"Driver not available" for my Printer HP Office 3831

[Xaver1]

Hi

Please, Help!

Just a week ago i bought this printer for school- purpose.

At first everything is fine, but later i printed quite a few pages in black and white, then i could not get it to print in color. So i browse through the community and find some answers, i tried reinstalling my pdf but didn't work, so i reinstalled the printer software as suggested. It work, but after some time it happened again....  worse, i could not print via my pdf and need to do it in hp smart app which is difficult due to the page setup settings. 

Then i tried reinstalling it again. But this time, the driver is always unavailable. I tried looking it up here too and it is suggested to do a deep root wipe out of the software and also the driver . But nothing works... i tried it twice and nothing work, in the end, the fax become a standard printer. Tried to delete it in order for the printer to be set as the standard but still "Driver unavailable". 

when i try to do a hp diagnostic, it just told me to install the software, and i did. but theres a problem when connecting, i need to always use my wifi direct to connect to my computer or else my printer would not be recognised. (i tried using the ip address and even host name but nothing came up.)

now i cannot print anything from my computer despite all the software that i installed......

in the end only this error message popped up

please help, i need to get my school work done....

Thanks 

[TEJ1602]

@Xaver1, Welcome to HP Support Community!

Follow the steps below-

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.

Use HP Print and Scan Doctor

Download HP Print and Scan Doctor and run the program. It will automatically diagnose and fix any printer connectivity issues. 

For more information, go to https://support.hp.com/us-en/topic/printscandoctor

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

Assign manual IP to the printer

The steps on how to set a manual IP address can be found here.

For the DNS servers please use 8.8.8.8 for the Manual Preferred DNS Server and 8.8.4.4 for the Alternate DNS server. These are Google’s public DNS servers

If the issue persists, I recommend you delete the driver and root level and retry, follow the steps below: 

1) In Windows, search for and open Programs and features 

2) Select your HP Printer 

3) Select Uninstall 

4) In Windows, search for and open Devices and printers 

5) In the Devices and Printers windows look for your HP printer. If you see it listed right-click on it and choose ‘Delete’ or ‘Remove Device’ 

6) Open up the run command with the “Windows key + R” key combo. 

7) Type printui.exe /s and click Ok. (Note: there is a space in between “printui.exe”

8). Click on the “Drivers” tab 

9) Look for the HP Printer driver. If you see it Click on it and click Remove at the bottom 

10) Select Ok 

11) Select Apply and Ok on the Print Server Properties windows 

12) Close Devices and Printers.

Use this link to download and install the new driver. Configure the printer.

Add a TCP/IP port.

1. Print a Network Configuration Report from the Printer Settings or Wireless menu.
2. Right-click your printer, select Printer Properties, click the Ports tab, and then click Add Port.
3. Select Standard TCP/IP Port, and then click New Port.
4. Follow the instructions to add a new port using the information listed on the Network Configuration Report.
5. 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!