Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

donawalt
Virtuoso

HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

I have an Orbi 850 series router and satellites (2). I am fighting a problem where a HP Color Laserjet 400 series keeps losing its WiFi connection. It is probably 30 feet from the router through one inside wall, so it is close. It seems to happen once every 2-3 days, but it's pretty random.

 

When I run the network test on the printer, it passes all tests, including Signal Strength = Excellent. The report does give one warning, saying,  "More than 1 access point/wireless router has been found that matches your wireless network's name (SSID). If this is unintended, your HP printer might connect to the wrong wireless network (Warning: Condition may cause network issues). I am sure this is the printer seeing both the router and probably 1 of the satellites on the next floor. It has 3 levels of notes - Information only, Warning, and Critical: Action required. Nothing else ws mentioned.

 

A few days ago I made the printer's IP address a static entry in the router - that didn't seem to help as it has happened since.

 

The printer does use the 2.4GHz connection.

 

I am at a loss - is there something I can do to stop this? I never had this trouble with my old router, which was a Google WiFi.

 

Thanks for any advice or help!

Message 1 of 19

Accepted Solutions
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Thaks @FURRYe38 for the explanation and the terminolgy clarifications. Just so I understand though, I don't see a risk in setting the reservation equal to the static IP address a printer uses, right? You can introduce or see problems/conficits or bad router behavior on the router or device if you have in use both STATIC and RESERVED methods using the same IP address. This is why either you use a static IP or a reserved IP, not both at the same time.

 

The DHCP server will never issue that IP address unless there is a match on the printer's MAC address, and no device will ever ask specifically for the reserved IP address since the static/manual entry of that IP address at the printer means it won't do a DHCP request. The DHCP can issue the same IP address if a static IP is with in the default IP address pool. This is why when using STATIC IP addressed devices, they are used OUTSIDE the routers DHCP IP address pool.

 

Since NG defaults there pool to 192.168.1.2 thru 254. Users can and is recommended to change this pool to something smaller. Like 192.168.1.100 thru .200. This gives the router room for 100 device IP address assignments which in some cases will never be exhausted. Then on either side of this pool, there is plenty of room for static IP addresses devices, that the routers DHCP server will never issue. 

 

What you recomend as a best practice makes total sense in a larger network - any static address setting inside the DHCP pool better be reserved to a device that will never ask for it, otherwise there will be duplicate IP addresses all over the place. Plus if for whatever reason I ever change the static address on the printer, or change/delete the reservation, I will have duplicates too. But as it stands, so I understand, my only risk is a 'maintaining the network issue', not that what I have right now won't work?

Best practices if for any networking, both larg business and some home networks if some home users want to ensure there network is configured and flexible correctly. I have been using this for years, both before and after my networking training. Again this is normal and best practice for any networking environement. 

 

There will be not duplicate IP address if the pool size is changed and static and reserved IP addresses are used and configured correctly as per information mentioned above. 

 

Again, just trying to help you out to ensure the IP address is configured correctly. I have 3 HP printers on my network. ALL 3 are set on static IP address ON the printers and reside OUTSIDE of the routers default IP address pool. Thus nothing changes and printers are accessible from any device with intuitive IPs. 

 

 


 

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Message 17 of 19

All Replies
Mstrbig
Master

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

The report does give one warning, saying,  "More than 1 access point/wireless router has been found that matches your wireless network's name (SSID). If this is unintended, your HP printer might connect to the wrong wireless network (Warning: Condition may cause network issues). I am sure this is the printer seeing both the router and probably 1 of the satellites on the next floor. It has 3 levels of notes - Information only, Warning, and Critical: Action required. Nothing else ws mentioned.

The printer does use the 2.4GHz connection.

When you see the message about multiple SSIDs, do you choose the correct one? I had the same issue with my Canon printer, with the same message. I went to the GUI and got the IP and MAC address info and made sure I picked the correct Orbi device to connect to. I get the same message on a couple of cameras I have, and if I don't choose the correct SSID, I get a weak connection.

Message 2 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

It does have the router's ip address in the advanced settings 192.168.1.1, I don't see any place where it has the Mac address of the router. Plus, I am thinking that with the signal strength being excellent, that indicates it's using the router 30 feet away, not the sateliite which is a floor up and at the opposite end of the house.

Message 3 of 19
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

What happens if you disable AX mode on 2.4Ghz on the RBR? 

Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz


Try moving the printer closer to the signal as well...

Message 4 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Thanks @FURRYe38 I'll do one at a time - I had AX on for 2.4 and 5.0, so I just turned it off for 2.4. That enables WiFi 6 capabilities? 

 

It's already got a dedicated channel 11 in the router settings. 

 

I don't think I need to move the priner, I just watched the levels for a little while and this is pretty consistent:

RSSI: -56 dBm

Noise: -95 dBm

S/N ratio: 39 (that's extremely good!)

 

So I guess I'll see how this goes?

Message 5 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Ah - I just noticed this, maybe immortant!

 

I never looked closely at the WiFi info other than the IP address,so it's obvious when it's not "on the network"

 

But I just restarted it again, and it's not on my 192.168.x.x network again! But look at what it says:

 

IP address - 169.254.201.82

SSID - correct, SSID of my network

 

What the heck is 169.254.201.82? Is that the backhaul router address or something?

Message 6 of 19
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Thanks @FURRYe38 I'll do one at a time - I had AX on for 2.4 and 5.0, so I just turned it off for 2.4. That enables WiFi 6 capabilities? Disabled AX support on 2.4Ghz. 

 

It's already got a dedicated channel 11 in the router settings. 

 

I don't think I need to move the priner, I just watched the levels for a little while and this is pretty consistent:

RSSI: -56 dBm

Noise: -95 dBm

S/N ratio: 39 (that's extremely good!)

 

So I guess I'll see how this goes?


 

Message 7 of 19
Mstrbig
Master

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Ah - I just noticed this, maybe immortant!

 

I never looked closely at the WiFi info other than the IP address,so it's obvious when it's not "on the network"

 

But I just restarted it again, and it's not on my 192.168.x.x network again! But look at what it says:

 

IP address - 169.254.201.82

SSID - correct, SSID of my network

 

What the heck is 169.254.201.82? Is that the backhaul router address or something?


The 169 network is an internal network, 

Whenever you find your computer stuck on 169 IP address, this could generally mean either of the following:

The DHCP server is temporarily unavailable
The computer is not connected properly to the network
The computer was not authorized to connect to the network
The computer itself was unable to communicate with a DHCP server
Your router is wedged or jammed, and thus needs a reboot
WiFi or internet connection isn’t working

Message 8 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Hmm. the Orbi is the DHCP server. I guess Ill restart it. Do I need to restart the two satellites as well, do they serve DHCP addresses?

Message 9 of 19
Mikey94025
Hero

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Try configuring your HP printer with a static IP address (so it doesn't rely upon DHCP to get the IP - Even if you configured Orbi to always return a fixed IP not using DHCP removes one step that might be causing issues).  Also disable any Energy Saver/Sleep modes.  Other suggestions at: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/LaserJet-Printing/HP-Printer-contantly-disconnecting-from-the-WiFi-net...

Message 10 of 19
Mstrbig
Master

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Hmm. the Orbi is the DHCP server. I guess Ill restart it. Do I need to restart the two satellites as well, do they serve DHCP addresses?


No need to reboot the Orbi. It could be your printer location is just a bit too far away for a stable connection. You could stand with a laptop or phone, use a WIFI Analyzer and get realtime readings from that area, to see if the signal strength is consistant or up and down. Could be WIFI radio interference. The Analyzer will tell you that as well.

Message 11 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Good sugestion @Mikey94025 I bet giving it a static IP address will fix it. Let me try that. The signal is really excellent where it is...

Message 12 of 19
Mstrbig
Master

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Good sugestion @Mikey94025 I bet giving it a static IP address will fix it. Let me try that. The signal is really excellent where it is...


Actually it's not a good idea to fix the IP address on the device. If you are going to assign a static IP address, do it in the Orbi router to avoid any existing device having an issue. orbilogin.com > Advanced > Setup > LAN Setup > Address Reservation.

Message 13 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Actually that's what I did. It already had a static address at the router, so I just manually entered that address for the printer. So both are fixed and match.

Message 14 of 19
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

So lets clear up something. When talking about static IP addresses, standard networking practices, this term means that a static IP address is set ON devices. Not on a router. IP address RESERVATIONS are IP addresses that are reserved and set ON DHCP routers. Not set on devices. Also Static and Reserved should never be used to gether. Static IP addressed devices should reside out side of the routers defualt DHCP IP address pool and not with in it. 

 

I would be recommended to set a actual static IP address on the printer thats outside of the routers IP address pool. Since printers don't need much router or internet access, static IP address works best for printers that may not be used much however don't need any router management on a daily basis. 

 

Message 15 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Thaks @FURRYe38 for the explanation and the terminolgy clarifications. Just so I understand though, I don't see a risk in setting the reservation equal to the static IP address a printer uses, right? The DHCP server will never issue that IP address unless there is a match on the printer's MAC address, and no device will ever ask specifically for the reserved IP address since the static/manual entry of that IP address at the printer means it won't do a DHCP request.

 

What you recomend as a best practice makes total sense in a larger network - any static address setting inside the DHCP pool better be reserved to a device that will never ask for it, otherwise there will be duplicate IP addresses all over the place. Plus if for whatever reason I ever change the static address on the printer, or change/delete the reservation, I will have duplicates too. But as it stands, so I understand, my only risk is a 'maintaining the network issue', not that what I have right now won't work?

Message 16 of 19
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline


@donawalt wrote:

Thaks @FURRYe38 for the explanation and the terminolgy clarifications. Just so I understand though, I don't see a risk in setting the reservation equal to the static IP address a printer uses, right? You can introduce or see problems/conficits or bad router behavior on the router or device if you have in use both STATIC and RESERVED methods using the same IP address. This is why either you use a static IP or a reserved IP, not both at the same time.

 

The DHCP server will never issue that IP address unless there is a match on the printer's MAC address, and no device will ever ask specifically for the reserved IP address since the static/manual entry of that IP address at the printer means it won't do a DHCP request. The DHCP can issue the same IP address if a static IP is with in the default IP address pool. This is why when using STATIC IP addressed devices, they are used OUTSIDE the routers DHCP IP address pool.

 

Since NG defaults there pool to 192.168.1.2 thru 254. Users can and is recommended to change this pool to something smaller. Like 192.168.1.100 thru .200. This gives the router room for 100 device IP address assignments which in some cases will never be exhausted. Then on either side of this pool, there is plenty of room for static IP addresses devices, that the routers DHCP server will never issue. 

 

What you recomend as a best practice makes total sense in a larger network - any static address setting inside the DHCP pool better be reserved to a device that will never ask for it, otherwise there will be duplicate IP addresses all over the place. Plus if for whatever reason I ever change the static address on the printer, or change/delete the reservation, I will have duplicates too. But as it stands, so I understand, my only risk is a 'maintaining the network issue', not that what I have right now won't work?

Best practices if for any networking, both larg business and some home networks if some home users want to ensure there network is configured and flexible correctly. I have been using this for years, both before and after my networking training. Again this is normal and best practice for any networking environement. 

 

There will be not duplicate IP address if the pool size is changed and static and reserved IP addresses are used and configured correctly as per information mentioned above. 

 

Again, just trying to help you out to ensure the IP address is configured correctly. I have 3 HP printers on my network. ALL 3 are set on static IP address ON the printers and reside OUTSIDE of the routers default IP address pool. Thus nothing changes and printers are accessible from any device with intuitive IPs. 

 

 


 

Message 17 of 19
donawalt
Virtuoso

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Thanks @FURRYe38 ! I have it set up that way now. The Orbi DHCP server uses 192.168.1.2 -> 192.168.1.200, and the 3 house printers are 192.168.1.201, .202, .203. I deleted the one IP address reservation too.

 

Fingers crossed everyone stays on the network now! Thanks again for everyone's help.

Message 18 of 19
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: HP Color Laser keeps dropping offline

Smiley Wink

Message 19 of 19
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