HP Photosmart 7520 printer disconnects/ reconnects to TC wireless network

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Stefano1969 Author

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HP Photosmart 7520 printer disconnects/ reconnects to TC wireless network

I have had a 3rd generation TC in bridge mode connected to a Netgear modem/router (handing out ip addresses on the network). My HP Photosmart 7520 printer has been connected to the wireless network created by the TC for approximately 7 months working perfectly. However, in the last 6-8 weeks I noticed that every 3 to 5 minutes the printer loses its connection to the network and then reconnects automatically after about 30 seconds. I have tried many suggestions given to me by HP support including printer resets and installation of older firmware, installation of several previous versions of TC firmware, changing router wireless channel, reserving ip addresses on both the Netgear router and printer and finally HP replaced the printer for a new one. The issue still persists.

I have tried connecting the printer wirelessly to the wifi network created by the Netgear and the connection with the printer is rock solid. What I did not expect was to be able to print from my computers on the TC wifi to the printer on the Netgear wifi but I can. I guess this has something to do with the fact that they are connected with an Ethernet cable so the devices must see the 2 wifi networks as one? As the issue only occurs when the printer is connected to the TC wifi network I can only assume that there is some incompatibility with the TC but what I find strange is that I have tried older versions of firmware for the printer and TC from when I know the printer was working perfectly and the issue still persists.

Any thoughts or help appreciated.

Posted on Oct 25, 2013 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 25, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Stefano1969

People are reporting that if you go to 7.6.4 firmware.. the very latest.. and then downgrade again.. the problems never go away.. they are caused by 7.6.4 which makes some permanent change to the TC.. and it maybe due to Maverick.. so latest OS won't work without it.. but once made does not actually uninstall.. that means it has made some change to the bootloader permanent part of the TC. There is no fix.. until apple recognises they did something that causes issues and releases a new firmware. This is merely a guess.. but comes from reading many similar issues.. I strongly advise never installing 7.6.4.. !! If you do it is a one way street.

When I have time I will dig deeper and see if I can find what the change is to bootloader. But you do need to realise that without extensive hacking you are not going to recover it anyway.

From your post you have done all the usual recommended fixes.. I don't see anything to add to that.

What I can do for you is post a typical exported configuration from a Gen3 TC that has never been upgraded to 7.6.4

I will try and do that now.. the file is xml format. So you can compare with yours.. but I think the issue is going to be deeper down. ie NVRAM rather than just a configuration file.

There is nothing wrong with using the wireless on the Netgear. Due to the setup with the TC in bridge.. it is really a dumb switch and Wireless AP.. plus of course a network drive. All IP addresses are delivered by the Netgear and all addresses are accessible to devices anywhere on the network.

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Answer 2

Oct 25, 2013 1:21 PM in response to LaPastenague

I have placed the file on the bottom of the page.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair

TCGen3factory.baseconfig

(40k)

It is only a small file.. see if you can grab it.

It is running 7.6.3 firmware and has never been up to 7.6.4 as I have avoided it so far.

If you factory reset the Gen3.. and export the configuration.. with unchecked encypt passwords.. and see how the files compare.. there can be slight differences in serial number etc.. but see if you can see more than that.. I doubt you will.. but see how it goes.

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Answer 3

Stefano1969 Author

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Oct 25, 2013 1:24 PM in response to LaPastenague

Hi and thanks for the reply.

You're getting a bit technical when you talk about the Bootloader but I get the general idea.

What do you mean by the configuration file? Is it a case of opening my TC configuration using Airport Utility to compare?

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Answer 4

Oct 25, 2013 1:52 PM in response to Stefano1969

Sorry to do this you will need v5 airport utility. v6 will not show an unconfigured TC.. so it will not allow you to export it.

Perhaps I can give you a standard setup.. and you can do that standard setup and then export the configuration and we can then compare it.

Connect to the factory reset TC.. name it TC and give network name TC and password 123456789

next it wants to be plugged in .. just ignore.

next it completes and will come up.. with lots of errors.. Just click on the TC and click on edit in summary.

Now you can export the configuration file

Which will look thusly. Uncheck the Encrypt passwords to make it as simple as possible.

You will now have a file called TC.baseconfig in documents.. compare it to mine.

I have just uploaded my version.

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Answer 5

Stefano1969 Author

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Oct 25, 2013 1:51 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for your help but I think this is going to get to technical for me! I've not really got the time to spend trying to rectify the issue. It's working connected to the Netgear and I can live with that. It just would have been nice to get it to work as before.

Thank you again for your trouble.

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