Photosmart c309a wireless problem

[netless]

Another c309a wireless card bites the dust - but has been flakey for some time.

Note to HP Support: [Yes another rant I'm afraid]

Buy a new printer - Yes - but never again from HP - and this is from a long term fan of HP [for solid build quality & support] dating back to my HP45 Calculator from circa 1975 and continuing through many subsequent quality HP products.

However I fully agree with the sentiments expressed in this forum - this printer & HP's support of it is rubbish.

Yes its now plugged directly into the back of the router - so I can use up my stock of expensive ink supplies - but a wireless printer is what I want and will source from an alternative manufacturer and my HP printer in the bin - all due to the simple lack of a replacement wireless card from HP

[jjohnson985]

I am having a similar issue.  The Wireless network test is not an option on the Printer Menu.

Any suggestions?

C309A

iMac running Lion 10.8.4

Worked just fine 2 days ago.  

Thanks.

j

[paspatu]

Problem solved as far as I am concerned.   As someone else said "I found the post that said turn off the bluetooth. Well guess what . I shut off the bluetooth and then shut off the printer. I turned it back on, ran the wirelss setup and the radio was back working. Very simple fix, solved at no cost!"  It worked for me and saved me buying a replacement extremely hard to obtain wireless card. Try it.

[BBMC012]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! WITH MUCH DOUBT, I TRIED YOUR SUGGESTION...AND TO MY SURPRISE, IT WORKED! I HAVE HAD THIS PRINTER FOR ABOUT THREE YEARS AND AFTER THE FIRST SIX MONTHS THE WIRELESS FAILED, THEN I COULDN'T EVEN HARDWIRE IT WITH A USB BECAUSE IT SAID "INCOMPATIBLE USB CABLE. " SO AFTER ABOUT A YEAR OR TWO OF NOT USING IT AT ALL, I TRIED TO UNINSTALL EVERYTHING AND START FROM SCRATCH.  I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO PRINT VIA USB BUT STILL UNABLE TO PRINT WIRELESSLY OR VIA BLUETOOTH.  THAT'S WHEN I DECIDED TO DO SOME RESEARCH BECAUSE I WAS DETERMINED TO FIGURE THIS OUT.  APPARENTLY THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM, AND IT SUCKS THAT HP WON'T BACK UP THEIR PRODUCTS. I HAVE HAD SEVERAL HP PRODUCTS AND ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN PIECES OF CRAP. A DESKTOP COMPUTER THAT SPENT ABOUT 9 MONTHS OUT OF THE FIRST YEAR IN THE REPAIR SHOP. A PRINTER, SCANNER, COPIER THAT NEVER WOULD SCAN. AND NOW THIS P.O.S. C309a THAT CRAPPED OUT WAAAAY TO EARLY.  I WILL NOT EVER BUY ANOTHER HP PRODUCT, NEVER!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFO, I THINK YOU KEPT ME FROM GOING POSTAL! LOL!

[BBMC012]

OK. I LIED. THE PRINTER SAYS IT IS CONNECTED TO THE ROUTER AND WIRELESS IN ON AND FUNCTIONAL, BUT WHEN I TRY TO PRINT FROM THE LAPTOP IT SAYS THE PRINTER IS OFFLINE. PLEASE HELP! I DONT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!

[wmc]

Get an inexpensive wireless access point to connect to the printer's ethernet port.  I used a DLINK DAP-1350 pocket router / access point - lots of versitility but more than the basic access point functionality you need.  There are cheaper access point solutions that will work fine.

Beyond that, dump the HP printer and get a cheap Brother or Epson printer - they have the CD printing functions that is the reason most people are trying to preserve the C309a.

[mah331]

The wireless card in my printer (c309a) stopped working.  I purchased the DLink DAP-1350 as recommended. I tried to follow the instructions in the DLink quick setup guide for configuring client mode but I couldn't get it to work. When I connected the DAP-1350 to the printer, it appeared to be connected to my network but I'm not able to print. Printer appears to be offline.

Can someone provide me with correct instructions on how to set up the DAP-1350 in client mode so that I can use it instead of the wireless card in the c309a?

Thanks so much.

[wmc]

Assuming you configured the D-Link properly (connecting it directly - wired ethernet port - to your computer, then configuring it as a client [switch on back set to CL] ) then you need to connect it with the ethernet cable to the C309a and set the network setting for the C309a (via front panel) to "wired".

I my case I have my Netgear wireless router set up as a DHCP server for my LAN so it assigns IP addressed to wireless / wired devices on my LAN. To get around the potentially changing IP address for the printer, you need to be sure in your Control Panel -> Printers and Devices, that the C309a series Printer Properties General tab has the Location set to "Host=printername" where printer name is something like HPD41CC, and not an IP address.  Note: Don't use the quote marks in the Location box.

You can find the printer's hostname (printername above) by using the printer front panel setup button, scroll to the Network menu and select View Network Settings.  The printer will print a page of network info, and the Hostname will be in the General Information section.  That section will also tell you if the printer is set to wired connection or still attempting wireless.

The other area you need to check is that your wireless router is not set to exclude contact from the MAC address of the DLink.

The final step for me was to press the WPS button on the DLink, then on the Netgear router - connected and done.

Re-reading, this LOOKs much more complicated than it is.

[mah331]

Thanks for the instructions but I'm still not able to get this to work.

I reset the DAP-1350 back to factory defaults and went through the setup process again. I chose manual configuration and entered my SSID and network key. I clicked Finish and the device rebooted. I connected it to the c309a. The printer shows as offline.  The wireless adapter is turned off. I printed the network configuration page and verified that the connection type is wired.  I noted the host name.  I selected properties for the printer and the location is set to Ip=192.168.1.3,Host=printer hostname. I changed the location to the hostname only and clicked apply.  The printer still shows as offline.  All the lights on the DLink are on.  Is there any way for me to tell if I configured the DLink correctly?

I haven't had a chance to check the router to see if it is set to exclude the MAC address of the DLink.  I need to figure out how to do that.

Thanks again for your time.  Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Proofpoint1393]

Thank you Vanden, good advise. I have the same problem.

Message to HP: please take care of your customers.