AirPrint and MFP M281cdw printer

[Brye]

I asked this question in the wrong forum.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Notebooks/AirPrint-and-MFP-M281cdw-printer/m-p/7575587#M15892...

Of course since I didn’t respond in time it’s now appears to be locked, so I can’t reply.

To recap:

Often fails to print from iOS devices using AirPrint.  It connects, the printer wakes up, but nothing prints.  

For whatever reason it’s always certain webpages or documents that it just won’t print.  It’s not like it will print a particular document or webpage sometimes, it’s either will or won’t print out something.   So in my frustration I drug out an EPSON inkjet printer we had In order to print out a PDF I needed for work today.  The EPSON printed it just fine.

The other day I was trying to print out a build your own vehicle summary from Ford.  It absolutely refused to do so.  But was happy to print out one for a GMC.

I have searched for a solution to the issue for months without success and even tried restarting everything from the printer, router, and iOS device to no avail.  But the EPSON printer not having an issue seems to point to a problem with the HP printer.

Today, I was trying to print a document from Pages that I created on my iPad. The first page prints, but not the second.  Sent it to the EPSON printer and it came out fine.

There are no fluorescent lights between the printer and router

The router is at most 10 feet from the printer

No barriers.

ASUS router and channel doesn’t matter neither does rebooting either device or ipad

Both are on the same network.

Router is dual band enabled and each band has a different SSID

And the working competition printer is 15 feet away in an enclosed wooden cabinet.

[Jay_G24]

Hi @Brye

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

Print using apple airprint -

Print documents, photos, and webpages using AirPrint.

1. Make sure the printer is turned on, ink cartridges are installed, and plain paper is loaded in the main tray.

2. Open the item you want to print, and then tap the Share icon  or  .

3. Tap Print or the Print icon  to open Printer Options.

4. Tap Select Printer to select your printer.

5. Change any of the following print job settings. Available settings vary depending on the app you are printing from, the print job type, and your printer.

   • Paper: Make any paper size changes on the printer. AirPrint automatically detects the paper size loaded in the printer or the size selected on the printer control panel. If the detected size is different than the paper in the tray, an error might display asking to confirm the size.

   • Number of copies: Select how many copies you want to print.

   • Black & White: Select to print in grayscale. This option only displays for color printers.

   • Double-sided printing: Print on both sides of the paper for certain file types.

   • Page range: Select specific pages within a document or webpage to print.

   

update the iOS device, refer to this document - Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Also, try updating the printer's firmware - HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

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[Brye]

It’s really hard to resist the urge to be snarky.

ios version: 13.5.1

printer firmware date code: 20190419

printer claims there are no updates available 

[Jay_G24]

Make sure mobile data is off when you're trying print from your phone to the printer.

Are you using the HP Smart app?

Let's try the below steps to see if that helps -

1.) Remove All Barriers: Certain building materials can get in the way of weaker signals like Bluetooth. Metal, bulletproof glass, concrete, and plaster are particularly bad, and marble, plaster and brick aren’t great easy. So if you’re really struggling with interference, your first step should be to move your Bluetooth devices away from these materials. That means no brick walls between you and your devices, and definitely no metal desks!

2.) Change Router Channel: If you have an Apple router and you’re constantly getting interference with your WiFi, try rebooting it. Upon restart, the station will search for a new channel. Specifically, a different channel than the one your Bluetooth devices is using to communicate. If you don’t have an Apple router, you may need to instead go into your router settings and try changing the channel manually. Experiment with different channels to see which one works best.

3.) Move Closer to Your Router: If you often find that you’re getting interference when talking on a wireless headset while on a WiFi call (you’ll know because you’ll hear static), try moving closer to your router. This will give you a more robust WiFi connection, so the Bluetooth frequency can’t overpower it.

4.) Get Away From Microwaves and Fluorescent Lighting: Both emit frequencies of 2.4GHz, and moving away from them will distance you from the source.

I'd like to know the following to isolate the issue further-

1.) Are the printer and Mac connected to the same network?

2.) Is your router dual-band enabled i.e., both 2.4GHz and 5GHz? If yes, make sure the dual band has different SSIDs for 2.4G and 5G networks.

3.) What is the distance between the router and the printer?

Also, check with your Internet service provider if your router is able to forward 'Bonjour packets'.  Bonjour locates devices such as printers, other computers, and the services that those devices offer on a local network using multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) service records. The software comes built-in with Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. 

[Brye]

Yes I have the HP Smart app.

the rest was posted in the prior forum post and was answered in this post.

This weekend when I have time I’ll try wired Ethernet to the printer just so we can finally determine if the wireless network is the problem at all.

[Jay_G24]

Alright, keep me posted!

[Brye]

So I ran an Ethernet cable from the printer to the router that was maybe 10 feet away.   Went to the ford.com website and built a truck, then tried to print it.  Same behavior of it wakes up but doesn’t print.

Here is a link to one I tried to print.

https://shop.ford.com/build/superduty/?gnav=header-shop&intcmp=show-bp#/config/Config%5B%7CFord%7CSu...

Ive tried to be clear that it’s not a connection issue.  It’s a it won’t print close to 50% of the things you try to print.  And it’s consistent on what it will and won’t print.  So it’s most likely a logic error in that there is some command or data format that is valid (I.e. most printers accept it), that causes it to abort as if you sent it something that was invalid.

When we first noticed the issue we thought it might some type of new DRM introduced for websites.  But when it wouldn’t print any Ford build configurations and they had a print button I figured that couldn’t be the cause.

[Jay_G24]

Turn off the mobile data on your ios and then try.

 I would like to know, is your router set to work on 2.4 GHz network or 5 GHz network band?

[Brye]

Hotspot wasn’t on.  iPad is WiFi only.

ASUS Router supports both, but I’m only using the 2.4 band.

[Jay_G24]

Turn off mobile data, restart your device and the printer.

Let's try a power reset on the printer

Reset the product

• With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer.
• Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.
• Wait at least 60 seconds.
• Plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.
• Reconnect the power cord to the printer.
• Turn the printer on. HP recommends plugging the printer directly into a wall outlet.

update the iOS device, refer to this document - Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Also, try updating the printer's firmware - HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

Please try installing HP Smart and then try printing -Install and Use the HP Smart App (Android, Apple iOS, iPadOS)

Let me know!