The printer was unable to connect to server

[ace1062682_2020]

Hi I recently purchased an Officej 9018 and pretty much out of the box was getting this error or something similar. After nearly 8 hours on the phone with support I was provided a replacement. If the new one acts similarly should I explore DNS settings etc.

[Kumar0307]

@ace1062682_2020, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Kindly wait got the replacement printer and check how it works. If at all you face a similar issue, follow the steps mentioned in this document - Cannot Connect to Web Services

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[ace1062682_2020]

Hello all of these steps have been done multiple times over the last week with two diffrent machines.  The same error occurs regularly.  I'm connected to Wifi, web services are on, both in the EWS and on the printer control panel itself.  The test email using the setup for email within the EWS is setup correctly and works initially, but when I restart the printer, it fails.  DNS seems to be the only solution due to the fact that the IP chabnges when the machine restarts.  Any other thoughts?

[Kumar0307]

@ace1062682_2020

As all the steps have been done, I think this issue needs some additional technical assistance that can be better provided through one-on-one interaction or a remote session with our HP Support team.

Please reach out to the HP Technical Support team in your region for further assistance. 

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

[ace1062682_2020]

Hey just wanted to update this for future reference and to see if you or  Anyone have any additional ideas.  After several hours on the phone with both HP support and my Internet provider(Comcast), I am still  Without a resolution , but have come to the conclusion that  It almost cannot be a defect within the machines themselves (as this is the 3rd brand new 9018) we've tried. Initial setup and wireless connection is unremarkable in all cases. Scan to email and enabling web services sets up as it should and the initial tests are normal. However when I leave the EWS to complete any job(print,scan or otherwise) I am greeted with the connection problem message immediate. HP did a remote reset and we changed the Dns to manual successfully but ultimately received the same error when attempting a job.

Then we interfaced with Comcast to try to set up a separate band for the printer,. With HP support we were able to set up the printer as the only device on the 2.4 G band and enable web services successfully. After leaving the Ews we received the same error message when attempting to complete a job.  I have kept the 4th we'd have the same issue with a replacement. Ive escalated the issue to engineer 

and hope to hear back soon but am out of ideas. The printers original ip out of the box is 10.0.0.119 and the static ips we tried began with 

169.72 and constantly switched each time we restarted the printer or the modem itself. My thought is that it has to come down to IP somehow but I don't know where to go from here 

[fg1111]

In case it helps, the same connectivity issue seems to affect both Smart Tasks and Scan to Email.

When starting any of the Smart Tasks after switching on the printer or after any print job the following message is displayed:

"The printer was unable to connect to the server. Please try again later".

I'm on my second replacement printer and the problem is still the same. I have tried different wi-fi routers and switching to the 2.4Ghz band with no success. I also tried everything from factory reset through to resetting EWS as per the instructions in the knowledge base: HP Printers - Cannot Connect to Web Services.

There are people also struggling with the same problem but there doesn't seem to be a fix for it:

HP Smart Tasks: The printer was unable to connect to the server. Please try again later

HP, please acknowledge and fix the "unable to connect to the server" Smart Tasks Issue!

[ace1062682_2020]

Who is your internet provider?

[fg1111]

Virgin Media UK

[ace1062682_2020]

In the US, it seems to be an issue with mesh routers, particularly newer. My problems started when I got a new router from Xfinity. I don't think its entirely the fault of the printer or the router. Its a combination of both. Id set it up and use it as you can. If you can plug an Ethernet cable into the router itself and the printer. It seems to happen a little less often. But its a known issue. Please keep us updated and I'll do the same 

[ace1062682_2020]

Your question inspired me to reach out again and I found a few potential settings solutions. These are within your router. Ive tried most of these though some of them are on your ISP side. 

Multi-casting (multicast filtering) needs to be on or enabled (Allows Bonjour Connectivity)
• Allow Wireless Ports, these can also be blocked in security software:
• Incoming (UDP) ports : 137, 138, 161, 427
• Outgoing (TCP) ports : 137, 139, 427, 9100, 9220, 9500
• Most printers only support 2.4 GHz not 5GHz (make sure that the 2.4 GHz SSID is named differently from the 5 GHz SSID)
• Recommended network name and password DO NOT contain any spaces/punctuation or special characters
• Encryption should be WPA-TKIP or WPA2-TKIP/AES (printers are not compatible w/ WEP-shared encryption and WEP-Open is a very low encryption type)
• Make the password 10 digit alphanumeric.
• Dual broadcasting enabled (for wireless b/g and n networks)
• Mac filtering Disabled