Idle - "Connecting to printer..."

English Hardware
1

I am unable to connect to my printer wirelessly. I get this: Idle - “Connecting to printer…” The computer never connects.

I can print a configuration report and get the ip address. If I type that in a webrowser, I get an error: unable to connect. Even if I plug the printer into the computer by a usb, I am unable to access the printer’s ip address in the webrowser. I’m not sure how to proceed on getting the printer working wirelessly. It is a hp 6940 I use the HP Deskjet 6940 Series hpijs, 3.10.2rc1.9 driver. I have only recently been having printer problems. The printer has been hooked up on the same network for years. It still prints via usb.

2

I’m not familiar with these wireless printers, but I’m wondering if one of the hp utilities can help you diagnose this further here.

Suggestions:

  1. Does ‘hp-check’ find anything unusual?
sudo hp-check -r
  1. You could start over with ‘hp-toolbox’ or ‘hp-wificonfig’
hp-wificonfig
3

The quick and dirty way is to reinstall the printer:
Exit the hp-toolbox, open a terminal window and do:


su -c hp-setup

You can speed things up by checking “Manual discovery” and entering the IP address for the printer.

4

Here is the output to

sudo hp-check -r

HP-Deskjet-6940

Type: Unknown
Device URI: socket://192.168.2.100:9100
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP-Deskjet-6940.ppd
PPD Description: HP Deskjet 6940 Series hpijs, 3.10.2rc1.9
Printer status: printer HP-Deskjet-6940 is idle. enabled since Thu 23 Jun 2011 09:48:27 PM CDT
warning: Printer is not HPLIP installed. Printers must use the hp: or hpfax: CUPS backend to function in HPLIP.

Today, after my modem, router, and computer were turned off for the night; I was able to login to the printer at the 192.168.2.100 address. There was no connection issues. I can wirelessly print.

Is it possible, since we just moved into this building, that the designated address 192.169.2.100 is conflicting with other peoples devices in my building when their device is turned on?

5

Is it possible, since we just moved into this building, that the designated address 192.169.2.100 is conflicting with other peoples devices in my building when their device is turned on?

No, because they’re not connected to your network. This is probably related to some other wireless issue, maybe interference from other wireless networks.

6

probably you had some IP misconfiguration. printer eventually might have been on another subnet e.g. …1.100 instead of … 2.100 and you did not realize this, or the other way round your PC on another subnet.
Just got a new printer could not access it and had to change my router’s IP to accesss and reconfigure printer’s IP