Problems with HP Officejet 8600 Pro after changing to ASUS DSL-N55U Router

[DavidJEldridge]

Hello

I had a BT Homehub3 router.  The HP Printer worked OK, but did keep disconnecting.  I decided for this and other reasons to upgrade to an ASUS DSL-N55U router.

All of my devices seem to connect to the router fine, and work (apart from the printer) including Airplay from apple devices to wireless speakers/Apple TV etc.

The printer firmware is CLP1CN1150CR.

The router is a simultaneous dual band (2.4Ghz and 5GHz) router.  Both bands have the SSID of ASUS.  Security is set to WPA and encryption to TKIP.  I have enabled multicast on both bands.  There is no MAC filtering set.  The printer is set to a fixed IP address of 192.168.1.5 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and DNS of 192.168.1.1.  I have the latest firmware for the router.

The printer always connects to the router easily, and there is a strong signal at the printer.

All tests are passed when I print the wireless network test results.

On the router I have tried various security settings (automatic WPA/WPA2 with Automatic encryption etc as well as fixed to WPA and TKIP), and also changing the SSID for the 2 different bands and ensuring that everything is connected to the 2.4GHz band.  I have also tried with multicasting set to Disable as well as Automatic.

* When I try to print from an Apple Macbook Air the printer can only sometimes be found using Bonjour, but can be addressed directly with its IP address consistently successfully.  

* When I try to print to it from an Airprint device such as my IPAD or IPhone the printer cannot ever be found.

* Often the printer cannot scan to email, or connect to ePrint, as whilst it is connected to the router and all network tests are shown as successful, it cannot seem to connect to the internet.  Although this is not consistently a problem it is sporadic, and isn't always resolved by turning the printer on and off.

Please can you advise what I should to in order to get the printer working reliably and able to Airprint?

Many thanks

David

[PrintDoc]

OK, here are a few ideas:

1. Your ASUS router may not support (or properly support) Bonjour (sometimes called mDNS).  Make sure its firmware is updated.

2. Set the printer's DNS to Google's DNS - 8.8.8.8 instead of your router's IP.

3. Is the IP you set outside the DHCP range?  That would be best.

4. Try WPA - AES.

[DavidJEldridge]

Hi

Thanks for your rapid response.

1. Your ASUS router may not support (or properly support) Bonjour (sometimes called mDNS).  Make sure its firmware is updated.

- I'm not sure how to find this out - ASUS support have not responded to me.  It is a brand new model and I would expect it to have this support, but you never know.....

2. Set the printer's DNS to Google's DNS - 8.8.8.8 instead of your router's IP.

- I did this and it seems to have solved the printer not being able to connect to the outside world.  Thanks very  much thats great!

3. Is the IP you set outside the DHCP range?  That would be best.

- yes I have set the DHCP range to start at 192.168.1.10 and the printer is set at 192.168.1.5

4. Try WPA - AES.

- the router only gives me the option of TKIP when I am using WPA rather than WPA2

So - the problem of the printer not being able to scan then email seems to be solved, but I still can only sporadically see the printer from Macs using Bonjour and can  never see it as an Airprint device from IPads and Iphones......

Cheers

David

[PrintDoc]

I thinks ASUS is not supporting Bonjour.  This will be required to print from iOS devices and will be a pain for your Mac.

There is not much you can do about it other than look in the router settings for Bonjour or mDNS settings....or get another router.

[Neil2002]

I had a similar problem with the related ASUS RT-N56U router. If the menus and options are the same, try setting: Advanced Setting -> LAN -> Route -> Enable multicast routing = Yes Seems to make my iPad and iPhone work most of the time, although I can't say it's reliable. Good luck.