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Deskjet 3720
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I moved house recently and got a new WiFi installed. My printer will not connect to my phone. I always used the HP smart app to print from my phone or iPad. When I first bought it I had a MacBook and I can’t remember but I think I used the installation cd that came with it to install the software on my computer. I no longer have that MacBook and now have a chromebook but didn’t need to use the installation cd, the chromebook seemed to pick up the printer straight away via WiFi. Since I moved house the connection keeps dropping. Can’t get it connected at all through the chromebook but the HP smart app on my phone seemed to connect okay initially but it keeps dropping off. I will maybe get one print job from it and then it says printer offline. The WiFi light is solid blue which means it’s connected. The WiFi printed report says it’s connected to my WiFi. But every so often the app will just say no printer detected. The printer is plugged in beside my WiFi routed. My phone/iPad is connected to the same WiFi network. Printer is out of warranty so can’t seem to get much help from the HP website Virtual chat thing. I’ve been on Facebook chat with them several times but they just keep running through all the same trouble shooting options and none of them are working, it connects for a while but then goes offline again. Sometimes if I delete and reinstall the HP smart app from my phone then it will pick up the printer again. But this is so inconvenient having to do this all the time. And today I’ve done this a few times and it just won’t pick it up at all now. Can anyone help me or do I just need a new printer?? 

2 REPLIES 2
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Hi @Meg_8-3,

 

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. 

 

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

 

And, Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

 

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

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping

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Hi jay 

 

many thanks for your message.

 

I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can.

 

1. I don’t think there is any interference. The printer and router are plugged in beside each other, on top of a small bookcase. 
2. I don’t have an Apple router. I’m not sure what you mean by changing channels on the router. 
3. When I’m trying to print something I’m right beside both the printer and the router. 
4. not near any microwaves or similar.

4.1. As I said in my first post., I don’t have the MacBook anymore. I changed to chromebook and before I moved house it seemed to connect automatically to the printer via my old WiFi. Since I moved, I can’t print from the chromebook at all, only the HP smart app on my iPhone or iPad, which has been intermittent. The chromebook isn’t really an issue as I use google docs so if I need to print I can open it from my phone or iPad, but the main issue with my post is that the connection is so patchy. But yes in answer to that part; the phone/iPad are connected to the same WiFi as the printer. 
4.2. I believe so yes.

4.3. As mentioned earlier, the Printer and router are beside each other. 
I will check about bonjour packages, I’ve not heard of this before.

 

many thanks 

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