Printer Problems

[IronPC]

I have been trying to diagnose a printer problem for three days now and either it is the printer that is the problem or I am completely overlooking something.

Day 1:

Just got the printer connected to the network. All of the office computers are Windows 7 Proffesional and wireless. The printer has a static IP and is shared from a server. After installing the printer I printed test pages and all of them go through. Within an hour most of the computers show the printer offline. I can ping the printer but cannot view the printers webpage or print because it is offline.

I removed the printer and reinstalled and that worked for a few prints and evetually they all went offline again. Some came back online at some point but then went back offline.

Day 2:

I removed and reinstalled the printer on each computer by using a local IP port instead of from the server. Again the printer went offline at some point, but I could still ping it, but could not view the webpage or print to it. It came back online and went offline sporadically during the course of the day.

Day 3:

Tried a different network cable from the switch to the printer, same result (so it's not the cable). Tried hooking one of the office computers to a network cable and same result (so it's not the wireless connection). Tried a different printer on the original network cable and no issue printing wired or wireless (this seems to indicate that the printer is the culprit).

So my thought is something is wrong with the printer but I just want to see what you guys think before calling out a tech and him argue with me that it's my network or something.

In total we tested printing from five different machines and on all of them the printer would go offline within a short period of time and then come back online. There was no consistency to any of it and I could ping the printer at all times from each machine.

 

[computerdoc]

Why would you want to share the printer from a server if it's on the network?

Why not connect to the printer directly by ip or use a hard connection to the server such as a USB cable and then connect through the server?

 

[isavecomputers]

I currently have the same issue where I work, where all my recently introduced window 7 machines will print one minute then will see the networked printer (multiple different ones) offline the next, then a while later see them again. I can go days with no problems, then it comes back for a bit. They are all on their own print server, which I do not have local access to. Not sure if its a win 7 64 bit issue with the print server or not. Of course this is all handle by 3rd party in India, which us local guys have hands tied. Still waiting for response from them on fix. Will respond back if I get one before someone else responds. I should also mention they changed all the specific HP printer drivers over to generic ones. Not sure who had that bright idea. Love corporate environment some days.

 

[red12049]

I have been trying to diagnose a printer problem for three days now and either it is the printer that is the problem or I am completely overlooking something.

Day 1:

Just got the printer connected to the network. All of the office computers are Windows 7 Proffesional and wireless. The printer has a static IP and is shared from a server. After installing the printer I printed test pages and all of them go through. Within an hour most of the computers show the printer offline. I can ping the printer but cannot view the printers webpage or print because it is offline.

I removed the printer and reinstalled and that worked for a few prints and evetually they all went offline again. Some came back online at some point but then went back offline.

Day 2:

I removed and reinstalled the printer on each computer by using a local IP port instead of from the server. Again the printer went offline at some point, but I could still ping it, but could not view the webpage or print to it. It came back online and went offline sporadically during the course of the day.

Day 3:

Tried a different network cable from the switch to the printer, same result (so it's not the cable). Tried hooking one of the office computers to a network cable and same result (so it's not the wireless connection). Tried a different printer on the original network cable and no issue printing wired or wireless (this seems to indicate that the printer is the culprit).

So my thought is something is wrong with the printer but I just want to see what you guys think before calling out a tech and him argue with me that it's my network or something.

In total we tested printing from five different machines and on all of them the printer would go offline within a short period of time and then come back online. There was no consistency to any of it and I could ping the printer at all times from each machine.

Either share it or give it an IP address, not both.

The printer has a static IP, what about the rest of the network? Static or auto assigned? If auto assigned, is the printer out of that auto assigned range? If not, you'll have problems.

Rick

 

[ljtechservices]

I have been trying to diagnose a printer problem for three days now and either it is the printer that is the problem or I am completely overlooking something.


In total we tested printing from five different machines and on all of them the printer would go offline within a short period of time and then come back online. There was no consistency to any of it and I could ping the printer at all times from each machine.

What model printer?
is link speed auto or fixed?
is the network card integrated or modular?
when it's unresponsive what does the printer display say?
Can you print a config page and see if the network card is seen by the printer itself.
Does the printer have a power-saving mode? if so try turning it off.
If it works when power saving mode is off, perhaps there's a firmware update available to correct the error.

isavecomputers mentioned driver issues, if it's an HP perhaps thats the problem.

 

[ljtechservices]

Why would you want to share the printer from a server if it's on the network?

Why not connect to the printer directly by ip or use a hard connection to the server such as a USB cable and then connect through the server?

Job control, driver updates, location. lot's of reasons demanded by a larger network.

Either share it or give it an IP address, not both.

Rick

If it's in the work area and not in the server room how do you propose to share it?

 

[Martyn]

I think you may have a duplicate ip address problem. It would explain why when the printer goes offline you would be able to ping the machine(the wrong one) and also would explain why the web side of the printer doesn't work. I've seen this a few times over the years.

Check the Mac address against your arp cache or unplug the printer cable at the problem time with a ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -t going on.

 

[red12049]

Job control, driver updates, location. lot's of reasons demanded by a larger network.



If it's in the work area and not in the server room how do you propose to share it?

Not disagreeing with you, just responding to the somewhat limited info given by the OP, who, by the way, said the printer was shared in his original post.

Rick

 

[ljtechservices]

I think you may have a duplicate ip address problem. It would explain why when the printer goes offline you would be able to ping the machine(the wrong one) and also would explain why the web side of the printer doesn't work. I've seen this a few times over the years.

Check the Mac address against your arp cache or unplug the printer cable at the problem time with a ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -t going on.

+1

seen it too. didn't think of it.

 

[IronPC]

The printer is a Savin 8055, which turns out is made by Ricoh. A tech came out and gave us a Ricoh drive and that sort of fixes it. The printer no longer goes offline, but print jobs still hang and will not print as if it were offline and I still cannot see the printer webpage.

The rest of the network is DHCP, however the printer is outside the scope and is static.

The printer was originally installed on the server and deployed by group policy. The only reason I bypassed it and installed it on the office machines using a local tcp/ip port was to eliminate any permissions issues I may have had, for troubleshooting purposes only.

It does overall print more consistently, but as stated above there are still issues.

Almost forgot:

Printer model was mentioned above.
I will check the link speed.
Nic is modular.
Display says ready as always.
I will try and print the config during a time of issue and see what it says.
The tech messed with the power saving mode, but I will go back and take a look.

Thanks for the help guys.