LaserJet Pro 200 Color m251mw

[ftyminski]

Printer has easily connected to many wiFi networks over the years  (ATT, Spectrum, Charter, Netgear Orbi). It even worked on my current ATT 1GB router for a couple of months. ATT did something with network that is now not letting me connect and giving me an "Invalid WPA Passphrase" when I try to connect.

ATT tried something that wiped out all my WiFi devices, requiring me to register all 20 device again. Yikes! Still the M251mw will not connect.

1. How do I put the printer back to Default settings to try again?

2. I did a Network Summary printout and it showed all the Enable features were "enabled" except ARP-Ping.

3. Can I use this printer thru a wired LAN?  I have CAT6 cabling back to the router. Will I be able to print from my iPhones?

Thank you.

Frank

[Kumar0307]

@ftyminski, Welcome to the HP Support Community! I’m here to help.

I see that you are trying to connect the printer to the wireless network. Are you using a Mac or a Win PC?

• Make sure the printer and the computer are connected to the same wireless network. Either 2.4 or 5GHz 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 networks.
• This printer supports WPA encryption, check if the router is on the same encryption method. If using WEP or WPA-PSK+FT change it to WPA-PSK

According to the printer specifications, this model printer supports ethernet connectivity too. However, if the printer is not wirelessly connected, you will not be able to print from your iPhones.

On the printer screen, go to Setup > Network Setup > Restore network settings

Go back to Network > Wireless > Wireless setup wizard and select your network.

Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click on the YES button to reply that the response was helpful and/or to say “Thank You”.

Have a great day! 

[ftyminski]

Thank you Kumar.

I have an ATT Router and it is split into 2.4 and 5 with similar but not same names.

I use both Mac and WIN laptops and two iPhones.

The printer has always worked until ATT split the network and wiped out all my connections during a reset.

They did this so I could connect WiFi Switches and outlets from Leviton.

I had to reconnect ALL my devices, Ring, Wemo, etc. The only one that will not connect is the HP printer.

My Brother MFC printer/scanner connects just fine.

I have a very strong WiFi signal near the HP.

My laptops are Wifi as well, so they would also not work with  the ethernet connection, correct?

If I ask ATT to fix this, and they change the encryption, all my devices will get blown off again, correct?

What would I ask them to do? They always want to combine different networks.

Thank you again.

[Kumar0307]

@ftyminski

If your laptops have an ethernet port, you may connect the printer using the ethernet cable.

For assistance, refer to - HP printer setup (wired Ethernet network)

You only have to check what encryption your router has. Check if it is WPA-PSK.

Let me know how it goes.

[ftyminski]

Thank you. If I connect the laptops via ethernet, will that disable the WiFi for other work?

[Kumar0307]

@ftyminski

Yes, connecting an ethernet cable will disable Wi-fi. You can either use Ethernet or Wifi. Not both at the same time.

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

[ftyminski]

Kumar,

First, thank you very much for your help.

I spent nearly two hours with ATT router tech support. YIKES!
Reset Router to defaults

CONFIRMED

WPA WPA2 WPA3

No MAC Address filtering.

Merged dual band network into one.

Increased device count limit on 2.4 to 30

Reassigned a few devices to other channels to reduce interference.

Disabled WiFi6. Tech said some devices pre-2020 have issues.

Router cannot have a MAC address directly configured.

Strong signal at installation point.

ATT tech and I walked thru the Wireless Setup for the printer. 

Two common errors that repeat. "Network Connection Failed" and "Invalid WPA Passphrase".

I tried both network password, and a Passphrase I saw in a menu choice, 52438671 (don't recall how I got there).

Every other WiFi device (Samsung, Leviton, Ring, WEMO, HP printer & laptop, Apple Mac, iPhones) all connect and reconnect flawlessly. Most predate 2020.

The solution of ethernet is unviable. Home is not wired for that. 

The Wireless Network Test Report for this printer shows:

SSID: Same as all other devices

Communication Mode: Infrastructure

Authentication type: wpa2-psk

Encryption: tkip+aes

These settings wpa2-psk and AES the same I use for my Brother MFC which is working fine.

What can be done? I see you are a HP employee. What other tech support options do I have?

Buying another printer seems unreasonable. I recently spent nearly $300 for new toner cartridges and this printer is low-use one-owner.

Thanks.

Frank

[Kumar0307]

@ftyminski

I see that you have tried all the possible steps to resolve this issue.

If you have a USB cable, try Changing from a USB to a Wireless Connection.

If not, I've sent you a private message with further instructions to resolve this issue.

• In order to access your private messages, click the private message icon on the upper right corner of your HP community profile, next to your profile Name or simply click on this link: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/notes/privatenotespage

Keep me posted for any other assistance.