HP Officejet 6500A Plus - E710n, loses wireless connection

[M_B_75]

• using Mac OS X 10.7.3
• installed using a usb cable
• when the printer is switched on, it is available for few second (I'm able to print/scan a single time), then it becomes unavailable
• even if the printer is unavailable from the Mac, it is connected to my wireless network (checking the connection on the printer's display)

[ShlomiL]

Hi,

Please clarify if you use the printer over USB or wireless connection, as the details provided are quite confusing.

If you use wireless connection, please clarify your router brand, model and the firmware version if you can locate this information.

According the issue description, most likely it related with Bonjour support within your network envoirnment (either not supported by your router or not configured correctly).

[M_B_75]

• The printer is used over a wireless connection
• the router is produced by Elsag Datamat Amtec, model ARGO 55+ (it is provided by the italian network carrier Fastweb); i don't know how to get the firmware version.

Note

I can connect to the printer web page via internet browser, typing the printer ip address 192.168.1.132; therefore the printer is connected to the my network but the Mac can't see it

[ShlomiL]

Ok.

Unlike Windows, any Mac OS X OS use Apple Bonjour in order to communicate with the device.

In order to communicate with the device, the router must support Multicasting, which Apple's Bonjour relies on.

Please contact Fastweb and verify rather the router support Multicasting or not (may be named as Bonjout, Multicast, mDNS). if the router supports multicasting, also verify it is enabled within the router configuration.

Additionally, I would recommend to check for any available router firmware update as well.

Hope it helps,

Shlomi

[M_B_75]

I've contacted Fastweb: the router supports multicasting and there is a facility to configure the router ports.

Therefore I tryed to set the bonjour port for the printer ip using "udp 5353" (see attached image) but the printer still loses the connection.

Is it the correct port configuration for bonjour service?

Marco

[ShlomiL]

Hi Marco,

5353 is the correct port indeed, however I would recommend to set both TXP and UDP for 5353

Indeed, it worth adding the printer by IP and check if you're able to print successfuly while bypassing Bonjour, it will allow us to verify if Multicasting indeed causes the issue:

From Print & Scan, click the Plus icon to add a printer.

Click th IP tab.

Select the HP Jetdirect Protocol from the list

Enter the printer IP into teh address field.

If you print with no issues, using the print queue listed as the printer IP address, it means the issue indeed caused by improper Multicast support.

For that scenario, also make sure to chack for any available firmware update for the router.

Hope it helps,

Shlomi

[M_B_75]

I followed your instructions: adding also TCP protocol for 5353 does not solve the issue.

Instead, with Jetdirect protocol the printing works fine; I can even see the printer from the HP utility application.

Is there any way to add the scanner the same way as the printer has been added with Jetdirect? (this is a minor issue since I can lauch the scan accessing the printer web page via browser).

Huge step ahead and happy to have my printer working 

Marco

[ShlomiL · Accepted solution]

Hi Marco,

i affraid not,

Scanning from the Mac over the network can be done using Bonjour only, Webscan is the only possible workaround.

In order to get full scan functionaity by the software, you will need to sort the router Multicasting issue.

Regards,

Shlomi

[joecarrera]

I'm using Xfinity wireless router and the OfficeJet 6500A always looses a the connection.  I've reinstalled the entire driver package, rebooted all the components and it still will not stay connected.   I'm ready to throw it away and buy another brand.   

[jfraga88]

joecarrera,

I feel you. I have a Mac router and I reinstalled the driver after having to wait 15 minutes to print a two-page file and it worked fine for a couple of weeks. Now it works even slower. I might end up re-installing the driver but Mac-HP compability is very poor and being a Mac user, I think I might start going for another brand. I had an older HP PhotoSmart 4480 that had similar issues. I thought the newer printer were going to be better about it but they been worse.

Joaquin