repeated "looking for printer" message from 6978

[PainintheArse]

Almost since right after I bought this printer, I have intermittently but repeatedly gotten the message "Printing - Looking for printer."  Nothing happens.  How hard can it be to find a wired printer?!   I eventually discovered that disconnecting it at the back, leaving it unplugged for 30-60 seconds, hooking it back up, and re-starting my computer usually made it work, but what a pain!  The last couple of times--before today--I've been able to simply disconnect and reconnect the cord from the back of the printer and not had to shut everything down and re-start.  

"Can't find" message again a little while ago.  Having just done the disconnect the cord from the back of the printer, letting it breathe, and replugging it twice, still nothing is happening.   The print queue box show the title of the document I'm trying to print and says, "Printing - Connected to Printer."  There is no alert signal where the printer icon shows on my desktop, and yet nothing is printing...and it's been sitting here for 20 minutes now.  

This doesn't seem like it should be related, but just in case--for some time now, every time I "wake up" the computer when I get on it in the morning, I get a message asking if I want to do my wireless settings now.   No, I don't; I happen to like having it connected, not that it's doing what it should consistenly with that.   I didn't used to get this message and am not sure when it started, probably 2-3 months ago.  I've been clicking on no every time, but surely there should be something that tells it I don't need that.  

And yes, in the middle of typing this, I'm still getting the same print queue message, and it's up to 25 minutes.  Can someone either please tell me how to fix this or send me a new one based on having an extended warranty?  It's less than a year old anyway, and doesn't get all that much use. 

[TEJ1602]

@PainintheArse, Welcome to HP Support Community!

Going through your post I see that the printer is unable to print from your Mac computer to the printer. With wired connection I assume that your printer is connected to the printer via USB cable.

Let us try to isolate and resolve the issue-

Go to System Information to check the USB detection- try different port and cable if not detected.

Update the printer firmware

Download available firmware updates from the HP website

With the printer on and connected to the computer, go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, and then identify your printer. Look for and install any available firmware updates. Refer to the document HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

Let me know the outcome.

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