HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless A909g Loses Connectivity

[ToxicMan]

I just spent hours on the phone getting no where with HP once again, and this time its because my printer is no longer in Warranty.  I have a case number on this issue that dates back to May 2010 and they now refuse phone support because I'm out of warranty (19 days).  There was a patch released on 12/17 titled as follows:

» Windows 7 Critical Update to enhance reliability of network connection 2010-12-17 , Version:1.0, 11.22M This update corrects an issue which causes network-connected printers to disappear from the system

When I attempt to install this update, I get an error that says:

"This update does not support any of the HP device drivers that you have on your PC.  You do not need this software update."

Interesting.  The critical update for the A909g doesn't seem to apply to the A909g I have.

Would like to know if anyone experiencing the fun I'm having has tried this update and what was the result...

I'm getting very tired of turning off the printer and turning it back on every time I want to print from my PC.

As always, my MAC is working fine...

[Horace1]

I was able to load this patch, and (keeping my fingers crossed), so far I have not lost connectivity...  Can't say for sure if this is THE fix, but this is the longest I've gone without losing connectivity.  When i went to Device manager, it reported that I have an HP Driver dated 04/22/08, version 12.0.0.0.  Don't know if this helps, but maybe you could try it and see.  Good Luck (God bless us every one)....

[ToxicMan]

I have the same driver notice in Device Manager.  I can't install the patch, same error as previously reported.

[stormcat]

Hello and I am new to this forum.

Until last night, I fought with the connectivity problem between two different laptops and a new 8500A910 A Plus. I tried everything I could think of to get them wirelessly connected although they worked fine with an ethernet cable. Even spent 2 hours on the phone with HP in India and they couldn't figure it out. But we did suspect it might  be the modem. So I got a new Netgear modem router and hooked and set it up. Same problem.

But when looking at the Security key questions it finally occurred to me that I had to also change the security setting that was in my laptop so they would match! And everything is fine now: IPhone, IPad are working fine and printing also.

So perhaps some of you could check those settings  in your laptop or PC. Got to Control Panel and click on Network and Sharing Center, click on Manage Wireless Networks, then right click on the wireless network you recognize and click Properties. In next section there are two Tabs at top. Click on Security and there you will find the WEP, WPA with security keys on your computer that should match your modem router. The Key is comes with the modem/router in the box or you might have to call Netgear, Linksys,.

Anyway, hope this helps. After two full days of frustration and being ready to take the printer back, all is working fine now.

[RevJohnLeach]

Same - it told me i didn't need this update and wouldn't let me install it. Having said that, my printer seems to be behaving itself a bit better nowadays, although it often takes a while to start printing stuff.

[POPTOPP]

The discussion on the Group Key Update Interval got me curious.  I'm wondering if HP's implementation WPA2 / AES is faulty and can cause a drop out when the group key is renegotiated.  I've disabled group key changes on my router and am waiting to see if this clears the problem.

A bit of research seems to indicate that in many implementations, changing the group key may not be necessary.  I read that the Group Key (Group Transient Key) is a shared key among all Supplicants connected to the same AP, and is used to secure multicast/broadcast traffic.  It is not used for normal unicast traffic. It was suggested that there is no practical reason to rekey the group key, unless you have a streaming video device or other multicast applications on your local wireless network. 

This shouldn't compromise normal unicast traffic since the Pairwise Transient Key securing the unicast traffic is changed each time the Supplicant authenticates, or re-authenticates.

[digitalant]

Unfortunately this won't work for those of us that have their PC hardwired & only their Wireless printer - wireless.

[DonnaNY]

I'm having the same problem ever since I upgraded from a Touchsmart with Vista to a 200-5250 All-in-one desktop with WIndows 7. I installed new drivers for the A909g. I installed a fix Windows 7 Critical Update to enhance reliability of network connection 2010-12-17 , Version:1.0, 11.22M

and still my printer gets booted off the network. I never had this problem under Vista. Reinstalling the printer fixes the problem, but I'm tired of doing that monthly. Are there any other fixes I should be installing?

By the way, I called HP support. The PC is still under warranty, but they shuffled me off to the printer people who want to charge me for service because the A909g is out of warranty (by 3 days). I'm pretty steamed. 

[DonnaNY]

I loaded this fix but my A909g still loses connectivity about monthly. So the fix doesn't work.

[Horace1]

To all HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless users who have been losing connectivity:  I have had on-going problems with this product since I first bought one in May 2009. I have had numerous interfaces with HP over this problem, and tried everything they have suggested, including assigning a fixed IP address to the printer.  None of their suggestions solved the problem.  I also have been to this forum many times looking for solutions, with the same results.  In October of 2009, I received a replacement printer, which exihibited the same problem:  loss of connectivity.  I also have had the occasional problem of the printer "locking up" which manifests itself in the following manner:  The touch display is totally unresponsive; the fix is to recycle power on the printer.  I still have that problem once in a while (perhaps once a month).

The connectivity problem seems to have gone away.  I have operated the printer for at least 3 weeks with no loss of connectivity.  I have done nothing overt to effect this change.  I have automatic updates enabled for both Microsoft and HP, and have received updates accordingly.  There are so many updates, I could not list all of them here, but my advice would be to allow these updates to be downloaded and see if the problem is solved for your installation.

I am running Windows 7 on both of my HP all-in-one computers, and they are both hard-wired to the network through a high speed switch for maximum data transfer.  The printer has always had a wireless connection to the network (when it stayed connected).  I am hoping that either HP and/or Microsoft has finally solved this problem.  Would be interested to know if any forum subscribers have had the same positive experience.