HP Deskjet 6620, 6840, 6940, and 6980 Printer Series - 'The printer spooler was unable to connect to your printer' Message Displays on the Computer in Windows XP when Printing Over a Local Area Network (LAN)

1. Press the Power button () to turn on the product, if it is not already on. If the product is already on, press any button on the control panel to wake up the product from sleep mode (energy-saving mode).
2. On the Windows taskbar, click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes. The Printers and Faxes folder opens.

   note:

   Do not close the Printers and Faxes folder. You will need to access it again several times throughout this document.

3. Find the printer icon that represents your product, and then determine the default printer setting according to the following guidelines:
   • If your product icon includes a black checkmark (), the product is already the default printer. Discontinue the steps in this procedure and continue to the next step in this document.
   • If your product icon does not include a black checkmark, your product is not the default printer. Continue with the steps in this procedure to set the product as the default printer.
4. Right-click the icon for your product, and then click Set as Default Printer. Your product is now set as the default, and the printer icon includes a black checkmark.
5. Try the print job again.

• If these steps resolved the issue, there is no need to continue troubleshooting.
• If the issue persists, see the next step.

1. Return to the Printers and Faxes folder that you opened in the previous step.
2. Right-click the icon for your product (), and then check the printer status according to the following guidelines:
   • If Use Printer Online displays in the drop-down list, the printer is offline. Click Use Printer Online to set the printer to online.
   • If Resume Printing displays in the drop-down list, the printer is paused. Click Resume Printing to restart printing.
3. Try the print job again.

• If these steps resolved the issue, there is no need to continue troubleshooting.
• If the issue persists, see the next step.

• If these steps resolved the issue, you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
• If the issue persists, continue to the next solution.

note:

If you recently connected your product to the network, wait several minutes before completing these steps to allow the product to obtain valid network settings.

1. Press the Power button () to turn on the product, if it is not already on. Wait until the product is idle and silent before continuing.
2. Press the Report Page button () one time. The network configuration page prints.

   note:

   To print the report in a language other than English, follow the instructions on the printed page for your language.

   Figure : Example HP Report page - your page might look different

   
3. Make a note of the Hardware Address (MAC) (Media Access Control) and IP Address (Internet Protocol address) values on the network configuration page.

   Example Hardware Address (MAC)	Example IP Address
   Hardware Address (MAC): 001CC4116234	IP Address: 129.234.49.01

4. Set the page aside to reference in the next step.

1. Return to the Printers and Faxes folder that you opened earlier in this document.
2. Right-click the icon for your product (), and then click Properties. The product Properties folder opens.
3. Click the Ports tab.
4. Select your product under the Printer column, and then click Configure Port. The Configure Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor dialog box opens.

   note:

   If the Configure Port button is unavailable, or if you receive an error message, you do not have administrator rights on the computer. Contact your system administrator or the person who set up your network for assistance.

5. Look in the Printer Name or IP Address box. This value should match either the MAC or IP Address on your network configuration page.
   • If the values match, discontinue the steps in this procedure and skip to Solution three in this document to delete and then re-add the product to the network using the Windows Add Port Wizard.
   • If the values do not match, continue with the steps in this procedure to configure the ports correctly.

   note:

   Make sure that the IP address in the configuration page is in the same range as all the other devices in the network.

6. Click inside the Printer Name or IP Address box, and then type the appropriate value according to the following guidelines:

   note:

   Enter this value exactly as it appears on the network configuration page. If the first option from the following list does not work, try the next option.

   • IP Address
   • MAC address
   • MAC address with the phrase 'HP' preceding the numbers
7. Click OK, and then try printing again.

• If these steps resolved the issue, you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
• If the issue persists, continue to the next solution.

1. Double-click the printer icon () in the lower-right corner of the computer (the notification area).
   Figure : The printer icon in the notification area

   
   The product print queue opens.
2. If there are any print jobs listed under Document Name, the print queue has pending print jobs. On the print queue toolbar, click Printer, and then click Cancel All Documents.
3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete pending print jobs.

1. Return to the print queue window that you opened in the previous step.
2. On the print queue toolbar, click Printer, and then click Properties. The product Properties window opens.
3. In the Ports tab, under the Port column, find the port with the IP Address that matches the IP address on the network configuration page. Click to select the port, if it is not already selected, and then click Delete Port.

   note:

   If the Delete Port button is unavailable, or if you receive an error message, you do not have administrator rights on the computer. Contact your system administrator for assistance.

4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the port.
5. After you delete the port, return to the Printers and Faxes folder that you opened earlier in this document.
6. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer. The Windows Add Printer Wizard opens.
7. Click Next to start the wizard.
8. Click Local printer attached to this computer.
9. Clear the checkmark next to Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer, and then click Next.
10. Click Create a new port, select Standard TCP/IP Port from the Type of port drop-down list, and then click Next. The Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard opens in a new window.
11. Click Next to start the wizard.
12. In the Printer Name or IP Address box, type the IP Address exactly as it appears on the network configuration page, and then click Next.
13. If the Additional Port Information Required screen opens, click Custom, and then click Next. The computer searches for the product.
14. When the search is complete, click Have Disk, and then click OK.

    note:

    Even if you no longer have the software CD, click the Have Disk option. This option works because the HP software is already installed on your computer, regardless of the method of installation.

15. In the list of products, select your product, and then click Next to continue the set up. Click Finish when the wizard is complete. Your product is added to the network with the correct port, and should print as usual.

• If these steps resolved the issue, you do not need to continue troubleshooting.
• If the issue persists, continue to the next solution.

1. Unplug the USB cable connecting the product to the computer.
2. Click Start, click All Programs, point to HP, and then click the folder for the product, which is labeled according to the product series number.
3. Click Uninstall. The software uninstaller opens in a command prompt window.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstall.

     caution:

   If asked to remove shared files, click No. Other programs that use these files might not work if you delete the files.

1. Open a Web browser (for example, Internet Explorer or Firefox).
2. In the browser's address line, type the IP address listed on the network configuration page that you printed in a previous step, and then press Enter. Type this value exactly as it displays on the network configuration page.
   Figure : Example IP address on the network configuration page

   
   Figure : Example IP address in browser address line

   

note:

An EWS is an interface, like a web page, that allows you to view product status information, change settings, and manage the product from your computer.

1. Open a new web browser window.
2. Type the URL for the Embedded Web Server as it appears on the test page in the address window of the web browser.

   note:

   Make sure that you type the URL into the web browser address window. If you type it into a tool bar search box by mistake, the EWS will not open.

   Figure : Example of an IP address in a web browser address window

   
3. Press Enter. The EWS opens.
4. Click the Network, Wired (802.3), or Wireless, and then click the IPv4 Configuration.
5. Click Manual IP. The Manual IP Address box opens.
6. In the Manual IP Address box, type an IP address with the same values in the first three sets of digits (octet values) as the product's current IP address (listed on the Network Configuration Page), and a higher value (between 150 and 254) in the fourth set of digits. This creates a static IP address on the same subnet, but outside the DHCP range.
   For example, if the product's original IP address is 192.168.0.1, assign the static IP address to 192.168.0.200.
   Figure : Example of an IP address with DHCP values shown

   
   Figure : Example of a static IP address with DHCP values modified

   

   note:

   Do not type the static IP address from the example. Enter a static IP address based on the IP address for your product.

7. Enter the Subnet Mask (normally 255.255.255.0) and the Default Gateway settings as they appear on the Network Configuration Page.
8. Click OK to save the new settings, and then click Exit or close the browser to exit the EWS.

1. Turn on the printer.
2. Disconnect the USB cable from the printer, if necessary. The software installation prompts you to connect the cable if needed.
3. Go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads.
4. If a Let's identify your product to get started page displays, click Printer, type your printer model number, and then click Submit.
5. If you need to change the operating system, click Change, select your version, and then click Change.
6. Under the Driver heading, click Download for the full software package, or click Basic Drivers for other driver options.