trouble with hp officejet pro 8620 and mac (OS X 10.10)

[al_in_SC]

Hi Folks,

I upgraded to osx 10.10 two days ago, and things seem to be working ok, so I bought a new printer as well.

It seems to work fine if connected to the computer via usb (is discovered and available), but when I connect the printer to my wifi network (and disconnect from usb), I cannot add the printer (using system preferences, printers and scanners, add (+)). I can only see my prior printer (an hp 5610), which is still attached via usb.

I have updated the firmware version of the printer, but that did not help.

Thanks,

Al

 ps

Last night I tried wiring the printer to my router via ethernet - still cannot see it on the Mac.

[Mrstenter]

Hi @Al_in_SC ,

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forums and Welcome. I have looked into your issue with the HP Officejet 8620 Printer not adding to your printers and scanners on your Mac 10.10 system. Here is a link to the software and drivers for the printer. This might help see it. 

The Mac should not be connect to a guest network as this will not let the printer print to it.

Here is a document to check the Network Settings. This will tell you if you are connected Wireless to the router. What is the Ip address?

Don't forget you can call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link to get the support number for your region. They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Thanks.

[al_in_SC]

Thanks for your note.

 I have tried what you suggested., but without being able to connect my mac with the printer via wifi (as follows).

I cleaned out my hp folders and downloaded new drivers and a new hp utility according to their directions.
This ends with the following message from HP Utility:

Device not reachable
The wireless network settings were successfully downloaded to your device. However your Mac was unable to locate the device on the network.
Please make sure that :
Your Mac is connected to a wired or wireless network that has access to your device
Your device is connected to the wireless network 'mynetwork'

On the homepage for my linksys router I can see that the printer is there:
Client Host Name                  IP Address        MAC Address     Expires
HPNNNNNN                          192.168.1.100  nnnnnnnnnnn   23:58:41

(I have used the 'n's  rather than the real numbers and 'mynetwork' rather than the real name.)

If I unplug the usb connection to the printer, I can try to add it wirelessly via system preferences, where the mac does not see it, but it is in the list of nearby printers. If I try this I get the message:

Alert
The software for this printer is currently unavailable. Please contact the printer's manufacturer for the latest software.

So - how do I tell if this is a system (os x) or HP problem? Is it just that the software is in the wrong place (or something simple like that)? 

Oh - one other thing - I was able to delete most of the files the troubleshooting page asked me to, but there are several which are hanging out in the trash which I cannot delete (because they are 'in use').

Thanks,
Al

[al_in_SC]

One further item -  after a little exploring, I found I could add my printer manually using the IP address to the HP utility.

The result is that I can now print a test page on the printer from the HP Utility, and see the status (etc.) of the printer as well, all wirelessly, but I still cannot add the printer to the mac (using system preferences).

Thanks,

Al

[al_in_SC · Accepted solution]

After some more research I was able to get the printer add to the computer wirelessly.

Seeing that the computer to router to printer path worked under the HP Utility software, I tried some other things in System Preferences, and was able to add the printer using the 'IP' option and inputting the ip address.

I'm not sure why the 'add - default' option was not able to see the printer, nor why 'add - ip' did not work when I input the host name for the printer.

I am a bit worried that using the ip addres is not the best solution, since this might change if the systems are powered down (?), but I'll face that when I encounter it.

Thanks to everyone for looking, and to mrstenter for her post on the issue.

[ws-fan]

I found another solution for those struggling to connect to the 8620 with OS X and iOS.

My Apple wifi router was the problem.

I had the exact same problems connecting my 8620 over wifi with my MacBook OS X 10.9 (and 10.10) with no connection or intermittent connection issues. After some tinkering with the settings I discovered that it was in fact my Airport Extreme. The wifi router was set to WPA2 authentication only. After changing to "WPA/WPA2 personal" the problems want away and my 8620 printer has never dropped the connection again. I did not have to set a static IP (just DHCP). 2.4GHz only (5GHz is disabled).

Strangely, the 8620 supports both WPA and WPA2 so the default settings should have worked.

[Hamlet345]

My problem is a bit different.  I have no problem printing with WIFI.  But when I try to scan I get the msessage that scanner is not available or not connected.  If i shut the printer off and then turn it on again, it works fine - but only until the next task when the same problem starts all over. 

[Thanksmuchly]

Outstanding! This solved it! Changing to the WPA/WPA2 setting on the Airport solved the problem for me. Thanks!

[Bigroaddriver]

This Totally fixed my Problem - Thanks!!

[Hamlet345]

I followed the advice of plugging the printer directly into a wall outlet.  The problem is improved but not resolved.  The only difference is instead of having the printer drop the connection almost daily, it now happens about once a month.  I have tried altering the security setting to WPA2 PLUS whatever else Netgear genie offers.  will see if it changes things.