Intermittent printing problems

lizmonster

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We've got an HP LaserJet 200 color M251mw connected to our house wireless network.

And I am >this< close to throwing it out the window...except its behavior may mean a network problem.

I'm on a 16" 2019 MacBook Pro running 10.15.4, but I saw the same issues on my older machine. (I'm pretty much the only one in the house who prints stuff; The Kid has a Chromebook, but we were never successful at getting the printer set up from there.)

Sometimes, when I try to print a document from Word, Acrobat, Pages, or Preview, the job sits at "Connected to printer" for a while (30+ seconds), and then pauses the print queue, leaving the job saying "Ready to print."

I tried running a ping in the background while it was doing this. Around the time the job appears in the queue, the ping starts giving me "Request timeout." 30+ seconds after the job pauses, the ping goes through again.

If I restart the print queue? "Request timeout."

This happens whether I'm printing a 1 page doc, or a 200 page doc.

The kicker? I can print web pages from Safari just fine (although I have the same trouble when I open a local PDF via Safari and try to print it).

The other kicker? It's intermittent. Sometimes I print a document and the thing just works. Sometimes (like tonight, argh) I am left with nothing but despair.

I have no idea how to even begin debugging this problem. Help?
 

lizmonster

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Try installing the drivers.

I'd try deleting the printer, installing the drivers, and re-introducing it if it were me.

There are some definite issues with printers and Catalina.

Have you looked at HP's site ?

The drivers are here:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/driver...lor-printer-m251-series/5097632/model/5097639

I ran the installer from the site. Tried to print the test page, and our entire wireless network went out, as if the router was rebooting.

Opened my document on my iPad and printed it. No problems. So that does suggest it's Mac-specific. (Also, I can get my stuff printed, so I'm much more calm. :))

I'll do some googling and see if others have had the same issue. Thank you, AW Admin. :)
 

talktidy

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I got nothing, other than to say I have been wrestling with printer woes too and you have my sympathies.
 

AW Admin

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I ran the installer from the site. Tried to print the test page, and our entire wireless network went out, as if the router was rebooting.

Opened my document on my iPad and printed it. No problems. So that does suggest it's Mac-specific. (Also, I can get my stuff printed, so I'm much more calm. :))

I'll do some googling and see if others have had the same issue. Thank you, AW Admin. :)

It looks like it has both a USB port and an Ethernet port, so those are options too, if necessary.
 

lizmonster

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It looks like it has both a USB port and an Ethernet port, so those are options too, if necessary.

This might be possible? We've got conduit running through the wall, but IIRC we moved it to wireless because the wired connection was flaky (maybe similar issues). We're going to try it (but we may need to order some cables).

After I installed HP's software, our router started dropping out every 3-4 minutes. The only fix was for me to shutdown my laptop. I've currently removed all the printers and renamed the directory with the HP stuff in it, and I have my fingers crossed. Because the printer is an annoyance, but if I've borked my laptop I'm in trouble. :cry:
 

lizmonster

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Good news! Turned off the wireless on the printer, connected it via ethernet to our router, and printed a single page from Acrobat. So far no network interrupts. :)

Thanks for the help debugging. All the weird software stuff I slogged through for nearly 30 years, and printers are as impenetrable to me as ever. :)
 

Anne_B

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If it makes you feel any better, I have the same kind of intermittent problems with a wired Brother computer. Sometimes it prints right away. Other times, for reasons known only to itself, I get a message that the printer's not connected (so not true).

The fix: close the printer app, unplug the printer-to-laptop cable, turn printer off, tap my foot five or six times, turn printer back on, reconnect cable, run the print job again, and it works.

So maybe next time, figure out the right amount of time for the foot tapping.