HP 3760 won't connect via wireless or USB

[ArneT]

I have recently moved home and my previously working HP 3760 is very unhappy. 

I cannot connect to the printer from my phone using the HP Smart app. I did a factory reset of the printer and managed to get closer to setting it up again, but after I enter the wifi password, it then asks for a printer password on the second step down on the process. I tried 12345678 but it won't accept this.

Is this a symptom that it cannot find a 2.4GHz wifi network? I am using a TP-Link Deco mesh router which provides dual channel (2.4GHz and 5 GHz).

What is really odd, is that I cannot get the printer to be recognised when connected via USB either .. the HP Smart app keeps saying. searching for printer.

Is there a way to connect the printer via USB WITHOUT using HP Smart? I urgently need to print a label for shipping an item, and I cannot print. 

[ArneT]

I have found a temporary solution.. I have turned on the direct wifi print feature using the button on the bottom right of the control panel (so that the white light is lit next to the button)

then I can select the printer by connecting to its wifi with a SSID like “direct-Hp...”. 

I tried disabling the 5Ghz part of my wifi mesh network, but the printer still keeps asking me for a password that I don’t know what it is!!

any ideas HP community?

[ArneT · Accepted solution]

With help from HP online chat support I have managed to fix the problem.

In the end, what did the trick was to use WPS instead of trying to connect to the wifi manually. The key here in my situation was to follow the correct sequence of the steps, in this order:

1. Turn on WPS on printer (by holding wifi button for 3 seconds - the blue light should start flashing)

2. Turn on WPS mode on the router.

In under 1 minute the printer had successfully connected to the wifi and I could then communicate with it using the HP Smart app again 🙂

[ArneT]

For future reference, if you need to find out the password for your printer, this was the guidance from HP online support:  "Press the resume + copy color button while powering on the printer" Once it's on. Press the information button. The printer will print the report where you will find the password."