F4580 unable to connect by wireless: "Failed to retrieve IP" [ Edited ]

[euroskip]

Hi there,

I live in France, hence the F4580 and am trying to connect wirelessly.  The printer works great when connected via USB, but I cannot get it to work wirelessly, HP Setup Assistant gives me:

IP address: Failed to retrieve IP

Subnet Mask: Failed to retrieve IP

Default Gateway: Failed to retrieve IP

Preferred DNS Server: Failed to retrieve IP

Alternate DNS Server: Failed to retrieve IP

I am using a MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard on an Orange Livebox ISP. I've seen some related issues around, but none exactly what I have with the same setup.

Mac Address filtering: a possibility, but other laptops are able to connect to this wireless with the security key with no problem. similar here: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-networking-and-wireless/Wireless-set-up-HP-F4580-vs-Orange-Live... but also seems to be PC

Orange Livebox issue: issue mentioned here: http://livebox.tomhallam.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-install-a-printer-to-your-livebox-liveprinter.html but that seems to be for a PC

Snow Leopard issue: is the software not compatible for SL? I see this: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-networking-and-wireless/C4780-Snow-Leopard-Airport/m-p/174198/h... but that's a different printer model

Questions:

How do I find my printer's IP address?

How do I find my printer's MAC address?

How do I print my Network Config page?

Any ideas out there?  Any help is much appreciated.

[PrintDoc]

Find your printer's info by holding the Scan button for 2 seconds and reading the print-out.

You do NOT want to use MAC address filtering!  It is not secure and will make adding the printer very difficult.

If you are using Snow Leopard, make sure you do not have the software for 10.5 loaded (like from the printer CD or something).  If you do remove it:

Go to Applications/Hewlett Packard/ click on HP Uninstaller
Click on Continue
Highlight your device on the left pane
Hold the Ctrl, Opt and Cmd keys and click on Uninstall
There will be a pop up that asks if you are sure you want to uninstall ALL hp software. (At this point, if you continue, any HP printers you have installed will need to be reinstalled)
Click Continue and let it finish

Now, run a Software Update.

You do not need the software now since Snow Leopard has both print & scan drivers built-in to Snow Leopard.

Finally, your Orange LiveBox is a DSL modem/router.  It has some special installation considerations:

Sometimes DSL providers have more control over the router than the printer likes.

- Unplug the telephone line from the router
- Turn the power off on the router, wait 30 seconds, then turn the power back on.
- Go through the normal process of connecting the printer to the device.
- Now find the IP address of the printer (it should be on the self-test printout), type it into a browser.
- On that screen you will find a Networking Tab, then on the left Wireless, 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). If you know what that is, set an IP outside that range but no higher than 254 (the last number in the address).
- Use 255.255.255.0 for the subnet (unless you know it is different, if so, use that)
- Leave the gateway and DNS blank
- Finally, plug in the phone line, reboot the router and test.

[euroskip]

Hi PrintDoc,

just a few questions before moving forward, as i saw this posted before, but didn't think it was appropriate for my situation:

- i uninstalled, but did not hold down the keys while doing so, is that a problem?

- when you say "- Go through the normal process of connecting the printer to the device." do you mean to the computer or to the router?  because my goal is not to have this printer hooked up to either.

- "- On this screen you want to set a Manual IP." how can i figure out what the normal DHCP range is and what IP to manually set to?

- Also, I am doing this on the French Orange site, so some of it is a bit different.  I don't have an IPv4 tab, I have: DHCP (where I can add a static IP address), NAT/PAT (where i can set rules by specifying ports or port ranges for applications), DNS (i don't think this is right), UPnP (Universal Plug n Play, can't add anything here), DynDNS (dynamic DNS), DMZ (where I can add equipment by Mac and IP address).  any thoughts?

thanks,

-A

[PrintDoc]

Uninstalling with the two keys not held down is fine, it is just not a complete uninstall.  If there are problems later we can come back and do that.

Go through the normal process means do whatever you do to connect the printer to the router.  I thought that is what you want to do.

Go ahead and add a static IP address on the French Orange site if it is easy for you.  The best thing to do is to pick an IP address that is NOT in the range that the DHCP serves.  The DHCP range should be in there somewhere.  Alternatively, you can RESERVE an IP address within the range that the DHCP serves.  Sounds like you may need some more help, here. Please ask or attach some screen shots?

[euroskip]

just wondering if the static IP is to force the wi-fi to a static IP instead of the dynamic, no?

here's a screen grab of what that looks like:

here are some grabs of what might contain the IP range:

thanks,

-A

[PrintDoc]

Great!  Thanks for the screen shots.  A picture is worth a thousand words (who said that?).

On the first page it says 'Debut de la plage DHCP 192.168.1.10' and then 'Fin de la plage 192.168.1.150'  That means that when the routers' DHCP service issues IP addresses to connected devices it issues them only in this range.  So, if you want to set your printer to a static IP address that cannot be changed by DHCP, you set it outside that range.

Let's pick 192.168.1.155 (or something outside 10-150, but not 1 or >254).  From your screen shot you will also need the MAC address of the printer to set the static IP.  That can be found on a self-test page from the printer.

My french is better than I thought

[euroskip]

I'm impressed with your French too.

We've got a few small snags now:

1. when going to add a static IP address, i have to select from a dropdown menu of items w/ MAC addresses.  the printer is not to be found, see here:

2. The printer can be found by my computer, but will not let me scan/print/modify settings. Perhaps it was not fully uninstalled?  I was trying to scan the Network Config Page for the next issue.

3. There is not IP address listed on the Network Page... should their be or that will come when we assign one manually to the MAC address of the printer? see the print results (had to scan with my other scanner):

Just a note off of your original posting.  You said to get the IP address of the printer from the net. config. page, then use that in a browser to configure settings, but I don't have a printer address and I am using the IP address for the router to configure.

Should i hook the printer up directly to the router to get it to register with Livebox, then give it a static IP?  Man, I thought these wireless printers were supposed to be easy to setup.

thanks for your help,

-A

*** UPDATE ***

I fetched software updates and there was an HP drivers update to download.  That got the printer working normally. That's correct software, right?

[PrintDoc]

So with your software update, are we done?  Can you set a static IP address now?

[euroskip]

nope, sorry, what i meant was that it's working normally when USB connected.  i can't set the manual IP because the Livebox can only add a static IP address to something it has already "seen" so that it appears on the drop-down menu.

does that network config printout tell you anything new?

-A

[PrintDoc]

Thanks again for the screenshot/scan.  It tells me that the connection failed on security (like it had the wrong security code).

At this point, let's restart and  follow the directions in my first post starting at "Finally, your Orange LiveBox is a DSL modem/router.  It has some special installation considerations:"  It should really work.....