I have a HP2540 which is possessed by the devil. I've wasted more of my life trying to get it to connect to the network and print than I waste on any other device in my life! EE recently split our wifi into a 2GHz and 5GHz network as we were struggling with congestion and dropping out of work calls etc and that seems to have made it spit the dummy. It's connected to a network but neither my phone nor laptop can now find it. I appreciate I'm a total IT luddite but it shouldn't be this hard??!!
So any recommendations for something that is easy to set up on a network and just bloody works?? Oh, and is in stock somewhere - Amazon seem to be sold out of most things!
My HP OfficeJet Pro 9019 was simple to set up, changed networks when I moved it to the garden office and all my computer's and phones find it even when on different networks.
Not sure that's any help, but dunno what's causing your issues, sorry
Having had many printers (mostly Canon/HP) over the years, I'd recommend our current HP Envy 5540 (or maybe its successor). Owned for 2.5 years and far more reliable than anything we had previously. Multi-function (scans, copies etc).
Perhaps the paper feed could be better but not a real world issue TBH.
HP Ink subscription also makes cost of ownership simple and cost-effective.
We've HP Envy and have similar issues...
I've worked out that:
- when it works wirelessly it's cloning your WiFi, on the same channel. Switching off printer = much more stable internets.
- our new Vodafone router and firewall now blocks much of the HP printing system, which seems to involve lots of my data going through HP/web, not just laptop->printer
- every time they do a software update it won't print until it's updated - and then half the time bricks the system.
I found that uninstalling the printer, then go to HP site and download thier proper printer app, install that. From that you can then re-add your printer - don't go via Windows add a printer.
I've got an Epson that does the same, I think the instruction manual was missing the page where you print out the pentagrams (via the generic windows printer USB driver) and sacrifice the goat.
If you recently split your WiFI into 2 seperate networks, a 2.4Ghz and a 5Ghz one then the most likely problem is that the printer is on the other network from your devices. If your phone and laptop are less than 5ish years old then they are almost certainly connected to the 5Ghz network whereas even brand new printers will most likely only use 2.4Ghz. Have you tried forcing your phone or laptop onto the 2.4Ghz network to see if they can see the printer then.?
I'm assuming that if the WiFi bands were split into 2 networks then they will have different names and will show up as 2 different networks on your phone/laptop.
Brother printer here.
Apparently wi-fi.
Connects to the wi fi. Says it is happy. Router shows the device in its list of connected doohickeys.
No other device in the house will talk to it over wi-fi.
Absolute work of the devil.
Only narrowly escaped being attended to with extreme prejudice.
Have you tried forcing your phone or laptop onto the 2.4Ghz network to see if they can see the printer then.?
Yep - tried connecting laptop to 2.4Ghz network (and phone stays on 2.4Ghz).
Come on folks, you were supposed to give me hope that there was an easy solution out there?? 🙁
After tearing our hair out at Epson and HP printers constantly going offline, we got a Brother DCP-J572DW for around £100 from Argos and (touch wood) we've had no issues. Not sure if that model is still available, but will definitely stick with Brother from now on.
Edit - just noticed mrmonkfinger's post above... looks like it's just pot luck 🙂
Some stuff is a pain. Our HP is fine - best option was to disable bluetooth on the printer as one of the laptops always insisted on connecting that way - even if at the bottom of the garden - wouldn't work. Left WIFI only on.
Just having issues screen mirroring from my missus Samsung phone to the samsung TV (for Les Mills exercise programmes) - anyway a phone update has borked it. My samsung phone works fine, hers has stopped. I'm getting ear ache for not fixing it - I've tried, it's the phone os - apparently 'can't' isn't a word. I am not an IT technician, FFS, and it's not a coincidence that an OS update has borked it.
Some stuff just doesn't play well with other kit.
Ok, well in the interests of recommending what you have. An HP M252dw LaserJet Pro. Haven't had any issues with it since we had it. Laser toner lasts for ages compared to ink and the printer doesn't use half of it to charge the print head every time it gets switched on. Computers, phones, iPads all print to it without complaint.
Are you certain the printer is connected to a network.? Did the passwords or SSID change when you split the networks.? Does it get a decent signal.? Have you tried 'waking it up' and then immediately sending a print.? It could be going into a sleep state that the phone/laptop is interpreting as non-responsive and timing out before the printer wakes up.? Try getting the printer to print a test page, or head alignment or something that has the printer actually print something (should be able to do that from the printer directly) and then send a print from the laptop.
Conversely we've got a Brother WiFi printer and it's great. Prints from both phones and both laptops in the house with absolutely no hassle. The big win for me though is none of that proprietary "only our ink cartridges work" nonsense you get with other manufacturers. £12 for a set of CMKY cartridges on Amazon.
It's a Brother DCP-J572DW.
Even on the different channels, your devices should be on the same network.
Do you have wireless isolation (or something similar) enabled on your router?
Most routers offer this a security feature, it basically splits every device onto its own "network" so none of the devices can see each other.
Kind-of great for security, less ideal when you actually need the devices to talk to each other!
Also - if you are using work devices, your work might have setup an always-on VPN which could stop the laptop device talking to other devices on your local network, e.g. your printer. Again, good for security but bad for usability.
There are two ways of printing wirelessly - the easiest and most robust is to join your printer to your current network. It will get an IP address in the same range as your laptop/phone/tablet etc. Probably 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x
Most printers also offer "Wi-Fi Direct" This is where the printer acts as a wireless access point, and the laptop/phone/etc connects directly to the printer. Great for being able to print wireless when you aren't on a network, but not the best way to set it up at home.
I think the router may be giving the printer different IP addresses. I don't know if this is possible but there's something to do with IP addresses that is screwing stuff up. There's another 90 mins wasted and still no ****ing printing!
Canon PIXMA TR8550
Flawless so far.
Printers are pricks. Always have been, probably always will be.
Have you got a PC you can plug it into, share it from there?
I think the router may be giving the printer different IP addresses.
Reserve an address for it in your router's DHCP settings.
Did you setup the 2 wireleess IDs (2.4 & 5ghz)?
If not, has it been setup with restrictions on ports etc. like you might setup a guest network?
As above, being on 2 different IDs shouldn't be an issue as both will be treated as a single network from the routers perspective.
IP issues would be unusual if the router handles everything. Can't imagine a printer expecting a specific static IP.
Printers are a world of pain - best thing I ever did was go through the reviews on Amazon and shell out for the cheapest that people said "actually it works and I don't hate it". Was slightly surprised when it turned out to be A3 ...! but bonus I guess.
Recently got a Canon iP8750 and set it up for wifi use which was a little more difficult than planned. I don't have a CDROM on my PC to read the disk that came with the printer and the set-up app on the Canon website wouldn't run when downloaded so there was a bit of faff involved in using a mobile app to set up the wifi connection. However, since then it has been trouble free and I'd never guess it wasn't just plugged in to the laptop.
If it makes any difference we have a TP-link mesh wifi set-up in the house which may be a bit more user/printer friendly than most of the router set-ups.
Printers are awful. We have a very cheap HP on the ink subscription thing. It does have issues with the Wifi but a bit of fiddle and it will print. Just good enough for school work, I dont use for anything else.
Reserve an address for it in your router’s DHCP settings.
Er, you're assuming I have a clue how to do that! 🙁
Did you setup the 2 wireleess IDs (2.4 & 5ghz)?
Nope - dude from EE did it. Not sure what he did in reality!
No idea what I've just done but HP app couldn't re-install it but Windows did so I'm back up and running. At least until tomorrow until it has another hissy fit. All that for 1 sheet of A4!
I had a similar problem to this with my Epson wifi printer and a BT hub setup.
What was happening was the BT hub had been configured to forward new devices to a security page where a few basic options could be chosen for the new device like parental controls and security guff so the printer never completely got going on the network.
I disabled it on my router and things started working again. Does the EE hub do something similar?
also......
Reserve an address for it in your router’s DHCP settings.
I'd echo Cougar here; one problem is that the PC will send the print instruction to an address (192.168.xxx.xxx), but it may not always check that the printer is still at that address.
How do reserve the address in the router DHCP is something along the lines of:
- Make a note of the MAC address somewhere on your printer (probably the back or the bottom)
- go into the router settings page (192.168.0.1).
- Under something like "network settings", there'll be an option for "DHCP Reservations".
- enter the printer mac address, and then add an IP address that's something like 192.168.0.50
- turn off printer and router and turn them back on again.
In theory that *should* mean the printer is at a consistent address (192.168.0.50) and so can consistently be found by the devices on the network.
In practice the printer sometimes has a tantrum because it doesn't want to be at 192.168.0.50, but it's a good first step
Not that this helps the OP but I've never had any kind of issue with my HP Envy 5640 even when I changed my router. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Just ordered an HP LaserJet Pro M255dw hopefully decent at £219 with £75 cashback and a 3yr warranty plus 5% cash rebate through work.
Will see how it goes for general printing requirements.
Lexmark here, I am a complete idiot and i don't have any problems printing from phone, tablet or laptop.