HP 3050 will not stay on the wireless network for more than a few minutes at a time.

[HoLiCao]

My HP DeskJet 3050 J610 is constantly dropping the wireless connection. It won't stay on for more than a few minutes. If I power cycle, it comes right back on, but drops again after a few minutes. It will print fine from a USB. When it drops off, pings time out even though the device shows "ready" in Windows 7, Windows XP and OSX. I've done everything HP suggests - static IP, upgraded firmware, diagnostic tools, etc. I am out of options.

I can hit print right now, printer shows as ready, then I will get a print error. If I go over and power cycle the printer, my document will print - most of the time. It will remain on the network for a few minutes, then stop working. As soon as I power cycle it, I get a few more minutes before it drops. It has always done this from day one.

[pcwizard]

Hi HoLiCao,

It sounds like you have done a lot of troubleshooting on this issue. One thing I am curious to find out is if the printer did the same thing on a different network.

Do you have a friend or family member who would allow you to test the printer on their network?

What is the make and model of your wireless router?

Have you tried changing the channel on the router?

[HoLiCao]

I don't have another wireless network close by that I could test it on. I'm a little isolated. i might be able to work out a time when I could take it by a friend's house, but he's over an hour away.

I have a Win 7 laptop, a Win XP desktop and an old Mac Powerbook as well as an iPod Touch and iPad 3 that use my wireless network without any problems - besides the fact that hardly any of my devices will talk to the other... But that's an OS issue. They all see the network, and the printer after I cycle the power on it.

My wireless router is a Netgear WNR2000. I remember monkeying with the channels when I frist got this printer a few months ago, but I don't remember what all I did. Since I did a firmware update on the router, the channel is now set to Auto. If there's a channel you think I should try, let me know what it is. The printer shows up on the list of devices in the router, but that may be because I have its address reserved for the static IP. Interestingly, the router sees the printer, even though my devices cannot. I did a ping just now while checking that, and got this - which is unusual. Normally they all time out.

Pinging 192.168.1.150 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=32 time=3223ms TTL=255
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.150:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 3223ms, Maximum = 3223ms, Average = 3223ms

Played around a bit more pinging between devices and got this oddity - without a power cycle just a couple minutes later.

ping 192.168.1.150 -n 50 -l 500

Pinging 192.168.1.150 with 500 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=527ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=12ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=21ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=21ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=22ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=22ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=9ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.150:
    Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 527ms, Average = 26ms

Is there a possibility that the printer is going into a standby state and having trouble waking when traffic hits? I don't know if that's possible, just seems like it looking at this.

[pcwizard]

Hi HoLiCao,

The main reason for testing on a different network is to isolate a hardware failure with the printer. You can try channel 6 or 11 depending on what the router is set to right now.

[HoLiCao]

Yeah, I got that. i'll work on it. What do you make of the weirdness with the ping?

[pcwizard]

Hi HoLiCao,

It seems like you have a communication lose between the router and printer.