Wireless printing, what causes problems?

it worked when i first installed, tested it by shutting off the printer, turning it on, and confirming it printed. a few days later i turned the printer on and it printed, then i shut it off. this was a two weeks ago.

today my desktop didn’t pick up the printer. i had a coupon that didn’t allow multiple printings in my queue. so, you know, perfect time to fail. following a tip i got online, i plugged in the usb cord, changed the port to the usb port, and luckily it printed.

did resetting my router yesterday cause problems? i don’t get why the printer connects ok one time but then not the other. do i need to keep it on 24/7?

windows 7, samsung ml-1865w b&w laser printer

I have a Samsung ML 2525W wireless printer, I noticed that computers wouldn’t see the printer detected when they worked in the past. The problem was the printer drivers look for the printer on the same IP. So i turned the printer on and off it’s possible the wireless router was giving it a different IP then it had before causing the computers to not see it. Other than just setting it to a manual IP.

The only workaround I had to this problem was to use the Samsung Universal Print driver instead of the specific 2525W driver. It has a search feature to find the printer.
With the Samsung Universal printer driver there is an auto detect button that searches the network for printer.

There might be a better solution maybe having the driver search the network if the printer is not at the expected IP.

Also just to note if you ever have to print a coupon or receipt that only allows one print I always print it to a pdf first then worry about actually printing later.

Some stupid print driver installers use the IP address instead of the hostname for the printer connection.

If you use the hostname, no matter what happens down the line, as long as the networking connection itself is functional, the computer will always see the printer.

If you use an IP address, and your router doesn’t use DNSMasq (or even if it does), then the next time IP addresses are doled out, your printer will get a different one and you’re temporarily out of commission.

Manually set up a new port in the printer driver, use the hostname instead of an IP address for the port settings, and you’ll be right as rain.

Also, make sure your router isn’t shitty. That’ll cause a lot of problems.

Probably so, yes. A printer is designed to sit idle for long periods, and as part of that, will try to reduce it’s power state to as low as possible when idle. What you did was essentially disconnect the wireless session for the printer. I’m not sure what the renewal period is for that connection, but it could be that it expects a ready state, in other words, that the router would not force it offline. You also reset the DHCP scope at that time (usually controlled by your router.) So it could be that there was a duplicate address in use.

I would try leaving it idle again for a long period without an router change/reboot, and seeing if it’s okay. Also try Ryan’s great advice, assign your printer a static IP address if at all possible.

If it’s an IP issue, couldn’t you just set that printer to a static IP on your router as well?

That also works.

darn.

thanks for the tips but most of them are about two levels above my abilities. i turn off my printer since i only need it every few weeks and my router needs to be reset a couple times a year. i guess i’ll stick with the printer cable.

thanks again.

Buy a new router. Seriously, having to reboot it, ever, is a sign it’s a POS.

I haven’t rebooted my home or office routers since I installed them. Don’t settle for any less than that.

As for the printer, configuring it for hostname access is pretty straightforward. I’ll try to work up a tut when I have some free time. No promises on when that’ll actually be though.