Q: Intermittent AirPrint connection with new HP D110 and iPad

Googling Linksys WRT110 and Bonjour there seem to be quite a few indications that perhaps this router does not handle Bonjour discovery packets well. It might be worth a call to LinkSys to see if they have a router update.

Bateman500,

Every piece of information helps, since we have yet to track down the root cause.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

rbii - That's very interesting. Just in case, I've updated the WRT110 to the latest official firmware, 1.0.07. My other devices that use bonjour seem to operate just fine. i.e., my MacBook running OSX 10.6.5 can play msuic playlists via itunes that are running on my WinXP book. My Apple TV2 is able to play music and videos from either computer. I hope its not the router that's the issue.

Andrew - Thanks for the efforts. I appreciate it! If there is anything else I can supply, please let me know.

Let us know if the firmware update for your Linksys makes a difference.

Andrew

My firmware update to my Linksys WRT110 router did not improve AirPrint performance either. Neither the iPad or the iPhone can detect the HP 8500A printer right now... though they could both print to it last night.

(However, both iOS devices can 'see' and interact with the computers and Apple TV2 on the same network right now.)

Well...sorry to hear you had problems. Is this the one you bought? (and the returned)

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Photosmart-Wireless-CN731A-B1H/dp/B003JME93K/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1292532557&sr=8-1

This is the one I got that is working well with my iPad (knock on wood...:-)

Did you try a restore and fresh install of iOS 4.2.1 on your iPad? A lot of users have reported that this fixes a whole host of problems.

M

Given the time it takes, the Restore and fresh install is what I recommend as last resort. But you are correct, I have seen people report this solved their problem when one iOS device worked, and another didn't. There have also been quite a few issues with certain routers blocking either the discovery of the device using Bonjour, or the ports that AirPrint uses for printing.

We'll just have to keep chipping away at the issues, one issue at a time. Fortunately most users are working. Unfortunately there are people having problems, and we're at a point where there may be few common threads between them.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Thanks for your response. The router issue does seem like a good place to look as well. One other thought....people do realize that different routers have different signal strengths and that obstructions like walls, floors, wires and pipes could effect signal strength.....right? The distance from their router could effect this.

Hi, I'm having a very similar problem with my B110A printer.

On my iPad, running 4.2, I can see the printer in the native photo app, but it is not available in iPrint 3.0. However, it is intermittently available in iPrint, but the scanner function has never been seen.

On my iPhone, running 4.1, I have been able to scan and also the printer appears more frequently but still intermittent.

Right now, side-by-side, on the same network, I see the following:

iPad: iPrint: No printer, no scanner. Native photo app: printer is fine
iPhone: iPrint: No printer, scanner works fine.

This is very odd, and I find it hard to believe it's a network problem.

Regards,
Paul

Paul,

What kind of router do you have. All the discovery of features is done via Bonjour, so if a router is not passing 100% of the Bonjour packets around the network, it can lead to the type of issues you are seeing. In you particular case however it is quite common that power cycling the Router, the Printer, and the iOS devices may clear up the problem. If it doesn't post back the details about your router and wireless setup and we'll see what we can do.

Oh, and make sure you are running the latest version of HP iPrint Photo as well. And if you want AirPrint on your iPhone, you'll need to update that to 4.2.1 as well.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

PS I assume that since AirPrint worked at all, your Printer is running the latest firmware already.

Hi Andrew,
I have a Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G Plus MIMO Router, firmware 5.01.16.

I am running the latest version of iPrint on both iPhone and iPad.

I am up-to-date with printer firmware, and have successfully printed and scanned from iPrint - the problem is unpredictably intermittent.

Thanks,
Paul

Message was edited by: paulpap74

Paul,

Belkin also seems to have issues with Bonjour. I'm digging through the manual at the moment. One quick thing, make sure everything is on the internal network, nothing is in the DMZ. Other then that, there manual isn't providing much help in the way of pointers on how to work around this issue.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

PS, the latest router firmware seems to be 5.02.08, which is newer then what you say you have.

Hi Andrew,

Same problem here: HP e-AiO Plus is not recognized by the iPad. But from a PC everything works fine. I have a Sitecom 300N X3 router with latest firmware (1.5), no additional security features enabled. I have asked Sitecom already for their view on Bonjour packet routing...

Hope this helps, looking forward to some suggestions and enhancements.

KR,

Loet

Loet,

I have been looking through the manuals to your router without significant breakthroughs. I suppose you could install Apple's Bonjour Print Services for Windows, and see if your PC can see your printer using Bonjour. That would isolate at least part of the problem.

Also make sure you are running the lastest firmware on your Printer, since out of the box the D110 does not support AirPrint.

Tools->Web->Automatic Updates->Check for Product Updates

Let me know how it goes.

Just trying to help.

Andrew