HP PhotoSmart 6520, Printer offline, Wireless printing from Windows 8.1 and others

Question

My parents own an HP PhotoSmart 6520. They have 3 or 4 computers. 1 Is connected to this printer via USB cable. 3 Are "connected" over wireless. The printer has the latest firmware updates according to checks from the printer front display.
Problem is this:
1) When first starting the printer, and the printer gets on the wifi network, all wifi-available devices can print to it over wifi. We are also able to browse to the printer config web pages to see status, and change configs as needed.
2) After about 5 minutes of printer inactivity, all wireless clients can't print to the printer to print, and can't connect to the printer's web page. (The printer appears to be offline to each OS that uses WiFi to get Internet access.
3) If we visit the printer control screen, physically attached to the pinter, find the network configuration, and choose to "turn off" wifi at the printer, then after off, "turn on" wifi and see an IP address get assigned, then all WiFi machines can print to the printer over WiFi. However, after 5 minutes, again, the printer is offline. No matter what or how much each WiFi-based machine sends to their printer queue/spool, the printer remains offline.
4) If the USB-connected machine prints to the printer over USB, the printer once again becomes available over the wireless network.
The work-around is terrible. (Cycle WiFi access every time they need to print from Wireless devices.)
Things we have tried:
1) This is running the latest firmware according to the WebService section request to check for upgrades. They are on the latest according to the results. (no help)
2) DHCP was the initial config for network settings. I moved to a DHCP server configuration with static IP served by printer MAC address. (No help)
3) I switched to totally static IP address, thinking it might be a DHCP lease-time/renewal issue, or custom vendor string issues or bug. (no help)
4) Enabled/Disabled IPv6 even though they are on a NAT-ed network with only IPv4 support. (no help)
5) Visited printer config with web broswer, and change energy saver setting from "5 minutes" to "15 minutes" because the ~5 minute window seemed like an approximate time limit. (No help)
6) Enable/Disable other settings through the web and restart the printer. (No help.)
7) Suggestions listed here: http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Photosmart-6520-e-All-in-One-Printer-series/5169038/model/516... (No help)
In testing this, with static IP or not, from other machines, when we can print over WiFi to the printer, the IPv4 address is ping-able from peers on the network. After ~5 minutes pass, and the pinter goes "offline" there are no ping replies to the static or other IP address assigned to this printer. By all accounts, when the printer is "offline" it really is no longer on the WiFi network. Meanwhile, oter devices can ping each other. (All computers, smartphones, tablets, etc can all respond to ping.)
None of the other devices suffer from dropped access to the WiFi and Internet.
Suggestions?
I do not have access to this right now, but I can walk my parents through whatever steps are needed to resolve this.
Thanks!
P.S. Other things tried:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Networking-and-Wireless/If-your-printer-drops-off-your-network/...
1) When online, generating report, reports online
2) When offline, report reports that it is still associated with access point
3) Printer is about 2 feet away from the access point it is communicating with and has max-bars showing signal strength.
4) Channel allocation for WiFi was selected based on least used channel, and works very well for all other devices on this channel.
5) There is only one accesspoint with the name it associates with.
6) The only options for power-saving "auto-off" we see via web pages from printer are: 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes, and changing to 15 minutes does not allow the printer to remain online for 14 minutes -- it still goes offline to the network after ~5 minutes -- even agfter changing this settings and power cycling the printer.
7) No wireless extender is being used.
8) We tried static IP, Dynamic IP, and statically assigned DHCP served IP.
Once printer is "offline" when visiting printer to tell printer to disable WiFi access, then re-enable it, all machines with items in their printer queue/spool *immediately* de-queue/de-spool their printer jobs to the printer.
This is the closest description: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-All-in-One-Install-Setup/Photosmart-6520-goes-off-line/td-p/324... Where is that patch?

Answer 1

Hi @TheSynAck,
I see you are using a Hot Spot, I believe we have found the reason for the connectivity issues. There may be a setting that needs to manually configured for the Hotspot to 'allow' your printer access. Also, hotspots may have limitations and restrictions that may cause connectivity issues.
Take a look here: Setting up the Printer as a HotSpot, it shows a Laserjet but the same steps apply.
Keep in mind that Hotspot connections are 'best effort' connections due to the issues of inconsistencies within the connection. They are not routers. Therefore, you may experience issues in the future when using the Hotspot for your connection. Usually a powercycle or hard reset of the HotSpot will resolve such issues.
I would not recommend getting another Hot Spot as the connection is not guaranteed, you could however try a Wireless Router if you are looking to upgrade anyways.
With the PS 6520 you also have the ability to print using the HP Wireless Direct printing option. Please click on the link below to get started:
HP Wireless Printers - Printing with HP Wireless Direct
I hope this gives you a better understanding of the intermittent connection issues.
Thanks again,
HevnLgh
I work on behalf of HP
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