Printer Loses Signal

I have a HP Deskjet 6980 which is set up to connect to my wireless network.
The OS is WINXP Pro SP3. The problem is the printer does not print after
being left for a few hours. It appears to lose its 'connection' to the
network despite the LEDs on the front of the machine showing it is
connected and the printer Report Page confirms this.

The printer Report Page always shows the printer is connected and shows no
difference from when the printer is in 'the printing mode' and when it is
not. The printer will print if it is powered down and restarted,. The signal
strength is shown as '5', that is the maximum ( on the scale 1-5). The
printer is located about 15 feet from the wireless router.

I have tried with the computer Firewall on and off but the firewall (Sygate)
does not appear to be the problem. I have also reset the printer network
settings (as described in the Manual) but without success. The printer is
in the 'Infrastructure mode' not ad hoc. Further the printer is assigned a
'static IP address'.

The printer is set to 'Channel 7'. I have not tried it on a different
Channel and perhaps that is the solution. I an not clear what changing the
channel will do and how that relates to the source (the wireless router).
If changing the Channel changes the wireless frequency does it imply that
the frequency of Channel 7 doesn't 'match' that of the router. If that is
the case wouldn't that adversely affect 'Signal Strength' that presently
shows the maximum? You can see I am not sure what I am doing :-).

Any suggestions?

Hi
If there is noisy signal in the environment it would affect the printer
connection,
Typical good channels are 1 and 11. Both the Wireless Router/Access Point
and the printer have to be on the same channel.
http://www.ezlan.net/wbars.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"Edward W. Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23%(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a HP Deskjet 6980 which is set up to connect to my wireless network.
>The OS is WINXP Pro SP3. The problem is the printer does not print after
>being left for a few hours. It appears to lose its 'connection' to the
>network despite the LEDs on the front of the machine showing it is
>connected and the printer Report Page confirms this.
>
> The printer Report Page always shows the printer is connected and shows no
> difference from when the printer is in 'the printing mode' and when it is
> not. The printer will print if it is powered down and restarted,. The
> signal strength is shown as '5', that is the maximum ( on the scale 1-5).
> The printer is located about 15 feet from the wireless router.
>
> I have tried with the computer Firewall on and off but the firewall
> (Sygate) does not appear to be the problem. I have also reset the printer
> network settings (as described in the Manual) but without success. The
> printer is in the 'Infrastructure mode' not ad hoc. Further the printer
> is assigned a 'static IP address'.
>
> The printer is set to 'Channel 7'. I have not tried it on a different
> Channel and perhaps that is the solution. I an not clear what changing
> the channel will do and how that relates to the source (the wireless
> router). If changing the Channel changes the wireless frequency does it
> imply that the frequency of Channel 7 doesn't 'match' that of the router.
> If that is the case wouldn't that adversely affect 'Signal Strength' that
> presently shows the maximum? You can see I am not sure what I am doing
> :-).
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>