How do I enable keep-alive on HP Officejet Pro 8600?

[Pawleysgirl]

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@rekrapg wrote:

I think the issue here has not been resolved, and wont be by info like that.  What actually happens with this printer (and software is fully updated on mine) is that after the printer goes to sleep, it drops your network connection completely.  I have tested both ethernet and wireless, and it has the exact same issue both ways.

The lights on the LED display show that it is still connected, and in fact if yo go into settings to view, it still has whatever IP address you gave it or dhcp gave it, same hostname, etc.  But printing is N/A, web config is N/A from your PC (tried Win 7, Win XP, Fedora, Ubuntu) so for all purposes, then printer is OFFLINE but still appears on the printer itself as if it's online.

2 ways to get it back - a) reboot, or b) disconnect/reconnect network connectivity type.  I've gone through all settings and can't see anything relating to keeping the printer on the network even in sleep mode.  

My question is this HP - what good is a network/wireless/eprint printer that won't stay connected to the internet/network?  If I have to go stuff around with it each time I want o print, i'm gonna get real pissed real soon.  This printer has fantastic features, but this is the most annoying problem a network printer can have! 

This was well stated in the previous post!  I have the same printer (HP 8600) and nobody can print to it if it is in the sleep mode-and there is no way to disable the sleep mode!!!

Like the person stated in the previous post, what good is a NETWORK printer if we can't print to it whenever somebody on the NETWORK wants to print?? 

Our office has two main rooms. The printer is kept in one of the rooms.  There are 4 main users of the printer, but many times, it is inconvenient or inappropriate to leave our work space, travel into somebody else's room (they may be having a private conference, etc.) just to wake up this printer!!

HP, I cannot imagine why your developers would have purpsoely set this printer up so that once it goes into the sleep mode, it is rendered almost useless.  This poor function is a big disappointment because other than the sleep mode disabled printer, it prints nicely, has a great print quality and prints very consistently and easily.  However, having to walk over to it just to wake it up--makes me plan not to buy another one like it unless this function is changed.  Replies, HP?

[Networked]

There is a "fix" of sorts for disabling sleep mode -- about page 13 or 14 of this forum.  I've tried it.  Doesn't work, but does keep the printer up slightly longer ... say an hour or two, rather than a few minutes.

[gdollar]

Hi Pawleysgirl, 

I sympathize with your frustration and I have had simialr issues but I don't think it's all around the sleep mode of the printer. I have four computers that run XP and one that runs Win 7, three devices (Galaxy 4 and 2 X iPads) runing on my modem/router. The Win 7 and one of the XP systems are permanantly on line and do not ever fail to print. the Ipads and Galaxy do not ever fail to print through eprint. The other three XP systems lose the printer every few hours or will stay on line with the printer for a day at most. This was the behaviour with a Linksys router and fixed IP address. I changed the router to a Comcast modem/router and set up a fixed IP address for the printer. Nothing changed as all the devices behaved just as they had before. I have searched for a reason why one XP computer sees the printer all the time, as does the Win 7 computer and the other peripheral devices, but three XP's lose connection. I have not found that cause.

Clearly the printer does not go to sleep for all devices or some have the ability to "wake" it up when they need to print. I cannot find a reason for this and it is frustrating but somehow I would think that HP could allow and easy way to switch off sleep mode, if that is truely a cause of the problem, without going through some engineers "panel" to change settings. The fix is clearly in HP's court and they have been poor to respond to this issue. Maybe HP lose the "energy saving" status if you override the sleep mode???

It has been a frustrating journey but as a previous person said "the printer is a great printer" but there really must be an easy fix to this or maybe the wireless hardware is a problem and cannot be fixed without a recall. I am sure HP know about this problem but there is a reason they cannot or wont fix it. Come clean HP.

One last thing, the computers with AVG virus checker makes the printer fall off the system when the virus checker does anything (looks for updates, scans, checks a file). If you use a company's VPN then you will also lose use of the printer but it does come back on when you return to local network.

G

[Pawleysgirl]

Thank you for this info! I will find the fix and give it a try.  I will let you know how it works out.

It is disoncerting that this sleep mode issues is plastered all over so many sites, yet I have not seen one reply from HP.  A reply about the sleep mode, whether HP would say it can't be fixed or it can be fixed, is much, much better than complete silence from them.  Silence indicates what? They just don't care?  What does the silence mean?  Thank, Amy

[VisionAiry]

--Printer Will Not Respond to Touch and Network Communication is Lost--

[joex398]

I purchased my HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus In November 2013.  It is hard-wired (Ethernet) to my Netgear WNDR3800 router and is set-up as a network printer.  I have a desktop running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, an I-Pad with iOS 7.0.4, and a laptop also running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.  My desktop is hard-wired (Ethernet) to my router; the I-Pad and the laptop use wireless connections to my the router/network. 

I experienced the same problems as reported by everyone else (i.e., the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus goes offline …drops its network connection…when it goes to sleep).  I tried all of the solutions mentioned here and only found one that made a difference … using a static IP address for the printer.  My Netgear WNDR3800 router allow me to “reserve” an IP address for my HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus printer.   I assigned an IP address to the printer in my router and then used the same IP address in the printer settings.  I did not change the port name or settings in the printer properties (it still uses the “HP network re-discovery” port).

My printer still “sleeps”, but it wakes up and prints when a print job is sent from my desktop, I-Pad, or laptop.  All of the other functions (scanning, faxing, etc.) work as they should. 

The only caveat is that my desktop (which is hard-wired {Ethernet} to my router) must remain on or in a sleep mode.  If I power down my desktop, within about 15 minutes, the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus printer will not wake-up when a print job is sent from either the I-Pad or laptop.  When I power up my desktop again, the printer will not wake up.  I have to power down the printer and restart it again in order for it to print, scan, etc. 

I have left my desktop powered on and/or in the sleep mode overnight and in the morning, the printer wakes up and prints from any of my devices (desktop, I-Pad, and laptop).

I do not know why the printer wakes up, as it should only when my desktop is on.  The only thing that I can think of is that my router has a program called Netgear Genie, which is installed on my desktop.  That program provides access to all of my router settings, displays all of the connected devices, etc.  Perhaps that program somehow “holds” the network connection to the printer as long as the program is running (i.e., my desktop is on).   If someone has another theory, please post it here so that it might lead to a permanent fix to this perplexing problem.

So I just leave my desktop powered on for most of the day & evening...I just turn it off at night when everyone is finished printing.  I also power off the printer at night and turn it on after I have powered up my desktop in the morning.

This is not a perfect solution, but it is the only one that works for me.  I hope that this post will help others with similar devices & connections.  If anyone has questions on my set-up, just post them here and I will answer them.

I am still very disappointed that HP has not developed a permanent solution to this problem.  This post should remain open as this issue still has not been resolved.

[VisionAiry]

@Networked - Bravo! I sympathize with your agony but your story was not only well-written but truly just amazing. If I can help in anyway, let me know.

--Printer Does Not Respond to Touch and Communication is Lost--  

So just double-check my forum post above for any additional tips. The reason I wrote that thread was because it was inspired by this never-ending one here, in hopes of helping those searching find all their information in one place.  I am not here to make excuses for HP but I've also heard every excuse in the book from consumers why it must be HP because "everything else works."

Since this post has become a novel anyway, why don't you sit back and I'll tell you what's up. Now you all, I feel anyway, deserve to hear what I heard in a meeting about this exact issue but I'm going to put it in my words and how I interpreted everything when I left that meeting. I was your advocate, your enforcer on the matter, the one who repeatedly pointed out that I needed an answer but more-so, you all needed an answer. I am not speaking on behalf of HP and personally it's not that I don't care what they think but that this is valid information in helping you all. My words: [clears throat]

So let's say you have 10 possible things causing this sleep mode to happen. OK HP can control, um, we’ll say 4 of those. They can advise you to set a static IP, plug in the Ethernet cord and turn off the wireless icon, plug the unit directly in to a wall outlet, and update your firmware.  That leaves 6 more things out of their control. 4 more of those are your network environment. Not referring to the space in between the router and the printer (although I once heard there is a minimum of 3 feet because even being too close could cause other issues), oh and not referring to metal shelves, wireless phones and other FCC regulated electrically-interfering devices that somehow I have seen first-hand have a direct effect on your printer, but I mean your router settings which includes your internet service provider. I mean the one of 50 settings you could adjust to better suit your printer, that miraculously have no effect on any other device in the house.  Perhaps these machines are soooo complex that the more features they add the more things could go wrong. Perhaps HP quit caring about what the consumers actually wanted, because it surely wasn’t ALL the “features” they were soooo concerned about. Hello HP! It was PRINTING! The people want to print, that is all, and yes, from every.single.device in the building. Maybe they didn’t listen. [breathes deep]

Now let's talk about those 4 things as well (as quoted from the link above): "Other internal router settings to take into consideration is to set your encryption to WPA2/AES and not mixed mode but fixed mode.  Setting your 2.4 GHz band to Channel 11 has also become a known fix.  ...verify G-mode is set as this mode seems to work well with all HP devices." But, the 4th one is one that I do not have experience with but it has something to do with Disabling UPnP.  I don't even know what that is but that represents the number of possibilities out there in regards to network environments that could change. Don't forget the special router that is immue to this issue: the TrendNet AC1750.

I have to even ask myself, what could be the last two things that would cause this printer to go to sleep. As I see it, it is both easy and difficult to create a faulty product like this.  It's easy in the sense that anyone can get products mass produced and if 1% of a million messed up due to one little teeny tiny transistor alone, that’s 10,000 people with a printer dead on arrival, all at the same time. I'm a writer and not the least bit interested in statistics but when this many people have a problem, there should be an obvious solution, at least in the next generation product like this (since it’s been going on so long I doubt anything can help now with this one). Well I just recently learned about the Energy Star regulations (I think that is what it is called, don't quote me lol). I mean, who's to say there isn't even an invisible force here, not sabotaging our equipment but rather not really giving a *darn* if their requirements put the thing to sleep...just as long as it does. Just my viewpoint, not based on anything I care to mention about the other printer companies I service but this stuff just happens and you bought a disposable printer, I mean it's not like they come to your house and fix it when it breaks, they send you another also exposed to the same outside influences. They, as in different brands even, all do though.  

And the tenth thing that could cause this to happen I will leave entirely up to your imagination because if you read this far you probably have one.  Sorry, I was just in a writing mood but honestly I'm right there with you.  Weird thing is I don't even own a printer, particularly the 8600 because I am around them all the time. What I can tell you is: technology, despite how expensive it is, is only worth what you're willing to pay. I learned that pricing my piano...if you can't find a buyer, you lower the price but yet there's always someone who will pay that price (both literally and metaphorically).

Thanks for the rant. I always try to help if I can because I am all too familiar with this so hit me up. Trust me, I always have steps to try. 

[8lives]

@VisionAiry, Hi you mentioned UPnP being used in many of todays routers and it's possible roll in the keep-alive problem.

You may be interested in talking a look at GRC's site, it has a very good explanation concerning the UPnP setting and why it should be always turned off.

[VisionAiry]

Thank you for your valuable input 8lives!  I have been seeing that a lot lately in fact.

[8lives]

It's also important to check that the Power Management option is not turned on for the network adapter.