kaelaine
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Macbook running Yosemite can't see wireless printer, Lion can.

I have a high speed wireless network in my home (xfinity from comcast) with all my devices connected to it.  My iPhone 6, my iPad Mini, and my TWO macbook pros.

I used my Macbook Pro (15-inch early 2008) running OSX Lion (10.7.5) and the HP Setup Assistant software to configure my HP Deskjet 3050A J611 All-in-one printer/copier/scanner on the wireless network using the USB cable option to configure the network setup. This macbook can now 'see' the wireless printer in the System Preferences, Printers & Scanners, Add printer dialog and I was able to add the printer/scanner and can successfully print and scan to/from the Deskjet wirelessly using OSX Lion.

 

However, my 15-inch Mid-2014 Macbook Pro running OSX Yosemite 10.10.5, which is connected to the same home wireless network, cannot 'see' the Deskjet in the Add printer dialog in system preferences.  I cannot use this Macbook to configure the wireless printer because there is no HP Setup Assistant software for Yosemite from HP.  I have downloaded and installed all the latest drivers available from HP, but this does not help if my laptop does not recognize the printer on the network.

 

All devices are on the same wireless network and were sitting within 3 feet of each other and the wi-fi router when I was trying to setup this printer.

 

The only way I was able to get the printer to print from my Macbook running Yosemite was to use the 'IP' option in the Add Printer dialog, manually enter the IP address of the printer and select "HP Jetdirect - Socket" as the Protocol.  Although I can now print from Yosemite, there are problems with using this setup.  I cannot remotely scan from the Deskjet -- this setup only gives me print functionality.  Also, since the IP addresses for all my devices are set by DHCP, anytime the router is reset/rebooted, the printer's IP address could change, leaving me unable to print again.

 

Why do I have less functionality with the newer macbook and OSX version?  This makes no sense, but obviously something has changed between the two OSX versions.  I have reset the wireless system, I have reset the printing system.   I have installed all software updates on Yosemite and made sure the printer has the latest firmware.

 

Can anyone out there help me with this?  I am hesitant to update the new macbook to El Capitan in fear of losing more functionality.  I have to leave the old macbook on Lion just to have a way to configure the wireless printer!

OBS MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Feb 27, 2016 11:26 AM

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kaelaine

Q: Macbook running Yosemite can't see wireless printer, Lion can.

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  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Feb 28, 2016 10:43 AM in response to kaelaine
    Level 9 (70,250 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 28, 2016 10:43 AM in response to kaelaine

    Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.

     

    Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

     

    Isolating an issue by using another user account

     

    If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account.  Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

     

    Safe Mode - About

     

    Safe Mode - Yosemite

  • by kaelaine,

    kaelaine kaelaine Mar 1, 2016 8:12 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 8:12 AM in response to Eric Root

    Created another Admin user and tested - same problem.

    Booted in Safe Mode - same problem.

     

    All testing done with no peripherals attached to Macbook.

     

    I forgot to mention in my original post that THIS USED TO WORK ON YOSEMITE, but quit working some time in the last month or so.  I was out of town for 3 weeks in Jan-Feb and wasn't using the printer, so I'm not sure exactly when it quit working.  No new 3rd party applications were installed in that time, so I checked System Updates and one update was installed during that time frame:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 10.43.40 AM.png

     

    This my be what has caused this problem, so I will have to look into that.

     

    Additional details on current situation:

     

    I can access the wireless printer's Embedded Web Server from macbook/yosemite using a browser and send a test print, print network report, etc. successfully.   Decided to change the printer's IP address to a reserved IP instead of using DHCP and made this change via the EWS and my router's dashboard -- then the printer appeared in the Add Printer dialog!  I was thrilled, configured the printer, then tried to print to it.  Got "printer not connected" error.  I reset the printing system, tried to add the printer again, and it no longer appeared in the Add Printer dialog. 

     

    Resetting router, cycling power on printer, resetting printing system, nothing helps. 

     

    I'm going to see if I can undo that last update.