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

[SandyFish]

To all "Honor Students"

Please offer a little more help to us that are not so "honorable".

You wrote - (You use the hidden menu)

HOW does one get to the hidden menu???

Many thanks!!

[SandyFish]

Poo! I tried that & no matter what I did; highlight the IP # and hit delete or try to backspace to remove one incorrect # it didn't work. It's like that IP address is "locked" and the system won't let me edit it 😞

[das187]

It truly is a pain, and HP doesn't help. Nor does Microsoft. The various bits and pieces of infrastructure in the computer and printer and everything in between have to work together just right, and they're supposed to -- but way too often they just don't. Especially with a totally wireless printer connection. Don't know why. The help people don't know why either. As Caitlin said back on page 11 or 12 or 10, they're reading off a script. Every user here has a different set of connections, hardware, programs, software, firmware -- you get the pictue. And it's so easy to lose the forest for the trees, or, in this situation, the trees and every limb, branch and twig.

I hate to say it, but this is sort of like medicine where you have to understand as much as the doctor, since the doctor isn't living in YOUR body. Probably a bad analogy, but the best I can do with this headache. Just thinking about this gives me a headache. (Seriously, I was feeling fine before I started reading this again for the first time in months.)

Suggestion: Go back to about page 10. Read what everyone says and see what seems similar to your situation and all the screens and menus you have. This is not a pleasant task. It really does take, well, a bit of studying. You need to study all the things all these people say and find what's relevant to you. For me, going to the Netgear user forum -- because a Netgear router is between my computer and my printer -- helped also. A lot of people there giving useless information, but some perspective, and it eventually led me here. I can't say how many hours I spent reading all these posts and re-doing my printer setup, computer-to-printer settings, router-to-printer settings, etc. Brace yourself and just know that it is possible, and your answer may not be precisely the same as any one other person's. But somewhere in that maze is the path that will take you from your maze's center to its outside, so to speak. I think pages 10 - 15 have the most useful things.

Don't let it get you angry. The anger will cloud the rational part of your mind, which is the only thing that will solve this for you. Like a Chinese finger puzzle: if you get too angry and pull in frustration it just gets tighter. Remember that you are smarter than the software. Really. You are.

Take a breath, go for a walk, have a nice meal. Look at something other than a computer or printer for a while. Watch a movie like Chinatown (1974, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway), or The Usual Suspects (1995, Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne), and when you've figured out what really happed in THOSE, you've figured out something much tougher and more complex than this annoying stuff.

Life is too short to let plastic and semiconductors ruin it.

And keep us posted. We are all in this together.

[JSOtt]

SandyFish,

Assuming you are speaking about the printer configuration here, if the IP address field is not editable, it sounds like maybe it is still set to use a dynamically assigned IP.

What you need to do is set it to use a static IP, then likely the field will allow you to edit it.

i.e look for a setting to toggle between the choices:

- use DHCP/dynamic/automatically assigned IP

and - use Static IP

(Bear in mind, there may be other verbiage in use, ask if unsure you have the right setting)

If both choices are not presented, then it may be just a checkbox for dynamic. Turn it OFF/uncheck in that case to effectively cause it to use static instead.

For those asking questions, since we can't do Remote Assist, next best is if you include a screen shot or snapshot of your settings screen and you may get a more concise answer. Failing that, if you provide your printer and router model, it's easier for us to tell you what steps to take, and likely in the exact verbiage you will see in your interface - we can look up specifics for your devices in an emulator or user guide. Otherwise, WE HAVE TO GENERALIZE the instructions. As someone said, there are so may different combinations, firmware versions, etc...

I don't now nor have I ever worked for HP, but I do work in a SMB IT support dept.

[SandyFish]

Thanks! it worked 🙂

[SandyFish]

PS - Long long time ago I actually enjoyed using a computer. When it was a "toy" - used to make greeting cards, send an electronic letter or surf (dial-up, no less) the world wide web!
It seems like the "smarter" machines get the more you have to update and constantly look for solutions to get them to do what they once did or for the reason you purchased one in the first place - ha! I work with 6 men who have bascially no knowledge of computers - 4 different shared machines & feel like I am constantly "fixing" something; so when my machine at home starts acting silly I want to hammer it! LOL

[dmmassari]

WOWOWOWOWOW!!

THANK YOU!! 

I thought I would have to buy a new printer!!  this has been driving me NUTS for months!!

what an easy solution!!

THANK YOU "1 million" times!!!

[KISACA]

I have a Photosmart 110 printer and a Macbook.  I have used it wirelessly for several years UNTIL I had to get a new modem from AT & T and reconfigure the network settings.  Now my HP printer only works wirelessly when I enter the network and passcode.  It won't hold the passcode so that I can continue to use it.  How can I fix that?

[hscott1946]

I have an ARRIS router. Would happen to have the DHCP default range for this device.

I have contacted ARRIS support and they defer me to my Network Provider - and guess what - the NWK Provider says I have to get that Inormation from ARRIS

[KISACA]

I don't see how this solves my problem???