Scan to Computer Error Message

[TheCarpetMan]

Constantly getting "Scan to Computer Not Available" message! Super frustrating! Every time I need to scan I need to run the HP print and scan doctor. I scan a lot of docs to my computer!

HP print and scan doctor gives me a red light on device status. It keeps insisting "Tray #1" is out of paper. Tray #1 requires the front "pull down tray" to be open which I never use. I have reset the printer multiple times and checked software.

Just purchased the printer 5 days ago from Best Buy.

Having the same problem on the printer I'm replacing HP Office Jet Pro 8720!

Please help.

[tonerspills]

It sounds like you may have multiple issues going on. Usually people get scan to computer or scan to network folder not available messages when there is some type of conflict with the folder created and the printer. A weird file path or some type windows authentication issue can cause problems. How do you have this printer connected to your computer? Network ethernet, wireless, or USB? Even though your device is new, you will probably be asked to perform a firmware update or verify the current version of firmware running on the printer. You can find that information on your printers configuration page. The latest firmware should be available on the products support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-color-laserjet-pro-mfp-m478-m479-series/19202514

The tray 1 issue- does that occur when you are printing and is a separate issue from the scanning? People most often get random tray 1 issues when there is a conflict between the paper size and type that is set for tray 2, and the print driver on the computer. Verify that the print job you are sending has tray 2 selected in the driver and the paper type the same as what the printer shows. Letter, Plain, etc.

[TheCarpetMan]

Thanks for the response - Tonerspills! The "Device Status" error occurs when I run HP Scan Doctor to restart scan to computer. It doesn't seem to affect printing at all.

As to the new printer, its set up wireless. Craziest thing is that the computer communicates immediately every time when printing but the reverse communication is never smooth because of this darned Scan to Computer not available message that seems to "pop up" at all hours, throughout the day, randomly, even when not using the scanner.

[John_Getzke]

Your problem is likely a network connection issue between your printer and the network.  I would guess that your printer is pulling a new IP address every few days when it connects.  Each new IP Address will break the connection on the PC and is something the Print and Scan doctor would fix.  You can fix this problem by assigning a static IP Address to your printer.  Then your PCs will always know where to find the printer on the network.

Tray #1 is out of paper is a printing error.  This is different from the scanning communication problem you mentioned earlier.  Make sure you are not hard coding your print jobs to print to tray #1 if there is no paper or a paper mismatch.  The printer should be allowed to pull Plain/Letter paper from whatever tray happens to match those variables at the time.  Otherwise it will continue to error until you put paper where you requested the printer to print from.

Next, Review the paper in Tray 1 which is the manual feed tray of the printer.  Print off a configuration report or some other report direct from the printers control panel.  Tray 1 should be configured to any type/any size which means the printer will pull from that tray first anytime there is paper loaded.  See if you can print from tray 1 or not to determined if there is a physical problem in that area.