This topic

Printer not found

Davewm1 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 13:15:58 GMT

Hello all.

I’ve come on to ask for support as the Samaritans is engaged.

I have a envy 4520 all-in-one printer. It’s been running perfectly well for a couple of years, no problems.

Yesterday I was unable to print from my Acer laptop.
I’ve tried every fix suggested by HP PrintDoctor and it still will not print.

For information it will print from multiple other devices ie: iPad, iPhones etc.

I’ve also tried to print from my wife’s laptop and that doesn’t work either. Both laptops are operating on Windows 10.

On both laptops a message comes up to say:-

Connection to the internet was not found or has been lost.

Can anyone please help?

Kind regards

David

Re: Printer not found

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 13:38:14 GMT

Try restarting your PCs' or resetting the network from the control panel.

It's easy and convenient to put a Windows 10 PC into Sleep or Hibernate mode but Network errors can survive those restarts, they can't survive a full shutdown and restarts

Re: Printer not found

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 13:50:40 GMT

@Davewm1

Which BT Home Hub are you using?

Re: Printer not found

Davewm1 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 19:25:08 GMT

Hi there. It’s a smart hub 2

Re: Printer not found

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 19:48:46 GMT

@Davewm1 wrote:
Hi there. It’s a smart hub 2

Try a factory reset of the home hub.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11386/%7E/how-do-i-reset-my-bt-hub-to-its-factory-settings%3F

Then turn off smart setup.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/44328/~/switching-smart-setup-on-and-off-on-the-bt-ho...

Re: Printer not found

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 19:56:10 GMT

Can you see other local network devices in windows explorer (e.g. each others laptops)?

Can you access the internet?

If No for Q1 and Yes for Q2, open network settings and check that the Private radio button is selected (see below)

Re: Printer not found

Davewm1 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 20:33:00 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

I’ve tried the factory reset.

Please forgive for asking a daft question but with the second part of the suggestion am I supposed to turn off the smart setup and leave it off?

Regards

David

Re: Printer not found

licquorice — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 21:04:01 GMT

Yes

Re: Printer not found

Davewm1 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:24:18 GMT

I’ve now tried this with setting smart switch to off.

Unfortunately this didn’t work.

If you have anymore thoughts I’d be happy to try them. For info I tried to use the scanner function and this worked. I saved the document and printed it off successfully. But if I try to print anything else it just keeps repeating “printer not found “

Kind regards

David

Re: Printer not found

TimCurtis — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 09:49:26 GMT

@Davewm1

You could perhaps try removing the printer on the Windows devices and reinstalling it in case anything has got confused/corrupted.

Re: Printer not found

gg30340 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 10:15:04 GMT

When you go into Windows 10 settings and go to "Devices" then "Printers and Scanners", is your printer showing under the list of printers?

Does it show as a "network" printer?

Do you have the box "Allow Windows to manage my default printer" ticked.

Re: Printer not found

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 10:47:32 GMT

See message 6, a local printer won't be available if Windows has incorrectly identified your network as Public

Re: Printer not found

gg30340 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 11:09:17 GMT

If the printer is connected to the network and not shared through a PC, which obviously it is connected to the network by virtue of the fact other devices can print, a W10 computer set to Public network should still be able to print to that printer if it is connected to the network, what it will not do is allow other devices to "go through" the W10 computer to access the printer as a "shared" printer.

Re: Printer not found

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 11:17:22 GMT

@gg30340

We'll have to agree to differ on that one. The only I can access my network printer if I set my network type to public is through cloud printing

Re: Printer not found

gg30340 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 13:12:48 GMT

A network printer, as against a printer that is connected to a Windows PC via USB that is on the network, should be available to all devices that connect to that network. That is the whole reason of a network printer.

If the printer is connected to a Windows PC via USB it will only be available to other devices when that Windows PC is turned on and is set to "private network". This activates the "printer sharing" which in effect turns the WindowsPC into a printer server. Other devices on the network can then access the printer by "going through" the PC.

If it is set to "public network" as well as turning off file sharing it turns off the Windows PC's "printer sharing" and the printer will not be available to any other device that is connected to that network. Obviously if the Windows PC is turned off the printer will not be available to the network.

Share your network printer (microsoft.com)

EDIT: I should add that I have a Windows computer that is on my network and it is set to "Public Network" and it can use the printer and I have also just changed a Windows Laptop to "Public" to check and again it accessed and printed no problem.

How to Set Up a Shared Network Printer in Windows 7, 8, or 10 (howtogeek.com)

Re: Printer not found

Davewm1 — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:54:57 GMT

I’d like to thank everyone for their replies.

After spending the whole weekend trying to resolve the issue I have today carried out a full reset on my Windows 10 laptop.

It’s taken about 6 hours but I’ve now started from scratch and the printer is now working ok.

Once again thanks for your help.