says hp printer Envy 4500 is offline but it is on

[SunOksan]

I'm having a problem with printer offline.  If I turn the power off and then on again it prints.  Today I ran all the  trouble shooting and it's not printing anything that's not from HP center.  I printed Set up instructions from HP it worked great but when I tried printing homework it says it's offline.  How can it be offline for everything except HP programs. Please help.

[JERENDS]

Hello SunOksan,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

I see that you are unable to print from anything other than HP related software, getting an offline error when you try. The HP center you mention, I am not familiar with that software name, do you mean the Print and Scan Dr or the Printer Assistant?

What is the Operating System installed installed on your computer? Also, how is the printer connected to the computer, USB or Wireless?

Regards,

[flairhart]

Speaking honestly and candidly, I'm disgusted with the obvious lack of a solution to this problem from HP after customers, including myself, have been complaining about this common problem since January 2014.

I've tried everything recommended by those offering solutions under this subject problem, to no avail.  I've recently spoken to a knowledgeable tech specialist I know who agrees 100% with the remarks offered by "ctmsr" under message  7 of 12 --"Quite simply, this problem is in the connectivity between Windows and HP communications software.   ...."

Now, isn't it about time that HP's support specialists dealt with it and came up with a successful solution!?!  It's a real pain, every time we want to print someting, to find that the printer shows as being online, but it's not; so hence, when clicking print, nothing happens.  If we need right away what we were trying to print, we have to shut down the computer and then restart it. While this has been the only solution, realize that, even that process, sometimes has to be repeated a second time before it works.  When it works, all of the things we tried to print and couldn't at the time, start churning out of the printer.  Most of them are prints no longer needed; but there's no way to know which ones we could have deletedby looking at the various print orders in the queue since they don't have file names associated with them.  VERY FRUSTRATING AND DISAPPOINTING!  If HP can't solve this problem, they should provide us with replacement wireless printerswith software that does respond properly and maintain its connection!  So, please don't offer anymore bandaids to us that were time consuming and didn't solve the problem. JUST FIX THE PROBLEM, PLEASE!

[JERENDS]

Hi flairhart,

I have not heard much feed back from the community yet, aside for the one reply, but this may be worth your time: Re: Missing/partial prints & Printer Offline on Windows 8/8.1.

JonW has posted a potential fix on the above Thread. I know you are not interested in a "band aid" fix, but to be honest, I don't know if this is a band aid fix or not. Does not sound like it it is, seems JonW had been working with Microsoft.

Best of luck, let us know if you try it.

[karen1329]

Oh Yes, yes, yes to all of the above and below! I've jumped thru all the HP hoops too and it is a collasal waste of time! The printer always shows it is online but when I try to print on my new HP Envy Printer it says printer offline which it, clearly, is not. Shame on you HP for making such a crappy product. Given all the people posting the same problem why don't you spend a little time and give us the answer or our money back? I'm sick of the hours I've spent trying to fix the problem only to find that the next time I try to use the printer I have to start over becuae the problem never really goes away. Arghhhhhhhhhhh! 

[karen1329]

My son sez it is a compatability problem with Mac Word and HP connectivity. The printer is not talking to the computer. The wifi connection is just fine. With all the Mac users in the world HP should have figured this out by now! 

[JERENDS]

Hello karen1329,

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post serial numbers and case details.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, this post has instructions.

Regards,

[Burton68]

I bought the Envy 4500 printer for my family for Christmas...and am having the same problem everyone else is having here.

Here's the interesting thing:  if I send the file as an email attachement to hpeprint.com, it will print out on the printer!  However, if I try to print directly from my computer through the wirelss connection, the computer tells me that the printer is not on...when it clearly is.  Multiple shut-downs and re-installs have not made any difference.  Also, my wife and I both have HP laptops...and both computers showcase the same issue. Very frustrating.

[JERENDS]

Hello Burton68,

Welcome to the HP Support Forums!

Have you had a chance to try the steps offered here: Wireless HP Printer Prints a Partial Page or Fails to Print All Pages in Windows 8? If not, I feel these are the best steps to help resolve the issue. Since the printer is able to print via the ePrint feature, we know that printer is functioning.

The actual troubleshooting from the above guide, although are titled to address a different issue, will have you installing the printer and ensuring a certain Microsoft update is installed. If the update doesn't help, under "Workaround", steps such as assigning a static I.P and adding the printer a certain way are your next steps.

Regards,

[Olere]

I have the same problem.  I have to switch the printer off and then on again evertime to get it to print.  It is really annoying.