SOLUTION to your HP printer going offline and/or constantly disconnecting from the network

[PKUSMC]

I just bought my printer and it was printing and then stopped. I tried the advice on HP and others but nothing worked.

I found your solution and followed it to the T and it is now printing!  Thank you sooooo much!

Pat

[das187]

No sweat.

We should all send these problems to the HP/Compaq board of directors.

Or force them to live with one of their wireless printers and keep re-attaching them to their networks on their own.

Yep, on their own.

Then things would change.

Maybe.

[antdon1]

Thank you for taking the time to help all these people -- Usually when someone finds a fix and gets their own stuff working they don't care about anyone else so its much appreciated.

I've tried your solution before reading this thread but I am having a slightly different problem here.

i would appreciate it if anyone can shed some light on this for me.

My printer is obtaining an IP both using DHCP and Static. I AM able to ping the IP but cannot connect in anyway whatsoever to the printer (Print, Web interface, etc).

At first I though maybe it was an IP conflict and i was attempting to access a different device on the network using the printers original IP address but that wasn't the case. I changed the IP address to another outside of the DHCP range and am able to ping it but can't access it in any other way. I am sure that this is the printers IP because when I remove the NIC cable (ethernet) the Ping requests stop responding.

It just seems as though all services are shut down or something. The ethernet card shows flashing lights as well. Everything was working fine and then just 'stopped' one day for no reason at all and I haven't been able to get it back to normal since then.

Hopefully I provided enough details for someone to chime in. As it seems like most of you weren't able to connect due to incorrect IPs might issue is slightly different but similar in a way.

I'd appreciate anyone that could help me out here as I am completely baffled.

Thanks,

-A

[denmacb]

I can't get my iMac to recognise my HP3050 deskjet all-in-one wirelessly, what should I do?

[MGWA]

Hello all of you Mac users fed up with this kind of problem. My last posts on this subject were 100 + 103 - quite a while ago!

My personal solution seemed to work for a while but then the problem reappeared: i.e. the wireless printer reported intermittently as on the wireless LAN by the router but the Mac (now OSX 10.8.3) reporting the printer offline most of the time (but very occasionally OK.)

More tedious trawling of the net - particularly regarding the BT Homehub 3, persuaded me to risk retiring that in favour of an Apple Airport Extreme, via ADSL PPPoE fed by Draytek Vigor 120 modem. You have to do some manual configuration (info from Draytek available - written for the old version of Airport Utility NB) but very easy to install.

Then usual setup of the Deskjet 6980: - attach printer by wire to router to configure the wireless passphrase settings in the printer's embedded browser page settings, then go wireless and it just works (- sorry tedious happy Apple phrase) - and it hasn't stopped working since.

The general opinion seems to be that the BT Homehub 3 is not, like some other routers, "Bonjour friendly". Ask someone else to explain exactly what Bonjour is, but it seems to be important for Macs reliably to find Wireless printers!

I am not using fixed IP addresses etc now. No more power cycling before every print job with my fingers crossed etc.

I have no financial interest in any of the products mentioned except that I bought them with my hard earned cash.

The only new problem is that my son complains the AAE is not letting him chat to others while on-line gaming with his XBox - well what hard luck!

I would have valued being able to borrow the Vigor 120+AAE to test the solution but haven't got the contacts - perhaps some of you do? By the way the cheapest UK internet price for the Draytek modem was on the BT shop site...

[das187]

I'm thinking there's something "magic" about turning the printer off, then leaving it off (and maybe totally unplugged, too) for a little while (maybe 1 - 5 minutes?) that "resets" something inside it. My own was turned off and then on again just the other day -- with power disconnected -- but only for less than 20 seconds. 1 day later, again, it was not on the network. Go figure.

I wish I could shed more light on the situation. Personally, the only thing that works for me is static/reserved IP and subnet mask within the network, static IP and other stuff within the printer (set up from scratch with a USB cable to the computer), and even then just turning it completely off for a couple of minutes every now and then. (I also usually check the wireless connection through the HP "Utility" software, just to see what's happening.) And if at some point I totally disconnect the power/plug in again and it still isn't on the network, I don't know what I'll do except totally setup again (i.e. wipe the slate blank and go back to the beginning). But so far, cycling power off/on seems to work, for varying lengths of time.

(My next step -- probably with our next printer in that room -- will be to connect it to the router with an ethernet cable to a USB converter to the printer -- not that I've even tried this yet! I really should give it a shot. All this stuff seems to be hypothesis. Especially with the people who make the printers, computers, routers, etc. Maybe wireless printers were just introduced to the market with grossly insufficient technical testing, but lots of market testing!)

[dickn]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in to the water . . .

Actually, my HP 5520 printer is working just fine.  But today I tried a "scan to the computer" and got an error message on the printer display that said "No Computer Found".  I went to the HP site and downloaded the latest drivers and the driver for the scan function (why was this not on the CD and installed then?).  I also downloaded the "HP Print and Scan Doctor".  It told me there was a driver error.  Told me to unplug printer and restart PC.  Came back to tell me that didn't fix the problem and to try HP Customer support or forums.  Dead end everywhere.

Don't know where to go now.  I'll keep searching this and other forums.  Remind me to NEVER buy another HP printer/scanner.  They don't work as advertised, hard to diagnose and not worth the hassle!! 

[dickn]

Well that was fast!!  Good old user forums.  I found a new App from HP for Windows 8 in the Windows 8 Store called "Scan and Capture".  It's free and as soon as I downloaded it the scanner ran and saved my documnet in PDF format.  Terrific.  Was Windows 8 never properly supported for this printer/scanner until this App was released?  THAT would have been a usefull error message or information in the HP Support forums!!  So now I'm (somewhat) a happy camper.  Took way too long to get a "fix" for what should have been available directly from HP.

[mbwcolky]

Now how do I use your Cheat Sheet?

[das187]

Cheat sheet???

Ain't no cheat sheet.

Only cheat cheets are the ones used by the tech help people at HP and other printer companies, software and computer companies and network hardware companies.

And clearly, their cheat sheets are worthless.

I think ya just gotta wade through all 15 pages from other people and make your own cheat sheet. (Oh, and IMHO, stay away from Microsoft-based software and hardware. It's the antichrist. Look at a satellite view of their campus in Redmond, WA:  looks like a big "666".)

And even then, don't expect too much.

(Sorry, but that seems to be the concensus. :smileyfrustrated:)

Maybe iFixit dot com has better advice, but they're more nut-and-bolts people.