Disappearing Printer

[Mickyd]

Ok i have just gone to print, only for my computer to tell me the "printer is not ready" i have a look in devices and printers only to find no sign of my printer whatsoever i have to reinstall it, why would this happen, i havent deleted it ort anything to do with printers
Its a HP Photosmart premier C410

 

[Digerati]

This could be due to many different reasons, thus there are many potential solutions. But without more information, no way to know which to suggest here.

For example, we don't even know how this device is connected. Is it networked or direct connected?

If me, I would unplug the printer's power and power down the computer. Then plug in the printer then boot the computer and see what happens.

 

[Mickyd]

Sorry i coulda swore i put that its connected by ethernet

 

[Digerati]

My suggested solution still applies. And note you can see if the device is connected to your network by access your router's admin menu and look at connected devices. If it is there, the problem is most likely on the computer side.

 

[Mickyd]

I had done as you suggested the printer was still not visable, i have reloaded it`s drivers but had trouble untill i read your post - i had to log into my router and could see the printer in there normally when installing the drivers the printers recognised straight away but it wasent having any of it so i had to manually add the printers IP address and it found it and now seems to be working ok - i still wonder what made it disapear tho so it doesnt happen again

 

[Digerati]

I am glad you got it sorted out.

I have had this problem before myself. I found out it happened after I lost power to my whole house for extended periods. I live in Tornado Alley so severe storms and power outages that last more than a couple hours are not uncommon. Then when power restored and the computers and other wireless devices (Roku, tablets, smart TVs, printer, etc.) connected, suddenly the printer got a different IP address - depending on the order in which all these devices connected. So then the port assignment in the printer's properties in my computers was suddenly pointing to the wrong IP address.

I corrected this by assigning a "static" IP address for my printer in both the printer's setup menu and in my router. So from then on, no matter what happened to my network, the router's DHCP (dynamic IP assignment) routines always assigned the same IP address to the printer. Now, the only time Windows can't see the printer is when I accidently forget to turn the printer on!