HP 3050 will not stay on the wireless network for more than a few minutes at a time.

Question

My HP DeskJet 3050 J610 is constantly dropping the wireless connection. It won't stay on for more than a few minutes. If I power cycle, it comes right back on, but drops again after a few minutes. It will print fine from a USB. When it drops off, pings time out even though the device shows "ready" in Windows 7, Windows XP and OSX. I've done everything HP suggests - static IP, upgraded firmware, diagnostic tools, etc. I am out of options.
I can hit print right now, printer shows as ready, then I will get a print error. If I go over and power cycle the printer, my document will print - most of the time. It will remain on the network for a few minutes, then stop working. As soon as I power cycle it, I get a few more minutes before it drops. It has always done this from day one.

Answer 1

I don't have another wireless network close by that I could test it on. I'm a little isolated. i might be able to work out a time when I could take it by a friend's house, but he's over an hour away.
I have a Win 7 laptop, a Win XP desktop and an old Mac Powerbook as well as an iPod Touch and iPad 3 that use my wireless network without any problems - besides the fact that hardly any of my devices will talk to the other... But that's an OS issue. They all see the network, and the printer after I cycle the power on it.
My wireless router is a Netgear WNR2000. I remember monkeying with the channels when I frist got this printer a few months ago, but I don't remember what all I did. Since I did a firmware update on the router, the channel is now set to Auto. If there's a channel you think I should try, let me know what it is. The printer shows up on the list of devices in the router, but that may be because I have its address reserved for the static IP. Interestingly, the router sees the printer, even though my devices cannot. I did a ping just now while checking that, and got this - which is unusual. Normally they all time out.
Pinging 192.168.1.150 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=32 time=3223ms TTL=255
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.150:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 1, Lost = 3 (75% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 3223ms, Maximum = 3223ms, Average = 3223ms
Played around a bit more pinging between devices and got this oddity - without a power cycle just a couple minutes later.
ping 192.168.1.150 -n 50 -l 500
Pinging 192.168.1.150 with 500 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=527ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=12ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=21ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=17ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=13ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=21ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=15ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=11ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=10ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=22ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=19ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=22ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=18ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=16ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=14ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=9ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.150: bytes=500 time=20ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.150:
    Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 527ms, Average = 26ms
Is there a possibility that the printer is going into a standby state and having trouble waking when traffic hits? I don't know if that's possible, just seems like it looking at this.