Mac cannot connect to HP Printer

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Mac cannot connect to HP Printer

Just upgraded to Mountain Lion and Upgraded my HP Deskjet 3054. Up until that time, my wireless network was working fine. When trying to make the connection between my Mac and the printer, the message is telling me there is a problem, that the "device" cannot be located. I noted that the IP address and other wireless information appearing on my Mac does not match up with the IP address of my MAC (which works wirelessly) nor does it match the information on the Configuration Page I printed from the printer. During my visit to the Apple store, just to check the connection, we were able to wirelessly transmit via my Mac and the printer, but when I got it home, the "device cannot be located. What could be the problem?

iPhone 4, Have an IPhone4 and a Mac Notebook

Posted on Oct 9, 2012 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 3, 2014 8:00 PM in response to alexlady

This reply is almost 2 years late and is about OS X Mavericks connecting to the wireless HP DeskJet 3054. However, I see a lot of people on the forums having this problem and few have posted a solution.

I, too, was not able to use the wireless connection for A Very Long Time and could not figure out why. The other day, I swapped out my AirPort Time Capsule for a new one. Inside the printed instructions, were instructions to set up your wireless printer and attach it to the AirPort Time Capsule.

The old logic was to attach a printer to the laptop or a particular computer.

The new Apple logic is to attach the wireless printer to your local network's wireless router.

The latter sentence is the key to attaching your wireless printer to your laptop using wireless...it has to be attached via the wireless network, not directly to your laptop or computer.

You can read the steps here: OS X: Connecting a Wi-Fi printer to your Wi-Fi network

These are the instructions (from the above link) I followed to attach my wireless HP DeskJet 3054 (now 3 years old) to my new MBP August 2014 w/Mavericks OSX:

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If you have a Apple AirPort base station or AirPort Time Capsule:

Open AirPort Utility v6.2 or later (located in /Applications/Utilities). Tip: Install the latest version of AirPort Utility if you haven't already.
Click the AirPort device icon in AirPort Utility and enter the base station password if prompted.
From the Base Station menu, choose Add WPS Printer...
There are two types of WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) connections: First Attempt and PIN. Choose the one that your printer supports. Consult the documentation that came with the printer if you aren't sure.
- If your printer supports the First Attempt connection method:
  1. In AirPort Utility, select the First attempt option then click Continue.
  2. Push the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button on the printer. You should see the MAC Address of the printer appear in the AirPort Utility, click Done.
- If your printer supports the PIN connection method:
  1. In AirPort Utility select the PIN option, then click Continue.
  2. Enter the PIN number that is either hard-coded in the printer or displayed on the control panel of the printer.

If you are using a third-party Wi-Fi router: Consult the documentation that came with the router of contact the vendor for support.

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You can see the Airport Time Capsule documentation here for setting up a wireless printer. The wireless printer set up steps are on pp. 14-15.

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I don't know what to tell you if you are using a non-Apple wireless router, but you may be able to follow similar steps/similar logic to attach your wireless printer to your non-Apple wireless router, and thus to your laptop or computer via the local network.

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