Cannot Find Printer On A Wireless Network

I have a computer (Windows 10) connected via WiFi to a home network. I am trying to install an HP OfficeJet 8610 Pro printer wirelessly, but am having issues. The printer did work previously, but recently stopped working. I have reset all the factory defaults on the printer, and run the wireless setup wizard on the printer, which connects it to the network successfully (or so it says). When I then try to add it in Windows, it doesn't find the printer. The network status monitor (on the device itself) says it's connected, and has assigned a 192.168.x.x IP, but when I ping the IP from the PC I get no reply. I have tried to add the printer with the "Add Printer" wizard in Windows, both by searching and by manually adding the IP, neither has worked. I have also checked the Windows firewall settings, and all seems good. Any ideas on what the issue could be?

 

First, revealing the printer's (or your computer's) dynamically assigned IP in a public forum is not a security concern. Virtually every router in the world uses 192.168.x.x for connected devices. Only your ISP assigned address is important to protect - though every site you connect to can see it. Still, no fault in being in the habit of erring on the side of caution!

What if you enter the printer's IP address in your browser? Can you then access the printer's embedded web sever?

I found with my HP 7525 and my previous HP OJ that if I lost power to my entire network, the DHCP dynamically assigned IP address to the printer by my router often changed. Then I could no longer print from any of my computers because the printers setup in the computers were set to a specific port that was configured to the original IP address. To make it print again, I had to edit the properties for the port in each computer and change it to the new IP, or manually change the IP address in the printer back to the original. This latter option was often a hassle because it likely changed because its original IP was reassigned to a different computer - depending on the sequence in which all my connected devices reconnect after power was restored.

To fix this I told both the printer and my router to use a static (fixed, not dynamic) IP address. In this case, I used 192.168.1.25 knowing that I would never have 24 connected devices ahead of that on my network. Now, if I lose power again, all my settings never change.

In Control Panel > Devices and Printers, is this printer (or a 8600 series device) listed? Is there a device with a green check mark on it (indicating that is the set default device)? If so, you might try uninstalling them, uninstalling all the drivers to that device, rebooting (this is important), and try installing everything again.

And for the record, I never - as in NEVER EVER install HP drivers from the supplied driver disk. This is because printer makers (not just HP) always want to install a full suite of bloated, resource hogging software most users never need. If you look here and scroll down a bit, you will see "Basic Drivers". That's all you need to print. If me, after uninstalling everything, I would install that basic driver, then the printer again.

With the basic driver, you can still print as you normally could. And you can copy and fax locally from the machine's own front control panel. Or you can enter the embedded web server from your browser to check ink and printer status, fax or scan documents. You don't need any special HP software. This, of course, assumes the printer is otherwise working fine.

 

Yeah I know that the printers address isn't a security concern, I just didn't see any value in giving the actual local address, and I didn't know it off the top of my head. As far as the browser, no it won't find the web server. There is nothing in Devices and Printers either, because it isn't finding the printer to add it in the first place, therefore it isn't there to be selected, made default, etc.. It did work originally and was there at one point, but when it stopped working (It simply said 'offline' in Devices and Printers), I removed it, uninstalled all related SW and drivers, and attempted unsuccessfully to re add it. I got the drivers from the HP site, not the supplied disc, but even without any SW, it should still detect the device through windows.

 

Apparently the drivers on 10 are hit or miss.
Try the directions in the first post here to see if you can add the printer
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Inkjet...lation-on-windows-10-use-windows/td-p/5221904

 

Sorry I should have mentioned, the printer works with no issues when connected via USB, so I don't think it's a driver issue. My bad, I definitely should have put that in my original post.

 

Then that sure suggests it is a network issue. Is there another networked computer you can try to add this printer to?

Have you tried an Ethernet connection?

 

I haven't tried Ethernet because the computer isn't in proximity to the router, I'm going to try adding it to another connected computer and see what happens though...

 

My concern is you cannot even see the printer in your browser. I hope a second computer can find it. Then maybe you can use its settings as guide. Keep us posted.

 

Yeah it won't even reply to a ping through the CMD prompt, so there's no communication going on.

 

That's with a second computer, or Ethernet or both?

 

Well the printer itself says that it's connected successfully to the network on the LCD, and displays a local IP address. But when I ping that address from the CMD prompt there is no reply. The computer that I'm pinging from is connected to the same network that the printer is (supposedly) connected to. Both the computer and printer are connected to the network wirelessly.

 

But that does not answer my question. Is that with the second computer or first one? And have you tried connecting the printer (not worried about computer's network connection - it clearly works) via Ethernet? It should show up as a connected device in your router's admin menu where you can verify the proper IP address.

You need to try a second computer so you can isolate the problem to the printer or the computer.

 

If the printer is setup for DHCP, can you log in to your router and see if it has leased an IP to the printer?