OfficeJet Pro 6968 won't connect to my MacBook

[CalgaryHew7]

Hi everybody,

My printer stopped working on December 2nd and after investing 10+ hours I am yet to find a solution.

It connects to the wifi without an issue and then things go south.

On the Connect page of Easy Start, it finds the printer if I'm on 5G. If I'm on 2.4G it doesn't find it.

On the next screen it never gathers the device info.

If I reset the printer and then run Easy Start, it does the connection sync and then same thing, it fails when gathering device information.

No antivirus.

Reset the router password.

Bought new cartridges.

Unplugged the printer for 10 minutes and reconnected.

Erased to factory setting and started again.

Rebooted my MacBook.

It suddenly stopped connecting and that was it. Even when sending documents to the email address associated with my printer, it doesn't print them. This also stopped the same day and worked flawlessly prior.

I went to the Library Printer folder and deleted the hp one and now when I go back to the Driver section on HP.com it doesn't give me the driver, instead it says Easy Start is the only tool I need.

I had issues when I first got the printer and after a month or so it finally worked and worked pretty good for 4-5 months. Now it's done. No idea what to do next. I read at least 40 topics on wireless connectivity on these forums and nothing worked.

Printer is on my desk, right next to my laptop. Wifi router is very close by and printer connects fine, the printer goes as far to say that the signal is "Excellent".

When I go to the printers and scanners section in system preferences, and press +, no list of printers comes up because I delete the hp folder.

I do NOT want to connect via ethernet or USB. Only wireless.

Please help. I'm 30 minutes away from chucking this printer in the bin. Not sure why HP makes the process so complicated.

Thank you all.

EDIT: my iPhone stopped connecting with the printer on the same day.

[CalgaryHew7]

Shows up fine here.

[CalgaryHew7]

After 3-5 minutes of trying to gather device information, this pops up.

[Kumar0307]

Hi @CalgaryHew7

Welcome to the HP Support Community. I'd be happy to assist you.

• Make sure the printer and the MAC are connected to the same wireless network.
• This printer supports only 2.4GHz network. So, the MAC should be on the 2.4GHz network.
• If you have a Dual-band router and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks share the same name/SSID, the printer will not be able to connect to the network. In this case, contact your Internet service provider to assign different names to both the networks.
• Also, check with your Internet service provider if your router is able to forward 'Bonjour packets'.

Update the printer firmware

Click here to know different methods of updating printer firmware.

Check for any software updates on MAC

Click here to know how.

Perform a ping test to check the connectivity

1. Obtain the IP address of the printer by clicking on the Wireless icon on the printer
2. On the MAC Go to Spotlight > search for Network utility > select Ping tab > enter the IP address of the printer in the box
3. Check the second box that says Send only > 10 pings
4. Click on ping > Check the results at the end if any packets are lost
5. Note: There should be 0% packet loss, share the results in your next post.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as 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!

Have a great day! 

[CalgaryHew7]

In my initial response I said something wrong. It's always been on 2.4G. The belief that it was 5G was private wifi vs guest wifi.

Anyway...

Still not working.

Your first round of problem solving wasn't helpful at all because the printer has worked in the past at home and nothing has changed on the network. I also made sure there were no firmware updates on the router.

Your link to "Update the printer firmware," again not very helpful. I made it clear that by going to these pages it allows you to only download Easy Start and not individual drivers, that may fix this problem since I deleted the HP folder in the Library area, as per your generic troubleshooting guides told me to do.

Software is all up to date.

Ping test runs successfully with 0% packet loss.

Please read my messages on this thread very carefully because the majority of your response wouldn't have worked or was already tested.

The Easy Start is still running on the 3-5 minute endless loop when gathering device information. Same as the screenshots above. I need to fix this ASAP. What a waste of time and money.

By typing the printer's IP into the URL bar it also doesn't load the printer config page - not sure if it ever did before or it would ever do that. However, seems like something I should share in case that is meant to work.

[Kumar0307]

@CalgaryHew7, thank you for the response.

The ping test shows that there is communication between the printer and the MAC. However, you should also be able to open the printer's EWS page by using the IP address in a web browser.

This printer is AirPrint compatible. Have you tried installing the printer using the AirPrint driver and check if you are able to print and scan?

Keep me posted.

[CalgaryHew7]

AirPrint isn't working.

Truly ridiculous situation to be in. 

[Kumar0307]

@CalgaryHew7, thank you for your patience and time. Since we have tried most of the troubleshooting steps and the issue persists, I will have to do some research on this issue.

I will keep you posted on what the next step should be.

[CalgaryHew7]

When can we expect a response?

[Kumar0307]

@CalgaryHew7, thank you for your patience.

• Are you using a Guest network? Printer may not work on a guest network.
• If you have a Dual-band router and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks share the same name/SSID, the printer will not be able to connect to the network. Do both the networks have a different name/SSID?
• To update the printer firmware, go to Setup on the printer screen > Printer maintenance > Update the printer > Check for printer updates now.
• Check if the issue persists.

If you have already tried all these steps, I think this issue needs some additional technical assistance that can be better provided through one-on-one interaction with our HP Support team. I would request you to contact them for further assistance.

1) Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/

2) Select your product type below.

3) Enter the serial of your device.

4) Select the country from the drop-down.

5) Select the appropriate option based on your preference.

6) Fill the web-form and proceed further.

Keep me posted for any other assistance.