Mac cannot locate wireless printer

I had the same thing...the Mac kept looking for an old IP address for the HP wireless printer ( I have installed a new router and the IP for the printer had changed).

I tried many ways to connect ( it worked fine in Windows!!!!!!) and finally installed the printer again as a new printer, using the new IP address rather than printer name. Now it works. Very strange. I had to rename the printer from the IP address to something more suitable after connection.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

Network Printer Troubleshooting

Ping printer: If you have the printers IP address open Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and at the prompt type: ping {printerIP}. You will get a reply or failure.

If you haven't done so already, try resetting the printing system.

OS X Mavericks: Reset the printing system
also Yosemite

Troubleshoot Printing Issues

WiFi Printer to WiFi Network - Connect

I am having this issue as well, and the provided answer did not work.

Both of my roommates can print, access the IP address, and use the printer as normal, but my Macbook responds with 'cannot connect' no matter which method I use. I cannot even access the printer's IP through a web browser (my roommates can). I have restarted the computer, repaired disk permissions, and attempted to reset printing system as described in the given solution, and still have nothing to show for it. I'm stuck forwarding PDFs of all my files to my roommates every time I need to print something.

I am running OS 10.12.4 and ran into this issue yesterday. The McAfee firewall was the issue. Once I disabled it, the printer reappeared in the device list in Printers and Scanners. Thanks for the help!

This strategy worked for me - I now am able to print again on my Photosmart B210 (it's my secondary printer) on my iMac. Still isn't being found by iPhone or iPad, however (the default printer is - which is fine). I assume this will continue working until for some reason the IP address gets changed but for now it's working.

This happens frequently enough to me that it is ridiculous to have to clean out all the printers and restart. I will report this to Apple, although with low expectations.

Has anyone tried just rebooting the Mac? That worked for me this morning.

My problem is with a HP Officejet 8620. Worked fine until new High Sierra update 10.13.2. The printer showed in Preferences as being present on the wifi but idle and not discoverable via the HP software. The printer itself was properly connected to the wireless network and would print fine wirelessly from other devices.

I reset the the printing system as suggested and searched for and the printer again. Found it and reinstalled and it looked like that was going to work for about 2 mins. Then the printer went from green to idle and non accessible again.

I then followed the advice of others and installed it using the printers IP address.

It now works again albeit the "scan to computer" function will not work from the printer. Still better than no printer at all!

Hope this helps others and thanks to the posters here

Don't ignore the possibility the printer has failed. Do you have another computer to test with?

Try resetting the router - power off 15 secs , then back on. Then Add the printer in Print & Scan.

Seems like you did a lot of good troubleshooting.

Have you tried printing via usb if applicable?

You could also try renaming your wifi connection.

OS X: Connecting a Wi-Fi printer to your Wi-Fi network

I have the same problem with HP Photosmart 7510. It worked fine until OS X 10.9.4 update. Now OS X can see the printer connected by wi-fi OR by USB, but cannot communicate to it. I tried everything - deinstallation of all HP drivers, repairing permissions, resetting print system, rebootin gcomputer, router and priner - nothing works. From another mac with OS X 10.8 everything works fine.

It will help everyone if you report this on Apple feedback:

http://apple.com/feedback

If you have the printers IP address open Terminal applications/Utilities and at the prompt type: ping {printerIP}. You will get a reply or failure.

I am having all the same problems as you. My Canon MX410 connected wirelessly worked fine yesterday and doesn't today. Message says printer is not connected. Have tried all the things you did to no avail. Deleted printer to try and re-add and now the add printer dialog box is empty. Running OS Yosemite 10.10.1 on MacBook Pro. My wife has the same computer running OS-X 10.6.8 and can print just fine from the same printer. Problem seems to be with my Mac recognizing the printer. The only thing I have different than my wife's computer is the newer OS and I am running Windows 7 via Parallels. Strange that one day it works and the next it doesn't when I made no changes to the system. Did you ever find a solution to your problem? Appreciate any help. Thanks.

I just typed a letter and printed a copy successfully with my Epson SX535WD.

I read it through, decided to make some changes and then tried to print it again - NADA!!

Mac says the printer is not connected.

This is ridiculous, the period in between was about 5 minutes and now, there's no printer!!

Any ideas??