "submit" button. You can also click the "preview"button to see what the message will appear like in the forum.

You can perform a general search of all Support Forums areas by entering a keyword into the search box located at the top of every Support Forums page and clicking the "go" arrows. The default selection is to search the Business Support Center Support Forums. The database contains more than 300,000 discussion threads, including direct advice and in-depth discussion threads with solutions to a wide range of computing and printing issues.

25. What if I can't find the answer to my question on this website?

If an answer to a question or problem is not available, use the contact hp option in the left navigation bar on any page. Select a self-help resource or a contact mode and follow the directions. For example, you may find an answer using the forums, the site map, or online help.

When you need further guidance, you can choose from several options to contact hp and select the option that best suits your needs.

• Web Chat with HP Experts with Instant Support Professional Edition (ISPE) Active Chat - Choose "chat with an HP support expert" to access the "Active Chat" feature. When you submit a question or description of your problem, HP ISPE will gather information from your computer or printer to assist the HP Support expert when they respond online to help with your problem.
• Submit a Web Case Online - Select "submit a support case" to log a support case online. By logging a case, you get expert technical guidance as well as a viewable history of the problem from submission through to solution.
• Email - To submit a question via email, simply fill out the easy-to-use web form to provide the HP support experts with the pertinent data needed to answer your question. The HP support engineer will reply with email, providing a rapid detailed response.

As appropriate, indicate the task you were performing, the steps you were able to complete, and describe the problem to provide important information for the HP support engineer to assist you in solving the problem.

26. What do I do if I have a problem using the HP BSC site?

In general, follow these steps if some difficulty arises while using HP BSC:

1. Verify the data you have entered (for example, product number, serial number) are correct.
2. If a help facility is available, see if the help instructions provide a solution.
3. If you are still having difficulty, use the "contact hp" option in the left navigation bar for further assistance. Select the self-help or contact option that best suits your needs. (See what if I can't find the answer to my question on this website? above to prepare to contact HP.)

27. Where can I find legal and privacy information?

The Business Support Center is governed by HP Terms of Use policies. (You also may access to these terms from the Legal Notices link in the footer of any page in the HP BSC.) When you purchase a given product or service, additional terms also may apply. These terms will be available before you purchase any item.

The HP BSC fully subscribes to the principles and processes set forth in HP's privacy statement.