HP Printers Constantly Going Offline After Windows Update

A Windows Update has, once again, stepped on printer functionality for HP printers and specifically 7640. I reported this identical problem on 5-30-21. it was apparently fixed in a subsequent update KB5003254 but was that intentional or accidental? Because it has now happened again after the recent KB5004296 preview and KB5005033 8-10 Patch Tuesday update. This is now also reported in the Feedback Hub. Looking back through the threads on this user forum shows similar problems for several years. It would be helpful to know why this keeps happening and what steps Microsoft is taking to prevent any future recurrence. I have two new Lenovo laptops running 10th & 11th gen.. Core I 5 processors each with 16 gig of ram. both are running version 21H1. After start up or restart, in the Devices & Printers in Settings, the printer status says Offline. There is no problem with any printer drivers. And any one who says otherwise is incorrect. Reinstalling the printer does not resolve the problem nor does Troubleshoot. The only way to resolve the printer Offline status is to reboot the printer. This is really annoying because it is easy to forget the reboot printer task. Then, documents need to be removed from the print que and perform the printer reboot before printing. Now the condition is even worse because with this latest update, the printer can go offline again after a printer reboot and print document action.

Please fix this!

I have been having the same problem for at least the past month with an HP 7640 and this is not the first time this has happened either. I believe it was caused by a Windows update some time in early April or before. After the latest update, KB5003254, on 5-28, the printer is now continually Online. This is on a 5 month old Lenovo Ideapad 5 and an 8 year old Asus laptop. Both are running Win 21H1 with OS Build 19043.1023.

Before this last update, the only way to get the printer to go Online was to restart the printer or, to make sure the printer was turned on after the laptops were started up. All other previously recommended solutions did not work. There was no problem with any printer drivers or corrupted files, etc. I am convinced it was an earlier Windows update that caused the problem.

I am commenting on this now because I am not sure if the printer fix apparently contained in KB5003254 was intentional or accidental. If the latter, many of us could be plagued with this same problem again if that fix is not made permanent.

Hello, my name is Gaston, I am an independent consultant.

Apparently your problem is caused by the drivers incompatible with the update.

Update your pc drivers and then reinstall your printer again.

If you don't have updates available I suggest you go back to a state before the update.

Select the Start Menu and type Control Panel.

Inside the Control Panel, go to Recovery.

Now click on Open System Restore and then Next.

Choose the Restore Point you prefer and click Finish.

Greetings.

I agree; experiencing the same as Dave describes. The "fun" work-around I am using to print to a PDF document, then print the PDF, and then restart Windows so that any/all of the queued PDFs now (usually) print. You have to repeat those steps to print additional/new documents.

My HP deskjet 3520 all in one printer frequently goes offline.  One thing that has helped me in the past was to turn the printer off for a minute and then turn it back on.  It doesn't happen every time I print but often.  Now I'm having problems with the printer printing blank pages.  Can anyone help with that?