Unable to get connection to 3800 or 4200 via ethernet

[Laser_Dude]

Process:

1) Hook printer to ethernet hub/network - (professionally installed gigabit router/hub and wiring.)

2) Open Printers & Scanners in Settings and click the plus sign

3) Select the hp LaserJet 3800 (and 4200 that appear via Bonjour.)  "Use" is auto-completed correctly with the right printer driver.

4) Click Add

5) Click Configure

6) Click OK

7) Print something - Que says "Printing - Connecting to printer." and then "Printing - the printer is not responding." - Bottom line is we're unable to print.

Observations:

1) After giving print command, Image in Printers & Scanners changes from a green indicator that says "Idle, Last used" to an orange indicator that says "In use, Last Used."  (Also noted that if you turn the printer off, it shows a red indicator and "Offline, Last Used") - all this makes me believe the mac and printers are talking

2) We couldn't even find the right printer driver until we hooked the 3800 up via USB.  The mac immediately recognized the printer and downloaded all the HP drivers - and the 3800 works flawlessly via USB - but the 4200 doesn't have USB - and we need both printers on the network.

3) We've tried shutting down the entire system and then brining it back up, one peripheral at a time - in this order: modem, router, mac, printer.  We've done it three times without a change in the results.

4) We also tried #3 with using the printer's IP address (which, when you put it into the settings, indictes is valid,)  a) It doesn't find the right printer driver and b) when you select it manually and do the install, it says it can't find the printer.

Anybody have any good ideas?

[tyler3rd]

Laser_Dude, by coincidence, I've been beating my brains out since this morning with our HP 4300s and our newly installed Mac OS 10.11.2 (El Capitan), and getting pretty much the same results.  The only difference is that when I try to add the 4300s in the "Printers and Scanners" system preference window, the Mac doesn't even see the 4300s, and when I manually type in the IP address, it says that the printer can't even be found.

For what it's worth, we also have an HP M1217nfw MFP on our network, and it's working fine with the new system software, so I think that I've eliminated the net hardware as the problem.

Please post if you're able to come up with something.  TIA

[Laser_Dude]

Hadn't considered El Capitan being a possible source.

We have another mac running Mountain Lion - will try from that machine tomorrow.

[Laser_Dude]

El Capitan is not the issue.  I've got the same problem trying to connect from a mac mini running Mountain Lion.

[canyx]

Apparently same issue on Mac mini OS 10.10 and 10.11 using ethernet printer connection. Printer&Scanner pref panel shows green indicator, Idle, default, until a print command is issued then indicator turns yellow, idle status becomes in use. Printer queue is unable to get printer's status and hangs. Yet HP Utility is able to get status, toner level, and a page of config. info.