HP Printer not detected

[will-i-am-1]

I have an HP Envy Inspire 7200 printer. 

I changed my wifi router recently and ever since then my laptop cannot find my printer.

Printer and laptop are both indicating that they are picking up the new wifi router.  

I've been onto Microsoft support who reloaded Windows 11 for me saying this would solve the problem but it didn't.

I've tried the printer with Wifi Direct enabled and disabled.

I've even done a factory reset on the printer.  After doing that HP Smart now indicates the printer and that it is 'ready' which was very hopeful, but as soon as I try to print, it reverses the 'ready' message and reads 'offline' instead.

I'm considering hardwiring the printer to the new wifi router to see if this resolves the problem, but I'll need to get hold of an Ethernet to USB Type B cable as the only port.  

Would this work, or can anybody suggest another fix that I haven't yet tried?

Thanks, will-i-am-1

[Deep_World]

Hi @will-i-am-1,
 
Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Thanks for reaching out!

I understand your querry, to have your printer show as “ready” one moment and then flip to “offline” when you try to print. You’ve already done a lot of the  troubleshooting steps, so let’s work together to narrow this down further.

Could you please confirm whether your Wi-Fi is set to 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both  printers often prefer 2.4 GHz connections.

Here are a few steps you can try before investing in cables:

1. Check IP address: On the printer’s control panel, print a network configuration page. Make sure the printer has a valid IP address from your new router.
2. Ping test: From your laptop, try pinging the printer’s IP. If it fails, the issue is network-level.
3. Re-add printer manually: In Windows 11, go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Add device. Choose “Add manually” and enter the printer’s IP address.
4. Update HP Smart: Ensure you’re running the latest version of HP Smart, as older versions can misreport status after router changes.
5. Router settings: Disable “AP isolation” or “client isolation” if enabled this prevents devices on Wi-Fi from talking to each other.
6. Static IP assignment: Assign a fixed IP to the printer via your router’s admin page. This avoids the printer “disappearing” when DHCP renews.

As for your idea of hardwiring: unfortunately, the USB Type-B port is designed for direct connection to a computer, not to a router.Ethernet isn’t available on this model, so Wi-Fi is the best option.

I hope this helps.

[will-i-am-1]

Hi Deep World

Thanks for your welcome to the community, and thanks for your detailed and professional reply.  

The printer currently shows 5 GHz on the display screen though it has also sometimes displayed 2.4 GHz.  I have a photo of it showing 2.4 GHz on 1st May.

In answer to your other questions:

1. Check IP address of the printer: currently displaying as 192.168.0.214

2. Ping Test: Pinging 192.168.0.214 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.237: Destination host unreachable.

3. Re-add printer manually: Yes, I've tried this several times to no avail.

4. Update HP Smart: It's currently showing as HP Smart 164.1.1128.0 and App ID: 01E3B841-D

5. Router settings: I didn't know how to disable isolation, so googled it just now and picked up some discouraging information: 

You likely cannot disable AP isolation on the Greenpacket E5-250MA (Three 5G/4G Hub) because it is hard-coded into the firmware, preventing wireless-to-wireless device communication (e.g., casting, printing). The router acts more as a wireless gateway rather than a full LAN router. [1, 2] ... With some more detailed info under Current Known Status for E5-250MA

HOWEVER, this router replaces the same model I had before, when I changed my contract with Three Mobile, and there were no wifi connectivity issues using the previous router.  That's what I meant in my first message that this connectivity issue began when I changed my router.  But it is the same Greenpacket E5-250MA router.  It goes on to suggest using a cable connection not from the router but from the laptop to the printer.

6. Static IP assignment: If you're still recommending this procedure, please could you give me more directions as to how to proceed with this.

Thanks !  will-i-am-1