Question HP OFFICEJET 4650 Printer Network Issue

[Prahsper]

Hi,
I have the HP OfficeJet 4650 AIO printer. It is setup for wireless operation.
I have 2 laptops and one desktop connected to it to print wireless. The laptops are not an issue at all only the desktop.

If and only every time I reinstall a fresh Win10 setup and install the printer to the desktop, it works fine. For about a month or two, it will be detected as Offline and stay that way. No matter what I have tried I could not get this printer to go back to "ready to print" status. Uninstalling/reinstalling the driver does not help. The printer setup always sees it as "offline". Only when I reinstall Win10, then the printer, it works and prints fine. Then after a month or so, it goes back to "offline.

This time I uninstalled the drivers and removed the printer to start over fresh.
Now the driver installation tells me" the printer needs to be on in order to complete the setup". The printer is on and awake. It reads all the wifi info it is supposed to but the pc can't pick it up. So I tried connecting the printer with the usb printer cable. Drivers do not see the printer as connected.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this printer working/setup without having to reinstall Win each time. Only for it to go back to "offline" status again. The laptops work and print fine via wireless and never go offline. It is just will the desktop I have this issue.

Is there anyone here who knows exactly what it causing this problem? It shouldn't be any of the hardware because everything in this desktop is relatively brand new and I had this issue even before I upgraded the hardware.

File and print sharing is turned on, print spooler resarted and network reset done. Just cannot figure this out. Please help. Thanks.

 

[SamirD]

Ah, a crappy inkjet with crappy drivers. These are a nightmare since they are designed to be disposable consumer crap. That being said, I'll try to help you. I'm suspecting is some sort of impossible to find bug between the desktop, windows, and the printer driver, so not much hope.

First, can you try wiring the desktop to the network and see if that work/helps. It won't hurt to try one of the laptops wired also as a baseline to see if it should even work. Let me know the results.

 

[Prahsper]

Ah, a crappy inkjet with crappy drivers. These are a nightmare since they are designed to be disposable consumer crap. That being said, I'll try to help you. I'm suspecting is some sort of impossible to find bug between the desktop, windows, and the printer driver, so not much hope.

First, can you try wiring the desktop to the network and see if that work/helps. It won't hurt to try one of the laptops wired also as a baseline to see if it should even work. Let me know the results.

OK. I tried setting up the printer on my laptop with a fresh install of Win10. It works great wireless but did not even detect the printer when I tried with the printer cable first. I am assuming it is because it is a 25ft cable. That is all I have for now.
So outside the desktop, this printer and drivers work fine on the laptops and cell phone wireless.
I was trying to see also, if the printer could work wireless and direct with e printer cable to the desktop simultaneously, but I don't think this 25ft cable will work. I read somewhere that the cable should not be more than 5ft. long. My desktop is about 20ft. away from the printer but close to the wireless router. I have the 3 piece Google Wifi. I know it's not the router because I had this issue even with my old router which is why I upgraded it. The Google wifi has giving me not only a better connection for all devices, but stronger as well.
Still trying to get this printer connected again to the desktop without having to reinstall Win again. Also the desktop is connected direct to the internet. It is not setup wireless.

 

[SamirD]

Okay, so try this. Use wired ethernet to connect the laptop to the network and disable the wireless. Can the printer be found that way?

 

[Prahsper]

Okay, so try this. Use wired ethernet to connect the laptop to the network and disable the wireless. Can the printer be found that way?

No. I tried that as well. The desktop nor the laptop would not be detected when I used the printer cable. When the setup asked me to now connect the printer to computer, nothing happens when I plugged them in. The software sits there like it's still waiting for me to connect. That is why I was thinking the cable could be an issue. Too long maybe.

 

[SamirD]

You're doing it wrong.

I didn't say usb cable. I said ethernet cable.

 

[Prahsper]

You're doing it wrong.

I didn't say usb cable. I said ethernet cable.

After long testing, I finally found out why out of all the pc's in this house, this desktop is the only one that keeps being disconnected or offline. It was the NordVPN I have installed on this desktop that was causing the issue. Not that I have uninstalled Nord, the printer stays connected and online without issue.
Now I just have to find a way to have Nord not interfere with the wireless printer.

 

[SamirD]

Glad you found the root cause. Nord (or any other vpn) will always interfere with the wireless printer if you're using the vpn and the printer on the same ethernet adapter. You will need a second ethernet adapter to connect to the printer at the same time, but that also gives you a 'hole' of sorts as traffic could bypass the vpn and go through that other adapter.