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Archived This topic has been archived. Information and links in this thread may no longer be available or relevant. If you have a question create a new topic by clicking here and select the appropriate board.

‎05-25-2012 02:52 PM

HP Recommended

My HP 6180 has been working fine on a wireless home network.  Suddenly in the middle of a session, after printing a few things just fine, it will suddenly start showing as offline and stop printing.  The last few jobs or sometimes last few pages that I have sent to be printed just do not print.  If I turn off the computer and then turn it back on the printer will say READY, those pages will go ahead and print and the next few things will print just fine and then the same thing happens again.  It suddenly says OFFLINE and will just stop printing at the end of page - not necessarily at the end of a job but always at the end of a page.  

 

I was discussing this with a tech friend in Starbucks who was recommending that I replace my 4-year-old printer which I cannot afford to do.  Another man nearby said he is the tech guy for a nearby firm and had the same issue in his company and he "updated the firmware" on this printers and now they work fine - even though some are older than mine.

 

I haven't got a clue what he is talking about.  How do I update the firmware on a printer??

 

Thanks!!

5 REPLIES 5

‎05-31-2012 01:38 PM - edited ‎05-31-2012 04:44 PM

HP Recommended

Do you have the HP Photosmart C6180?  If so there are not any firmware updates available, but there is a driver update that fixes some networking issues.  Click here, then select the proper operating system, then click the + on updates and select the update for network reliability.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

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‎05-31-2012 03:38 PM

HP Recommended

Bob - since I haven't got a clue what "firmware" even is, you answer makes as much sense.  I had looked at the HP website for info on driver updates but thought I HAD done the updates and the only thing I could see looked like I was basically reinstalling the whole printer.  I had done that step before and it had taken me forever to get the thing working with my wireless system again by begging various tech friends to come over and see what I had messed up and I didn't want to mess that up again.  I am not sure where you meant when you said "click here"? Help!

 

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‎05-31-2012 04:51 PM - last edited on ‎02-21-2017 07:43 PM by HP Administrator

HP Recommended

Oops, my mistake.  I did not put the link in my post properly so the link was not active.  I corrected that in the post above and will repeat the link here.  That said, we should probably back up a couple of steps.  What operating system do you have?  Common choices would be XP, Vista, Windows 7 or somve version of Mac OS.    If it is a Mac then let me know and I will move this post to the Mac forum, where there are folks that should be able to help.  If one of the Windows operating systems then we will need to know if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit version.  Click on the underlined link which will open a document that will show how to find this information.  

 

Once we know the operating system I can make a better suggestion of exactly update (if any) to apply.

 

It should not be necessary to reinstall the entire driver, the updates are typically rather small and have good installers that should handle all the details for you.

 



Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


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‎05-31-2012 07:14 PM

HP Recommended

I am using Windows 7 32-bit.  I found and downloaded the HP Home Network Diagnostic Utility and clicked on the START button for it to run the Diagnostic after is downloaded.  It got to a point where it said that the software for this printer could not be found on this computer and to go back to HP.com and update the drivers for the printer.  I fear I am once again getting in over my head!!  I tried to go back and start the Diagnostic again to tell you exactly what the message said and now I can't find the Diganostic.  I am one of those people to whom a little bit of knowlege is dangerous!!  What would you suggest now??

 

Found it - the message says "THe HP software required to connect your printer over the network could not be found on this computer.  Insert the CD that came with the computer and select INSTALL or ADD A DEVICE or visit www.HP.com to download the latest software." 

 

But my printer IS still working over my wireless network - just sporadically it goes offline.

 

I think part of the problem may be that when I got the printer I had a different computer - now I have a HP mini netbook that originally came with Windows XP and had a major heart attack and when it was fixed, Windows 7 was installed with a lot of work and the help with HP over the phone.  It has worked fine for nearly a year until just a few weeks ago when this printer issue just started happening.

 

 

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‎06-01-2012 12:42 PM

HP Recommended

Sorry, there are not any network related updates available for the 32 bit version of Windows 7 for the C6180.  At this point I would suggest you might want to post a question in the Printing Network and Wireless forum here.  A good title would be something like "Photosmart C6180 Loses Wireless Connection in Windows 7 x86".

 

In that forum are a few related posts you may want to look at first:


http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Networking-and-Wireless/Photosmart-C6180-repeatedly-loses-wirel...

 

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Networking-and-Wireless/C6180-Network-connect-problem/m-p/18023...

 



Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


Was this reply helpful? Yes No
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