ItsGeekToMe.co

Q: Hey guy. Thanks for the great column. Enough warm fuzzies – here’s my problem. I have an Apple IPod that has a considerable number of files stored on it. I use DropBox to transfer files between the IPod and my computer (an HP Pavillion HP which uses MS Windows 7.0). All of my devices (IPod, desktop, laptop, and printer) are connected through a wireless router. Until last week I could print files on my printer (HPOfficeJet 6500 E10n) directly from my IPad. Now when I try to print a file from my IPad and am requested to select a printer, I get a message that says “No AirPrint Printers Found”. As far as I know, I didn’t change anything in any of the setups. I can still print files from my laptop just as before. Any idea what might be going on? Am I caught in the dreaded Microsoft-Apple complex? Thanks for your help and keep up the good work!

– Bill H.
Niceville, Florida

A:  Gosh, just when I was starting to feel the love.  But okay, I don’t do this for the accolades, so let’s get down to business!  I see little or no correlation between anything Microsoft and anything Apple in your problem.  When you use Apple AirPrint, you are going directly to the printer via WiFi, not through any PCs, or any other Microsoft product.  So, as tempting as it might be to blame Bill Gates, nothing Microsoft-related comes into play.  I would venture to say you can’t blame Steve Jobs either, as your Apple device is obviously looking for an AirPrint-compatible device and not finding one.  That would seem to point to the printer itself as the source of the problem.  I would recommend that you look at the configuration on the printer, and make sure AirPrint is enabled.  I can’t guide you in that regard, because the brief research I did into your printer model says it doesn’t even support AirPrint, but I’m assuming it must, because you said it used to work.  Of course it goes without saying that you should also make sure you have the very latest firmware installed on your printer.

While researching this, I found a discussion on someone else’s problem that had to do with the printer taking itself offline if it doesn’t detect any computers on the network.  This seems like a rather dumb idea that HP had, and many people claimed that turning this feature OFF solved whatever issues they were having.  You can read that thread at tinyurl.com/ITGM-412 and see if that works for you.

I recently had an issue with an HP-branded printer at the Geek House that is wirelessly connected to my SOHO LAN.  One by one, my computers started losing their ability to print to it.  First it was a laptop, then wired-LAN desktops.  Although my printer supports AirPrint, I didn’t test it during the problem.  In my case, when the first laptop was unable to print, I could not even PING the printer at its IP address from that laptop, though I was able to from a wired desktop.  As the problem got worse, the PING from the desktop PC began to fail too.  Logging in to my router, I could see that the printer was apparently properly connected and had an assigned IP address.  Ultimately, what fixed my problem was doing a factory reset of my router to flush-out all the IP addresses that it was conveniently “remembering” for me.  I’m guessing that the printer was having an IP conflict with either another device, or, with itself.  Yes, itself.  It’s possible that after a firmware upgrade, the device appeared differently to the router and somehow confused it.  I can’t explain why the problem was happening, but the router reset is what fixed my problem, and everything has been running smoothly ever since.  It’s Geek To Me!

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