Dear Computer Lady:
Thank you for all the great information you provide. You’ve helped me & my friends resolve many techie issues in recent years.
My computer is an HP Pavilion 23-q014 (All-in-one). It’s probably my 5th or 6th home office computer and I love it! For the past few months, it’s not recognizing the wireless connection to my HP Officejet 8610 and each time I want to print, I have to go to “set-up” and re-establish the connection. Sometimes it works on the first try, but frequently I have to go to the HP diagnostics site for help. Many months prior to this problem, Microsoft offered the upgrade to Windows 10 & I installed it. To fix things, I’ve tried to uninstall Windows 10, but it won’t allow me to do so. Any suggestions?
Again, I’m very grateful for all of your suggestions & advice. You’ve saved me a huge amount of money from contacting computer technicians to fix problems & answer questions. Please keep up the good work!
~Ellen
Dear Ellen,
Wireless printer connections are often very hard to troubleshoot, but I do have quite a bit of experience with it. Here are a few suggestions to try.
The best thing to do, is to connect your printer directly to your network by plugging an ethernet cable from your printer to your router. This way, the printer is on your network, and your computer doesn’t have to try to negotiate a wireless connection every time you want to print.
This solution only works if your printer has an ethernet port on the back. The good news for you is that I checked and your printer does have the required connection.
The other thing that I noticed about your printer is that it has something HP calls “Auto Wireless Connect”. This is supposed to make it easier to connect your printer to your wireless network, but there are a few requirements that your home network must meet in order for it to work.
The way the Auto Wireless Connect is supposed to work is that it connects directly to your computer, copies the network settings from your computer, then uses those to connect to the network.
I have actually seen where the printer connects to the computer, but then doesn’t connect to the network. The results are similar to what you have described.
I don’t think Windows 10 is your problem, but in any case, Microsoft only gives you 1 month to uninstall 10 and go back to your previous operating system. The only way to go back after that is to backup your files, and use the recovery feature of your computer to re-install Windows, erasing the computer in the process.
Elizabeth
It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.
Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
Connect with Elizabeth on Google+
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and wishing you many more to come!I have wireless printer problems too–even when it tells me to connect it directly by USB to the computer. My ethernet cable isn’t long enough to reach the printer, but that sounds like a better idea. Another problem I have is that my computer shows 2 of the same printers. I delete one and it pops up again. I’ve even uninstalled / re-installed. Sometimes it stops me from printing with the message that the printer is offline. I’ve Google’d and haven’t found a fix. This has been going on for months and I”m wondering if it’s an MS update issue because my previous printer’s problem was a direct result of an update. Sooo frustrating!