HP Photosmart 7520 unable to find Wireless Network

[NickvdLee]

Printer: HP Photosmart 7520 e-ALL-IN-ONE SERIES

Router: NETGEAR Router WNDR4000

Hello all,

After recieving our new HP All in one Printer we were unable to find our wireless network in the list of wireless networks during the printer set up. We are able to recieve the networks of our neighbours but not our network.

We have tried:

• Using the WPS feature on the printer and router
• Setting up an open wireless network on our router
• Connecting to our wireless router using the setting on our laptop when given the option during install via PC.

Any help on this subjest would be appreciated.

Regards, Nick van der Lee

[Sunshyn2005]

Hi NickvdLee,

You mentioned that you tried "Connecting to our wireless router using the setting on our laptop when given the option during install via PC", do you have the PC configured tot he wireless network, wirelessly?

You also stated that you have tried "Setting up an open wireless network on our router", this doesn't necessarily mean your network is not hidden it just means that it is no longer encrypted. his of course is if I understood correctly. I suspect from the sounds if it that the network is in fact hidden.

Another possibility is that the router is broadcasting on the 5ghz frequency, the printer works on a 2.4ghz frequency only. If the router is on the 5ghz or is set to dual band, it would be a good idea to disable the 5ghz. I found the following information that might confirm this theory.

With the WNDR4000, the 750 comes from 300 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz radio and 450 Mbps for the three-stream enabled 5 GHz radio. While a three-stream 5 GHz radio may score marketing points, the only devices that can take advantage of 5 GHz three-stream N are notebooks / laptops with dual-band three-stream cards (like Intel's Centrino Ultimate-N 6300) and three antennas. If you're looking to upgrade current gear, the only three-stream N capable bridge so far is TRENDnet's TEW-687GA, but it's 2.4 GHz only.

So the WNDR4000 joins the Cisco Linksys E4200 as the second router to have three stream N on its 5 GHz radio only. If you want three stream on both bands, your choices remain D-Link's DIR-665 andTRENDnet's TEW-691GR.

Resource: NETGEAR WNDR4000 N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router Reviewed

I hope this information is helpful.

[NickvdLee]

Hi, sorry for any confusion I may have caused!

Mentioned PC is a laptop connected to the wifi network from the router. Router is broadcasting a network on both 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies and the laptop is connected to the 2.4 one. SSID is broadcasted on both networks. Disabling the 5 GHz frequencies did not resolve the problems.

Thanks for the reply!

[Sunshyn2005]

Thanks for the additional detail NickvdLee,

How much distance is between the printer and the router. We generally recommend the printer be more than 4-5 feet from the printer but not more than 40 feet. I like to describe the wireless signal from the router like an umbrella, if the printer is too close to the router it will not get the signal as anything under the umbrella is not in range. It might sound silly, but I have actually seen moving the router fix so many issues like this.

When choosing a location for your wireless router or wireless printer, avoid having the following items between the wireless router and wireless printer: long distances, walls, other wireless devices (like cordless phones), and large appliances.  Resource: HP Wireless Printing Center FAQ

Please let me know if this is helpful.

[NickvdLee]

Hi thanks for the ongoing support.

The printer is in the same room as the laptop, one room away from the router. Its about five metres. The signal has good strength in this room and there aren't any other signals interfering on the same wireless channel.

[Sunshyn2005]

H NickvdLee, it's my pleasure.

I understand the signal strength on the computer is good, but keep in mind the wireless radio in the laptop would be stronger than the radio in the printer. It's different hardware.

I know I might be asking a lot but for diagnostic purposes would you be able to put the printer in the same room as the router approximately 4-5 feet from it. If it still doesn't work from there then we know it is not the location of the printer causing the issue. troubleshooting can be very time consuming, it's all about process of elimination. If you are willing to try this, let me know the outcome. I will continue to do additional research on my end to see what else it could be.

[NickvdLee]

I have moved the printer closer to the other room, it is about two metres away from the router now, placing it any closer would be impossible as it is not possoble to move the printer to the room the router is in itself as that would be our hallway. Luckily the printer would still not pick up the signal despite being able to pick up signals from over five houses down the lane (which is impressive in and of itself!) so we won't be limited in placing the printer after the setup is done.

Are there any setting on the router that could be inflicting this issue, such as the type of protection on the signal? Currently it is on WPA-2 which I think is fairly standard.

[Sunshyn2005]

Hi NickvdLee,

Thank you so much for trying for me, and I appreciate your patience. 🙂

I don;t believe the issue is the encryption type, that would not effect whether the printer sees the network or not, it could effect connecting to the network. WPA-2 would not be an issue though.

If you haven't done so already, let's leave the printer on and unplug the power cable, shut down the computer (only because I don't want to effect it at all), and leave the router on and unplug the power cable from it (don't press any buttons, I don't want to reset it). After 1 full minute, we can plug the router back in, wait for the lights to illuminate, plug the printer back in and wait for the wireless light to start blinking. We can turn the computer back on if you would like or wait until later. Now try running the wireless wizard on the printer and see if the network name is listed.

Keep me posted.

[NickvdLee]

Hi,

No problem at all, we both want this problem solved I guess! 

I have:

• Left the printer on but pulled out the power supply from the wall plug;
• I have shut down the laptop;
• I have left the router on but disconnected it from it's powersource;
• I have waited approximately 3 minutes before plugging the router in again;
• Waited until the wireless signal was back up and connected to the internet (confirmed with my phone)
• Plugged in the printer again and searched for available wireless networks.

I can see multiple SSID's as before but our own signal is not showing up.

Forgive me if I am interrupting a workflow here but it seems like it has something to do with the wireless settings on my router, do you know of any settings that may have influence on being able to detect a signal? I'll try and google this myself actually.

[Sunshyn2005]

I absolutely believe this issue has to do with your router and how the network is broadcasting. By having you unplug the router, we have accomplished whats called a hard reset of the router and sometimes this fixes such an issue.

Because the issue is not the HP Printer, we are out of scope. My area of expertise when it comes to networks is what we have already addressed. At this point I would recommend contacting your internet service provider, if they provided the router, or the router manufacturer.

If you would like any further assistance from me feel free to come back, I will keep an eye on your thread and help I can.