MacBook Pro cannot see wireless printers

[Haydentech]

A friend's 2 wireless printers suddenly stopped showing up on their MacBook Pro.  Both of the printers appear to be hooked to the WiFi network successfully.  I think I've followed all the usual troubleshooting steps, but the printers are still not visible.  There have been no recent network changes.  Here's what I've tried:

1. Reset the Mac printing system via right-clicking on the printer list and hitting Reset Print System

2. Verified that the MacBook is on the same WiFi network as the 2 printers, including verifying that her IP address is on the same subnet at the printers

3. Verified that the two printers show a successful wireless connection, and I can see the IP address they've been assigned in their respective front control panels

4. I've tried to ping the 2 printers from the Mac command line, but I don't get a response.  That said, I'm not sure if HP inkjet printer respond to a ping.

5. The printers both work normally if connected via USB

Where do I go from here?

[senan6806]

@Haydentech

A warm welcome to HP forums! This is a great place to get support, find answers and tips to your technical queries.

I understand the MacBook Pro is not able to detect the network connected printers and I'll be glad to help you out. However, for an accurate solution, I would need more details:

What's the make and model of the WiFi router?

Approximately how far is the Mac and printers located from the WiFi router?

Could you try a ping test using the Mac Network Utility and let me know the results.

[Haydentech]

The router is a Netgear Nighthawk R7000.  That router has both a 2.4GHz and 5GHz wi-fi network -- all devices are on the 2.4GHz network.  I did try pinging the printers, as I mentioned in the original message, but the pings did not respond to either printer even though all devices are on the same subnet (192.168.1.*).  I verified that the computer and the printer are on the same network, in the same subnet, using the router web interface.  Both the printers and the MacBook are quite close to the router, and the MacBook shows a maximum strength wi-fi signal.  Rebooting the router, the printers, and the MacBook seemed to make no difference for the connection problem.  I also tried using a different MacBook, and it was unable to connect to either printer as well.

[senan6806]

@Haydentech

Thanks! It's possible that the wireless router is blocking or not able to forward multicast packet (Bonjour). Please contact your internet service provider or router manufacturer and check if the router is able to forward multicast packet.