Unable to get Printer Email Address

[Fishtreker]

I have a Officejet 6500A 710n, it is working fine with the computers on my home network using a wireless Linksys WRT54GS router and Comcast as my cable provider, my problem is trying to set up the Web Services, when i get to the screen with Printer Email Address and select it I get the message ( The printer was unable to connect to the server )

I spent 3 hours on the phone with a tech at HP and he eventually gave up and said that I would get a call from his supervisor to try and resolve the problem, that was a couple of days ago, I decided to try to find some help in this Forum.

Any ideas

[RGCookJr]

Hello,

I am having the exact same problem with a new 7500 model. Everything is working fine except it can't connect to the server to retrieve the printer email address.

Have you resolved your problem?

[noxqcez]

I spent about 2 hours on the phone and with online tech support yesterday and today re this issue. Finally got connected. Setup instructions and tech support are very weak. I am using an 8500A Plus. Here is what worked for me:

1. Restore your printer to factory default settings.

2. I accessed the restore to default settings by going to Setup, Tools, Restore Factory Defaults. Be sure you get confirmation your printer has been restored to factory defaults.

3. Power cycle your printer. Unplug power cord and Ethernet cable if you are not using Wi-Fi. After about 30 seconds plug your power cord and Ethernet cable in.

4. After printer powers up and gets to ready status go into your Network settings on the printer and confirm you are connected to the Network. If using Wi-Fi you will need to go through the wireless setup again. Either way confirm your Network settings and be sure your printer has an IP address.

5. In Setup go to Web Services Setup and turn ePrint OFF and the back ON.

6. You "should" get a printout providing you with a code to enter at www.eprintcenter.com where you must have an account setup. On this same one-page printout there will be the email address of your printer in the lower right.

7. When you go to www.eprintcenter.com and login there will be a large blue button to push that says add printer. When you click Add Printer you will be asked to enter the code from the printout you received.

8. Hopefully I recalled all the steps and this works for you. Pain in the butt activation process.

[agaronzik]

I purchased a HP Officejet Pro 8500A printer on Friday, December 24th.  I set it up on Sunday using the hardwire USB connection.  Every feature worked great.  Then, I decided to try the ePrint feature.  From the set up menu I selected the "Printer Email Address" button and immediately received the "Can not connect to the server" message.  Did a little more reading and discovered ePrint does not work with a USB connection.  So I set up a second wireless connection on my LAN.  Every feature continued to work fine, but still got the same "can not connect to the server" message when I tried to get the e-mail address for the printer.

Yesterday afternoon I spent two hours on the phone with HP tech support.  We could not get the printer to deliver its e-mail address for the the ePrint function.  We did a complete power down and re-installation of the wireless connection, but it did not fix the problem.  HP's conclusion was that the printer was defective because it would not print out a proxy IP address for the printer.  They suggested that I return the printer to the store for a new one.  They also offered to send a free refurbished printer if I had trouble with the store accepting the "defective" printer.  My support person was very patient and helpful, but to no avail.

I spent most of today fooling around with my router's configuration and turning my firewall off and on.  Then I discovered the message posted above and followed the instructions.  It worked like a charm, and I was able to print the page containing the ePrint e-mail address for the printer. 

The step that was missing in all that I did with HP tech support appears to be the first step "Restoring the Printer to Factory Defaults".  Apparently, I, and others like me, that started with a hardwire USB connection, must wipe this out of the printer's memory with a default restoration before performing a power cycle down and up. 

All HP printer tech support folks should read your instructions.  They work, and will save the end user and HP a lot of time, hassle and money.

Thanks for posting your successful fix.  I really appreciate it.

[Fishtreker]

I have not been able to get the printer email address on my own and HP support (if you can call it that) still has not contacted me like they said they would, I will try your instructions and will post my results.

[Fishtreker]

Thanks for the instructions noxqcez, it worked like a charm, HP's techs should read your post so they can help others with this problem, i spent hours on the phone with them and they didn't even get close, they left me hanging out to dry!

Kudos for the nice job!

Thanks

[elmbranson]

Thank you for posting this solution. It saved me a lot of time and effort with my new eprinter D110

I missed a lot of the steps when I setup my printer the first time. I have been recommending this printer to my friends and acquaintances because of the features and price point. It replaces an older printer at 1/3 the cost.

[bobtuckr]

Thanks.

Tried your fix and it worked for me too.

[dlflannery]

I also have an 8500A but the procedure given above by noxqcez does not work for me, nor does any other procedure including those suggested in two hours of chat and telephone support time last night.

Whenever it tries to get the email address I get the message it can't connect to the server and the suggestion it could connect via a proxy.  (What proxy?)..

The telephone support person finally told me the eprint server is down and no estimate when it would be up.  I've kept trying today with no luck.

This is ridiculous!  There should be some simple way for us to find out if the server is actually down and thus avoid wasting all this time trying to get support.! 

EDIT:  Shortly after posting the above I walked by the printer and lo and behold, there was the email address print sheet!  I registered the printer at the print center and mailed a test message from one of my computers, which came through OK.

I don't know whether the print server just came back on line or what, but I seem to be OK now.

[hermas]

Thanks for the detailed instructions.  Unfortunately it didn't work for me.  I've got a CP1520 printer.  Has anyone else figured it out.  When I try to print the information sheet it keep erroring out with "Connection error. Check connection".

Thanks