6500A Plus will not wake up

[marktboulder]

After some time of being idle, the printer will not respond to my Mac when I attempt to print, and I HAVE disabled the sleep mode on the printer.  This happens in wired or wireless mode.  If I wake it up by using front panel controls it still will not communicate with the computer.  At this point I try to turn off the printer.

When I attempt to turn OFF the printer since my Mac can't wake it up (even with sleep mode off) it spends a very long time (outrageously long) with the HP logo on the screen, then eventually comes up with the front panel flashing all indicators and saying to power off and back on.  

Is there any fix for this problem, or is it just an undocumented and very annoying "feature"????

Once I get to this point, it usually will respond (the time it takes to get here seems to be variable and extremely long).  At that point, I can print as long as enough time hasn't gone by to re-create the initial wake-up problem.  With my PC (XP) if I wake the printer up by hitting front panel buttons, I can then print no matter how long the printer has been idle.  With the Mac (OSX) once it won't talk to the printer, it won't talk to the printer, and at that point, what's the point of having a printer anyway?

I'm very close to just returning the **bleep** product, and smearing it in as many forums as I can.  With no fixes to this, it just appears that HP has stopped actually testing equipment before marketing it.  As a former HP employee, I'm more disgusted than disappointed.  It's disheartening when a company fails at doing things that were its bread and butter, and that helped make it famous and give it status to begin with.

[PrintDoc]

Let's set a static IP address for the printer:

- Print a Network Config Page from the front of the printer. Note the printer's IP address.
- Type that IP address into a browser to reveal the printer's internal settings.
- Choose the Networking tab, then Wireless along the left side, then the IPv4 tab.
- On this screen you want to set a Manual IP. You need to set an IP address outside the range that the router automatically sets (called the DHCP range). You can find the DHCP range of the router using its internal settings page or in its manual. Use the CD that came with your router or type the router's IP address (ends in .1) into a browser.
- Use 255.255.255.0 for the subnet (unless you know it is different, if so, use that)
- Enter your router's IP (on the Network Config Page) for the gateway and first DNS. Leave the second one blank.
- Click 'Apply'.

Now, shut down the router and printer, start the router, wait, then start the printer.

After this you may need to redo 'Add a Printer' using the new IP address.

[marktboulder]

No router, not being used as a network printer.  This happens either hardwired to the printer (via USB) or wireless using ad-hoc.  Is the implication that even set up this way that somehow the printer is changing IP addresses automatically (without a router assigning it) and the computer then can't find it because it's using the wrong IP address?  I would think that the default, in the lack of an assignment, would be the same address it starts with?

Why does this happen even though the "hibernate" mode is supposedly disabled?

If so, why does it do this with OS-X and not with Windows?  

Given that there's no router and no network involved, what would a recommended IP address be to use as the default for the printer?

Any information about the problem where the printer will not power down when the power button is hit, and instead goes into some type of trance to come up blinking all indicators and saying "Power off and back on"????

Thanks for any insight.

Mark

[marktboulder]

Oh, and by the way, when I print the network configuration page from the printer, there is no IP address specified for the printer.  It's in Adhoc mode. 

The URL for Embedded Web Server is http://0.0.0.0

[PrintDoc]

Oh, OK, USB and ad hoc only.  0.0.0.0 makes sense without a router.  It should have a 169.254.X.X IP when connected with ad hoc.

Have you loaded this firmware update?: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=mp-94640-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&...

[marktboulder]

I HAVE downloaded the latest firmware update and installed it.  Did that a couple of weeks ago, thought that that would help, but alas....

I did find a different setup page that did document the 169.254.x.x IP address.  Will THAT change if the printer "snoozes"?  Could that be what's causing the problem?  Since I have the power saver mode turned off, I don't think this should be happening, but there's definitely a time component to it.

Do Ad hocs time out at all and need refreshing, or something like that?

Other thoughts??  This seems to be an ongoing problem people have been having, and I have yet to see a documented fix for it, or an official statement from HP concerning this problem.

[PrintDoc]

There is no timeout for ad hoc (unless your computer sleeps, in which case it probably disconnects).  For USB its the same thing.

Go to System Preferences > Energy Saver and put your computer sleep to 'Never' and see if it changes.

Honestly, I think this is a firmware bug.

[marktboulder]

Thanks for the information.  I was thinking it was a firmware bug, too.  What doesn't make sense to me is that the firmware appears to work differently with the mac than the PC.  THAT makes me think it may be a driver issue, or a driver/firmware interface issue, and the Mac driver doesn't play nice with the firmware.

On the PC, I still have to get it's attention with the front panel, but then I can make it print just fine, no matter how long it's been idle.

Hopefully the HP folks who actually work on this product monitor this board and may realize that there's a significant product usability issue here that isn't going away, and that kind of gives HP printers a black eye.