HP Envy Printer Will Not Wake Up

[Bytewench]

I have seen this same problem reported for more than a year, and I haven't seen a definitive fix for it.

My HP Envy 6400 All-in-One printer goes to sleep almost as soon as I power it up, and will not wake up until I power cycle it.

- It has good, solid power

- power-cycling the printer only works if I can very quickly send a print job to it (it goes to sleep very quickly, even though I have it set to the maximum wait time of 15 minutes)

- it has the latest firmware

- it has a static IP address

- I have disabled IPv6

- I am unable to wake it up by pushing any buttons on it, or by accessing it via HP Smart and selecting settings, supplies status, reports, etc.

I would love it if there was a way to prevent it from going into a deep sleep (maybe a registry setting?) or if I could wake it up through HP Smart or the web browser interface (both are able to contact the printer, and both tell me it is sleeping). The printer has become almost entirely useless to me, and it's a shame because it is such a great printer when it works. It has always had this problem to a degree since we bought it (unable to wake it), but it has only recently started going to sleep so quickly that I can only get one quick print job out of it before I have to power cycle it.

Why HP doesn't let us CHOOSE whether or not we want to enable power saving or not is a mystery, but I realize that's beyond the scope of this forum.

[Pallipurath]

Hi @Bytewench 

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query.

Thank you for taking the time to provide a detailed description of the issue you are experiencing with your HP ENVY 6400 All-in-One printer. We understand how frustrating it can be when the printer repeatedly enters Sleep Mode and cannot be awakened without performing a power cycle, especially when this behavior interferes with normal day-to-day use. I would request you to please follow the steps to isolate the issue.

Restore the Printer to Factory Defaults

This removes any corrupted settings that may be causing the sleep issue.

• Make sure the printer is powered ON.
• On the printer control panel, press and hold the Wireless button and the Cancel (X) button together for 5 seconds.
• Wait for the printer to restart.
• Once the printer finishes restarting, the factory reset is complete.

Step 2: Reset the Printer's Network Settings

• Turn the printer ON.
• Press and hold the Wireless button on the back of the printer for 5 seconds until the blue wireless light starts blinking.
• This places the printer into Wi-Fi Setup Mode.

Step 3: Reconnect the Printer Using HP App

On your computer or mobile device:

• Open the HP App
• Click Add Printer (+ icon).
• Select your HP ENVY 6400 series printer from the list.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to reconnect it to your Wi-Fi network.
• Complete the setup process.

Step 4: Verify Sleep Mode Settings

If you are able to access the printer settings:

1. Open HP app
2. Select your printer.
3. Click Advanced Settings (this opens the printer's Embedded Web Server).
4. Navigate to Settings > Preferences > Energy Settings.
5. Set Sleep Mode to the maximum available time (15 minutes).
6. Save the changes.

Step 5: Test the Printer with a USB Connection

This helps determine whether the issue is related to the network connection.

1. Turn the printer OFF.
2. Connect a USB cable from the printer to your computer.
3. Turn the printer ON.
4. Wait 5–10 minutes without printing.
5. Try printing a test page.

• If the printer wakes normally using USB, the issue may be related to wireless communication.
• If the printer still goes into an unresponsive sleep state, continue to the next step.

Take care and have an amazing day!