HP M203dw

[standenman]

LaserJet Pro M203dw.  Printer went offline.  the unhelpful HPSmart said everything was fine.  Finally decided to reinstall.  then said there was no driver.  So I downloaded a driver from the net.  Now when I run HPSmart I get this:  "driver check issue not fixed"..  Printer listed as "Driver is unavailable" with no "carat" to open up that profile. 

[BeemerBiker]

I suspect windows  just can't find the printer.

The image you posted indicates that Wi-fi direct is being used. This printer uses both the 2.5 and the 5.0 ghz band.

Get a network status report from the printer as show at 1:05 in this wifi-direct setup video

There should be 2 bands, select the 2.4ghz band as that give the best range.

(that video shows a system that has only 1 band)

Possibly WiFi Direct does not work for you. It might be better to connect the porinter directly to the router or modem.

An ethernet cable is the best choice with a Powerline Option if necessary .  Otherwise use WiFi to modem '/ router

To get out of wifi direct mode, reset the printer

With the device off, depress and hold the [ON] button. Power on the device and hold [ON] button for 20 seconds. When the ready led turns on, release the [ON] button.

To connect using WiFi to modem watch this video and select the 2.4gh band for the printer.  You will need a smartphone or a  laptop (or desktop with wifi) and the latest HP Smart.

Another possibility is to prevent the printer from ever going to sleep

A quick fix is to set the sleep to off or never. Access the printers embedded web page and set sleep to off or never.

[standenman]

I am not trying to set it up for wifi.  I spent hours and hours several months ago on that and gave up.  I have a direct connection to the printer.  Yet it still won't work.  This printer is a piece of garbage. Cannot connect it manually, cannot connect via wifi!!

[BeemerBiker]

The report you displayed shows it is looking for a wifi direct printer

Please remove it.  You can use the printui command to remove it

Run the following app from the command line

printui /s

delete all references to hp direct
If the printer is in ethernet mode then do a search for it

Get a network status report and make sure it is not in wifi direct mode!!!

if it is stuck in wifi mode then reset it.

Let me know if you need more help

[standenman]

"

Get a network status report and make sure it is not in wifi direct mode!!!

if it is stuck in wifi mode then reset it." I have no idea what this means.

[BeemerBiker]

Here is the important stuff from a typical printer report. The password shown in WiFi can be the printers PIN or the modem's password depending on how you connected to the modem. The printer can have two bands but the only one that is connected will show up.

LAN	STATUS	IP address	SSID	Password
WiFi	enabled	192.168.1.15	ATT-ARRIS-2 .4	GuessAgain
WiFi-direct	enabled	192.168.23.1	DIRECT-WHATEVER	BadGuess
Wired	disabled
USB	disabled

I do not have that 203 printer and page 5 of the users manuals shows how to get a status report 

rather is simply says to select "network report" from the printer console

when it prints  up, see if it looks like the above report, make sure that "Wired" is enabled. It does not matter if wifi is enabled just be sure that "wired" is enabled.

if it shows an ip address of 192.168.x.y it is probably connected to the modem.

if it shows  169.254.x.y, that indicate no connection

you also need to remove that direct HP 203 else windows may search for wifi direct

[standenman]

I cannot remove the DIRECT -88-HP M203 LaserJet.  It will not let me click on it.  If I try to add a device I am offered 2 totally unrelated  printers I have never owned. 

[BeemerBiker]

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@standenman wrote:

I cannot remove the DIRECT -88-HP M203 LaserJet.  It will not let me click on it.

---

that is correct, there is no ">" you will have to use the printui command to delete it.

Possibly the Device Manager can be used to remove it.  You may have to ask over at answers.microsoft how to remove printers that do not have the remove option ">".

if searching for the printer fails then the printer is not online even if the ethernet cord is connected.

it may be stuck in USB or wifi mode.

can you take a picture of the network report and post it here?

The listing of DIRECT -88-HP M203 LaserJet

shows that  the printer was found at one time using WiFi direct