We have an HP Office Pro 8720 that we have used without issue for some time.
Our ISP is Xfinity.
There is a cable from the wall to the Xfinity modem and a yellow wire from the modem to the router.
We have several computers:
Dell desktop hard wired to the router - no printing issues - that works fine.
Dell laptop 1 - (mine) connected wirelessly to the printer and is printing fine.
Dell laptop 2 - (my husband's) connected wirelessly to the printer and was working fine until (yes, this is where the trouble began) we got a new Xfinity modem. We have been down this road before, of course. But not like this!!! Xfinity walked me through getting the new modem plugged in and set up to the network and printer. All went well, all devices - computers, my VOIP phone, my cell phone - were online. Hardwired desktop and both wireless laptops were online and printing. That was on Monday, 1/4/21.
On Wednesday, 1/ 1/6/21, my husband complained he could not print on his laptop. We powered off the router. He restarted his computer. Printer was again working with laptop 2.
Laptop 2 contined to print fine until late Thursday, 1/7/21. Restart, etc., it was okay again with the printer.
Laptop 2 finally refused to respond to restarts on Friday, 1/8/21.
First place, you know there is an issue if a machine has to keep being coaxed with restarts - that's not right.
We decided to call HP for help with the printer issue. As usual, HP was very professional and helpful and walked us through diagnostics and determined the printer was connected and properly operating. HP suggested calling the network administrator - I think that's a fancy corporate word for whomever in your household hooked up the network. That's me. I'm not computer illiterate, but I'm not a professional, either. I had run out of clues. So, we tried to get Netgear. Look, folks. Parsing communications in the community and online articles is not for sissies - especially sissies who have a life to live and work to get done online. We needed a doctor to stop the bleeding.
We finally found the path to someplace (GearHead? Don't know - no one identified themselves as with GearHead) with a very hard-to-understand technician. Communication in simple sentences was the second hurdle after the first hurdle was cleared - running down a cell and a cordless phone which both lost their charge while on hold.
We started calling about 7pm and were either holding or on the line with a tech until 10:30pm. at which time we thought we might have resolved the issue because the printing functions were working on all machines - but we had our doubts.
The tech told my husband and he needed to connect to the network to work and then change the connection to the HP Printer when he wanted to print. He tried, but what he printed did not have the desired images from the internet (he was printing some E-bay orders). We protested saying that's not the way it's supposed to work. What kind of fix is that!? This tech clearly did not have the expertise to deal with the issue and kept trying to make up things on the fly after a point.
This morning, our doubts were verified - we are back to where we started with ADDITIONAL issues. Laptop 2 cannot print. Also, laptop 2 has no right-side scrollbar (just one more thing for me to have to figure out how to restore); and another printer driver ( for a very old, basic Dell printer that is used at our 2nd home an 8-hour drive away and simply wired to the laptop when needed there) vanished from the printers/drivers menu! Husband is beside himself because all that old printer material is not available here where we are and he knows he's going to need it when he travels in a week to the other location - without me, his trusty desktop home support. The tech who remoted in, we suspect, decided it was clutter and removed it. There was never any mention about it on the marathon call.
So, here goes my Saturday - and if we don't get someone with some expertise that we can actually understand on the phone - I'm calling the Geek Squad.
Folks, we have jobs and small businesses to run. We are computer users, not computer professionals or hobbyists.
All was A-OKAY then one laptop had an issue talking to the printer. We just want that fixed by someone out there (who we know exists but need an introduction to) who can likely remote in or walk us through the right steps in easy-to-understand layman's terms.
The most fun we ever have is having one digital service provider say, "Not me! Go to someone else. Thanks for letting us serve you. Will you take our survey and tell my boss I was nice to you?" -- after terminal hold times to even get that much.
Your suggestions are welcome and thank you for them. Sorry to be such a pain. We just want our stuff to play nice together and not waste our time.
