HP Laser - keep or dump?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have an older HP P1102W wireless laser printer.
It's got an annoying problem.

The wireless worked great for the first two years. Then we switched internet providers and the new internet router had a different ip subnetting scheme.
192.168.0.X vs 192.168.1.X

Ever since then, the stupid printer has become a nightmare. Every time we try to print something, the printer is off line.

I've tried everything - - including a factory reset & even buying a brand new laptop to do the initial setup of the printer, after a factory reset.

Every time - same old same old - the printer is offline when we try to print to it.

The only solution is to power off the printer, power it back on, use a browser to go to it's 192.168.X.X web interface, clear out any print jobs & recycle the power a second time.

Oh yeah,,,,and deal with my wife who can't understand/accept the fact that printing to the laser printer si a 10 to 15 minute task...

Anyhow - I'm both at my wits end & nearly out of toner.
A new toner cartridge is going to run about $70 - give or take.

I can get a brand new low end wireless laser for about the same amount - - or less - - and be done with the irritation...no doubt the new one will come with it's own set of irritations, but, at least they will be a change...

I hate to pitch an otherwise good machine, but,,,,it's part of the wold of computers where nothing works and tossing it is the only real fix.

[Van Huskey]

I have a cheap Brother, I think the current version of the same printer is about $85 from Amazon with the starter toner cartridge. I have run about 8,000 pages in the last year and a half and I am very happy with it.

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Monoc...+laser+printer

For $15 more you can get the scanner/copier version.


I don't fight these things its like when a router goes goofy on me I just order another one they are just so cheap it isn't worth my time and normally I get an upgrade in the process.

[Phil Mueller]

What Van said. Had a problem with my old one where the repair would potentially be more than a new one. Upgraded in the process. Even with the new printer, I skip the wireless. Just take the laptop to the printer and plug in when I need something printed.

[Jerome Stanek]

I had an HP all in one color laser that started doing the same thing then with windows updates it would not scan. I ended up dumping it and getting a new one that didn't have a chipped cartridge and works better. Same here I needed new toner cartridges and they cost more then a new laser

[Larry Frank]

Dumped my HP printers because of problems and switched to Brother Laser and very happy.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Thatnks guys - pretty much what I thought.

[Mike Gresham]

I've had 2 devices (HP colorjet and Visio flat screen TV) that behaved that way from day one. Solved it by assigning static IP addresses to them in the router. YMMV.

[Randy Heinemann]

Does the printer have the capability to connect to your WIFI router? Does your WIFI router have an open hard connection for peripherals, etc.? If so, you may be able to not use the wireless feature on the printer and rather connect it to you router. Then all devices which access your WIFI should have access to the printer without the wireless printer function active. If you can do this, all you need is an ethernet cable (something people don't use too much anymore with wireless) to connect the printer too the router.

After connection I'd suggest wiping the printer out of your computer and reinstall the printer with any new updates from HP and the required HP software.

This might not work, but it's worth a try. Other than that, printers aren't worth fixing these days. You most likely could buy a new laser printer for less money. Or, you might consider buying an inkjet instead. They are even cheaper. Problem is the ink can get expensive but maybe not as expensive as the toner cartridges for the laser.

[John K Jordan]

...
After connection I'd suggest wiping the printer out of your computer and reinstall the printer with any new updates from HP and the required HP software.

I had to do this recently for an older Epson that sometimes refused to connect. Delete from the printer list then reinstall.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I also had he same problem when I went with a new wireless router. Pulled my hair out, until I tried pairing wirelessly using the WEP number the router generated and all of a sudden Vola!

[Rich Engelhardt]

Randy - did all that and then some.

Even with a static address on the printer and my laptop - the stupid printer still goes off line.

Still no joy.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Rich,

So if you print a configuration page on the printer what is the IP address of the printer?

Do you know what the IP address of the pc’s are by chance?

[Rich Engelhardt]

192.168.1.70
mask - 255.255.255.0

That's the printer.

192.168.1.67
192.168.1.68
192.168.1.69

All have subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

Those are the workstations

[Robert LaPlaca]

Rich, thanks..

Without sounding like like captain obvious, from a network addressing point of view we look good. All devices reside on same subnetwork, I was kind of concerned when you said the printer became a problem child after network addressing change.

Wonder if you are getting caught up with windows firewall (defender or others) not allowing you communication to 192.168.1.70 port 9100. This document from hp may help..

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03419426

Also the included printer drivers from Microsoft are notorious for being quite old, sometimes one must get newer drivers from the manufacturer (HP in this case).

[Rich Engelhardt]

Nope - firewall can be on or off - makes no difference.
I've tried all the drivers I could find - HP's new and old - HP ports and/or TCP/IP ports, static IP addresses and/or DHCP.
Still the same thing - the printer goes offline and you have to do a pee-pee dance to get it back online.


You are correct though - the problem started when we switched from Direct TV to cable and a new router & new IP addressing was introduced.
I'm dead certain the HP hardware is the root of the problem.
HP, despite what they believe themselves, don't know a thing about networking.
I forever had issues back in the old Netware days - all the way back to Netware 2.X with Jet Direct cards staying on line.