Office Jet 4650 will not stay connected to the Network

[BigTimOC]

Upgraded to Spectrum Internet, had been Time Warner.  Printer previously worked flawlessly with multiple Mac computers.  Now the printer drops from network every day requiring turning off printer and restarting.  Mac Wi-Fi must also be turned off and turned on.  Once connected all is good but, after an idle period (8 hours) the Mac cannot find the printer.  

[TEJ1602]

@BigTimOC, Welcome to HP Support Community!

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?

4.) Is there an antivirus software installed on your Mac?

5.) Could you perform a ping test using the Mac Network Utility and let me know the results? Use the printer IP address to perform a ping test, the printer IP can be located by selecting the wireless icon on the printer display.

The wireless status menu on your Mac should also give us quite a lot of information that would help us identify the issue. You can press and hold option-click the WiFi icon and then use shift-command-5 to take the screenshot. Press the space bar when the icon turns into a camera. Share the ping test results and the screenshot with us.

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. 

Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted 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!

[BigTimOC]

TEJ1602, Thank you for your suggestions.  I can tell you the following:

1.) No Barriers, I sit next to the router and the printer is on the shelf below the router.

2.) I have a Spectrum provided Ubee router.  I am not certain how to change the channel or go to the router settings. (but will work on doing) 

3.) The Mac, router and printer are all within 2 feet of each other.  When connected we are able to print from anywhere in the house.  The issue does not seem to be the connection, it is staying connected. 

4.) No Microwaves near, no Fluorescent Lighting in the house.  

Happy to provide the follow as you requested.

1.) Printer andMac are on the same network.  

2.) The router is dual based, not sure how to check the SSIDs are different

3.) The printer sits on on the top shelf of a wood cabinet, the router sits on top of the cabinet.

4.) Do not believe there is anti virus software on my Mac

5.) Did the ping test while the printer was connected.  10 pings were sent (10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.00% packet loss round-trip) 

6.) Did take a screen shot of WiFi drop down.  Not sure how to upload.  My network is listed as well as several others from presumably neighbors.  Also listed is DIRECT-C4-HP OfficeJet 4650

7.) Spectrum Internet does support "Bonjour Packets" 

Really appreciate the help, have never had any issues with an HP printer and this printer specifically worked perfectly prior to the change in router which now includes the dual-band enabled 2.4G and 5G.  As it is today when connected the printer works perfectly from anywhere in the house but, over night will drop the connection to both my Mac and my wife's Mac ...  in that it doesn't show on the network.  Turning the printer off and then on first, then turning the WI-Fi on the Mac off and on reconnects and things work perfectly.  

Hope some of my answers are helpful,

BigTimOC

[TEJ1602]

@BigTimOC

Thanks for waiting!

I'd suggest you update the router firmware and also the printer firmware.

Update the printer firmware

Download available firmware updates from the HP website

With the printer on and connected to the computer, go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, and then identify your printer. Look for and install any available firmware updates. Refer to the document HP Printers - Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware

Restart the devices and try printing.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accepted 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!