My Printer Will Not Connect

[RachelKristine]

I cannot get my laptop to hook up with my printer.  It worked last year up at college but this year on a router my roommate brought, when I moved in, the dorm had wifi installed for us.  Now, my printer won't connect at all.  When I try and find it with  either the IP address or the Hostname, it says it is unrecognized.  But both my laptop and printer are connected to the same network and the signal is very strong.  When I printed out the Wireless Network Test, everything Passed.  I think it might have something to do with the IP address but that is just a guess (I'm no expert).  I can't seem to figure out how to change it since the instructions online didn't seem to work.  So how exactly should I proceed from here?

[Drakster]

Hi @RachelKristine,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I understand that you're unable to print wirelessly to your HP ENVY 5530 Printer. I will certainly do my best to help you.

There could be many reasons why this is not working. Such as, how your roommate setup the router and how the network is configured. 

We know already that the network has more than two routers attached to it, yours and the main router. I'm guessing they have access points as well, extending the range of the network. Therefore, each router and access point adds to the complexity of the network, it's likely too complicated for the printer to communicate through. A computer is far more advanced then a printer, which is why you aren't having issues with them.

The router your roommate installed, is it a dual band router?

Is it setup with it's own SSID and password?

NOTE: The printer cannot communicate on a 5.0 GHZ network, it can only communicates on 2.0 GHZ.

I would suggest that you use Wireless Direct on the printer.

HP wireless direct provides a direct wireless connection to your HP printer without joining a local network or connecting to the Internet. When you activate HP wireless direct on your printer, you can securely print documents or photos from most Wi-Fi-capable computers and mobile devices.

I would try the steps within this guide, HP Wireless Printers - Printing with HP Wireless Direct

Here's more information in the subject, Wireless printing center.

Please respond to this post with the result of your troubleshooting. I look forward to hearing from you. Good Luck! 🙂

[RachelKristine]

Thank you so much for your help.  I was able to get them both connected through that wireless thingy you suggested.  However, they don't seem to be in sync with eachother for some weird reason.  Like, the printer appears on my laptop and it shows up as a network.  But then when I hit print, it just says it's offline even though the printer is on and everything seems to be set up right.  Put simply, it just doesn't print.  Any suggestions for that?