Officejet 8500 - Desperate at this point -- Help!!

[asolitzky]

Somebody -- Anybody -- I need your help.  I'm finally at a total loss.  I've spent over 30 hours on the phone with tech support from HP, 20 hours with Norton, and an additional 15 hours on chat tech support with HP.  My 8500 a909g worked for two, maybe 3 weeks.  And seriously, it was the best thing ever.  I used it to print, to fax -- scan to email was my favorite function.

But, alas, I should've read the reviews perhaps.  Because now there is this connectivity issue that everyone seems to be experiencing here.  The long and short of my problem: when I try to scan to email from the device now, I get a "check network error."   And when I open the solutions center, I get the intermittent connectivity -- one second, the beautiful green arrow that all is working well, and the next the yellow upside down yield sign, saying the computer is disconnected.

I've reinstalled, and scrubbed, and factory reset, and uninstalled norton, and disabled firewalls, and created rules....I feel like I've really done everything.

I don't think it's a hardware issue.  But here's the kicker, (and I have set up a static IP for the printer) - I can ping the printer, I can find the printer on my broadband networking utility, I can print to it from programs like MS Word.  I can use the Webserver and scan from the device, just not the document feeder.  I can run a fax test and it works -- all while the yellow exclamation point and disconnected message I up.  Even network diagnostics (both from the utility downloads from HP and on the device printout itself) all turn out fine, and find the printer!  The solutions software, for some reason (even after 4 reinstalls!) cannot consistently. 

So I know there is a conflict somewhere.  I just can't discover it.

Other things I have going on:

Palm Hotsync Manager

Carbonite

Norton 360

Plenty of other services, but that should be the gist.

So seriously -- somebody, anybody, PLEASE HELP.  Else, this expensive sucker is going into the garbage and I will never buy an HP again...tear.

[PrintDoc]

How much have you played with your router?  What brand/model is it?  Did you set the static IP outside the DHCP range?

When there is no communication, does cycling power on the router help?  What ISP do you use? 

[asolitzky]

Yes, I've open ports, persistent port forwarding -- the works.  The printer connects to the router, and I can ping and print to the printer (though I've now uninstalled the software waiting for the next step...though I don't have one yet).  I can preview scan from the EWS.  But it's the software that says "Disconnected."

Cycling power doesn't help.  ISP is comcast.  It's intermittent connectivity -- it'll go from green to yellow and back and forth.

[PrintDoc]

Have you changed channels on the wireless?  What channel are you on?  Choose 1, 6 or 11 only.  Is the signal strong (print a Network Config Page and it should list the available wireless networks and their strength and channels).

[asolitzky]

I'm at work now, so I'll have to go home and check.  I believe I'm on channel 6 -- but again, I'll double check. 

Signal is very strong, all pass on network config page -- no errors.

Let's say it were channel 7 and not 6.  The printer connects fine with the router (and certain windows applications, pings, etc)-- it's the HP software that can't find it.  Would channel really be an issue?

[PrintDoc]

OK, just checking.  By the way, channels 1, 6 and 11 are the only ones that do not overlap with each other.

It does sound like a software problem, however if the wireless signal is getting interference and the printer is intermittently connected, then we are chasing our tails.  I like to establish the printer has a known good connection to the network first.

Have you manually shut down all of the services you have running (Norton, Carbonite, Palm, the works...)?  You may find one of them is interfering.  If that does it, then turn them on one at a time to find the culprit.

[asolitzky]

Ok, I will try all of this this evening and report back tomorrow.... Thanks!

[asolitzky]

no dice.  and it already was channel 6.

[PrintDoc]

Try channel 11?  As you can see I am grabbing, here.  You have done a lot of good work, I am running out of ideas.

Anyone else out there....? 

[asolitzky]

even if the network config printout said signal was great?