HP 7520 loses wi-fi connection. What can I do?

[sabretooth04]

You would be amazed at what 'upgrade the routers firmware and hard reset it afterwards' does fix.  Maybe we should do this more often here.  But now not only do we have to download the manual for the printer to answer simple questions that the user can do himself, we now have to ask the routers model number and firmware level.  Then we have to go to the manufacturers web site and verify that the user is on the latest firmware.   If not, telling the user to upgrade his routers firmware, hard reset the router, power cycle it when done and then reconfigure it back to it's settings manually does not go over to well.  Most users are lost at this point.  That's why it is difficult when connecting devices.  Questions like, "Does the router supports USB printers attached? If so, what printers?  Does the router support Ethernet printers attached? "  also have to come from the routers web site.   The folks here take a lot of time looking up this information that is the users responsibility, but we do understand your issue.

[cmkelly01]

It's interesting that HP lists "Printer going to sleep" as one of the causes for losing connectivity ( http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02817031 However, the manual for the 7520 clearly states that "Sleep Mode" cannot be disabled. Seems counterintuitive to me.

[LeavingHP]

I have the same problem and HP has sent me six replacement.  The case manager keeps saying this is not a known issue.  Today he tried to tell me that wireless doesn't work through walls!  Of course they do not want to refund my money despite the fact that they've not been able to send me a printer that works.  So frustrated!

[LeavingHP]

The first tech that I spoke with walked me through some steps that was supposed to disable sleep mode.  It was a sequence of buttons on the display panel.  It didn't work or bring up any kind of menu and they sent me a new printer.  Does anyone know what the sequence is?  Has anyone else tried it?

[LeavingHP]

I've been dealing with this problem and HP Case Managers for 8 months now.  Today the case manager had me go into a system menu to disable the sleep timeout.  These are the steps we used.

On the left and right side of the display are a home (top left) and return (bottom left), cancel (bottom right, it is an X)buttons.  You might need to use a flashlight to see them beause they probably aren't illuminated.  Key in the sequence home, return, cancel, retrun.  This should bring up the engineering menu.  From this menu select Underware Menu.  You will see a display similar to the arrows on a TV remote control (up, down, left, right arrows with an OK button in the middle). 

Use the right arrow key and go to the system menu (the menu names are displayed in the upper left corner).  Press OK

Use the left arrow key and go to system mode timeout.  Press OK

Use the down arrow key to set the timeout to 0.  Press OK.

Exit by pushing the cancel (the illuminated red x in the lower right corner) until you've returned to the home screen. 

We completed this approx two hours ago and so far so good. 

Good luck.

[cmkelly01]

To "LeavingHP":  Bless you for being so persistent, and bless the Case Manager for having the ba!!s to let the cat out of the bag! Dollars to donuts that this fix'll save a lot of routers from going into the trash pile. I'd love to know how many people get helped by this simple fix.

[Meeshka]

Att:  LeavingHP

Please keep us updated on whether your fix continues to work.     Thanks for posting that information.   I sure hope that is the solution we are all looking for.   

Thanks again and I am looking forward to hear whether it continues to work.

[ageingstudent]

I also have the same issue. Tried everything. I just tried setting the syst mode timeout to zero. Thanks for putting that up. It's been a frustrating weekend trying to get the darned 7520 to stay connected more than 10 minutes. I reset everything to default and restarted before trying this. Will check back tonight and see if it is still connected.

[fixithp]

thanks for posting this. I had been getting the  "its the router"  from HP as well.  I have verizon fios since six months ago fios and there is no real alternative to the verizon provided router.  so it was get a fix or leave HP - I told them this but no one was willing to share this type of information.  Hope it works or the printer goes back.  I can see why HP has not shared this to many other settings in the enginering menu which could cause other problems if fooled with.  HP should of built a patch to add this specific setting change ability to the user menu structure.   

[rthompsonpuy]

There is indeed a way to remove the router from the critical path of this conversation, and make HP direct their efforts to finding a solution instead of immediately blaming the router.

For connections between devices with IP addresses in the same subnet, there is actually no requirement for a router to move packets between device A and device B.  Unless your router only has two RJ45 jacks in it, it's not just a router, it's also at least a switch.  It could also be an access point, and if it has a coax, fiber, or RJ11 jack in the back that gets you to the internet, it's also a modem.

My router (Belkin F6D4230-4 v3/firmware 3.00.03 ) has the first three items, but since I've disabled wireless I only use the router and switch portions.  I have only switches plugged into the router - one in the office, and one by each TV/DVR/BluRay setup.  My wireless network is provided by an Apple AirPort plugged into the office switch.  Also plugged into that same switch are my desktop, my W/2008 server, and a Brother HL-2170W printer.

Switches are aware of the MAC and IP addresses of devices that are plugged into each port, so when device A and device B (lets call them "a printer" and "a PC") are in the same subnet and plugged into the same switch, the router should not only not be involved in a conversation between the two, it should be unaware of it.  If either or both devices are wireless, their connection to the network is being done by a WAP (wireless access point), so you need to determine where that connects.  If it is also plugged into the same switch as the other device, or if both devices are connected through the same WAP, the conversation should still never leave the switch, and may never leave the WAP.

I just watched my laptop (connected via WAP) drop six ping packets aimed at my HP7520 (connected via the same WAP).  30-60 seconds later, both my laptop and my desktop reported having lost their connections to the printer.  At  the exact same time, pings from my laptop to my router, my WAP, my Brother printer, and yahoo.com didn't even hiccup once.

All of the devices, (router, WAP, both printers, desktop and laptop computers) are in the same room.

To prove out the paragraph above, I disconnected my switch from my router.  I watched the pings between my laptop and my router and yahoo.com drop, but pings to my printers and my WAP continued.  The router and yahoo.com came back online as soon as I reconnected it.  Finally, I disconnected my WAP from my switch.  The router and Brother printer went away, the HP printer and the WAP stayed.

So, IN MY CASE, the router does not appear to be to blame for the printer periodically (about every 10 minutes or so) dropping off of the network for about 5-10 seconds.  The WAP also does not appear to be at fault.  Since both my laptop (wireless) and my desktop (wired) lose their connections to the printer at the same time, logic would lead me away from those being the likely problem as well.

I'm left with one device that would seem to be faulty.  Could we please find and distrubute a fix for that device?