My printer is offline!

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BEN’S WORKSHOP By Ben Myers How often have you wondered why and how a networked printer has gone offline? For more than a few years, I was confounded
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WSGeo, IBM1130, lmacri, Steve S., WSrlhess, fisher75, jburk07, DLivesInTexas, PKCano, Norio

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I had a Samsung WiFi printer that went off-line almost daily.  Tech support was useless, since the techs were clueless, just telling me to restart the computer, which didn’t work. Searching around on the Samsung printer website, I came across a collection of video tutorials.  One was concerning how to set up a static printer IP address, which I followed.  The printer worked better for a time, but then it had other problems, I have forgotten what they were.  I ended up junking the Samsung printer and buying a Brother printer.  It works reasonably well.  If it goes off-line occasionally I just turn it off and back on again.

I don’t know why Samsung didn’t refer to the static IP video; it was easily missed.  Samsung doesn’t make printers any more.  I wonder why.

Mark

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Ben Myers

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WOW! An article after my own heart.

I have been recommending static IP addresses for printers (and other devices the need to be found in the “same place every time,” such as NAS drives, etc) for years. I was bitten the first time by HP printer software that wanted to assign DHCP to printers. Then the Windows Device Manager didn’t understand when the IP changed, and it couldn’t find the printer’s IP on the next go-round. Lately, it’s the automatically assigned WSD ports that have been wreaking havoc.

Thanks for putting the advise out for everyone to read!

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I have had a love/hate relationship with a Hewlett-Packard printer for some time.  At one time, I subscribed to their process by which you subscribe to a program in which they provide printer cartridges on the basis of how many pages you print.  In the long run, that saves you money.

Recently, my HP printer went offline, and nothing I could do would get it back.  Then, I discovered that the problem was their Instant Ink program, and that HP had willfully disabled my printer.  Apparently, the credit card I used to sign up for the program had reached its expiration date, so they had disabled my printer.  The problem was that HP HAD NOT BOTHERED TO NOTIFY ME.

When I contacted them, I discovered this, and to get back in business, they demanded back payment for THREE MONTHS.  Having had enough of this nonsense, I paid the back charges and canceled the ink-replacement program.  This is what happened:  I had accumulated several cartridges I have not yet installed.  HP HAS ARRANGED THINGS SO THAT I CANNOT USE THE CARTRIDGES I HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR, unless I re-sign-up for the program.

I have done 4 things:

1. Filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.  Not being able to use equipment I have already paid for:  (printer and cartridges) is clearly an unfair trade practice–especially because I was not notified of this “policy” when I bought the printer and when I signed up for the ink-replacement program.  It is also probably a violation of fraud statues for both Federal and State.
2. Considering a class-action suit against HP on behalf of all people similarly impacted.
3. Printing through networking with an Epson printer I own, which has not given me a moment of trouble.
4. Scrapped that wretched HP printer.

Thank you for your article.  It helps me understand the games HP is playing.  Never again will I purchase an HP printer.

 

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Donny H, Michael432, wavy, IBM1130, Steve, Steve S., Norio, jburk07, rbailin

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“Love-hate”?  Hate-hate is more like it.  It will interesting how the FTC responds.  It’s not like this is a surprise.  HP pretty much telegraphed that they were going to “manage” print cartridge.  Never an HP inkjet for me ever again.  We have one that was gifted and my uses it only to scan.

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WSGeo, Norio

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Right on. Hate-hate. That goes for the computers too.

The reality is I’m forced to work with these machines because 1) our employers are lured/forced into their products because of price and easy availability; 2)relentless marketing and cornering at the big boxes, Staples, etc.

I have to say, they are usually reliable.

I am awfully late to the discussion, acknowledged. But really appreciate the info, Ben. Learned a lot.

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I bought my last HP (MFP) printer a few years ago. By which I mean, I’ll never buy an HP printer again.

I’m hopeful that Ben’s advice will fix the recurring “off-line” problem. HP, of course, doesn’t refer to a static IP address but to a “manual” address.

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I hate printers.  It’s the only thing in the world I hate.  But they deserve it.

Thanks for the article, Ben!  I have fought with a variety of printers over the years as a self-educated computer tech.  Printers have always been the bane of my existence whether served by a computer, wired to the network and now most recently hooked up with WiFi connection.  I ran into an HP printer that could only be installed through a WiFi connected device, either a smart phone or a computer connected to the network via WiFi. It wouldn’t give any access to the settings!

I got it working using a WiFi connected computer.  (I am in Florida helping a relative in Hawaii install a new printer using Quick Assist.)  Unfortunately, it then started throwing off alerts to the OS that were nonsense.  We sent it back.  I think we will have Best Buy deliver a new one, one hook it up, and get it working.  Then I’ll see if it was set up with fixed IP address!

Rick

 

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Don’t let them buy into the HP buy-from-them-ink-subscription scam!!!

I have bought HP printers and sworn by them for years. No longer. Their subscription thing is highway robbery. And the cartridges that you bought from them won’t work if you cancel. Fortunately, the last one I bought was before they started doing that, it stills works like a charm and I love it. But that’s the last one.

See #2705603 for one User’s experience.

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Steve, jburk07

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Rick, Odds are the driver installation software will not give you the opportunity to make the IP fixed, instead of served by DHCP.  Printer manufacturers all now seem to have a blind spot re. fixed IP addresses.

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I would not expect any printer to start out its life with a fixed/static IP address. It really can’t because it never knows the subnet it will be joining. And, even when it knows the subnet, it does not know which IPs in that subnet are used by DHCP and which are not. After getting a dynamic IP, the printer may ask the router for that IP again, after the lease is up (typically a day), but there is no guarantee it will be re-assigned the same IP address by the router.

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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This problem just happened to me with a TE Connectivity IDENT 500 label printer. The Comcast Business router lost power, and after power was restored, the printer’s dynamic IP address went from 10.1.10.128 to 10.1.10.127 because another deviced on the network grabbed .128 before the printer requested it. You can go onto the router and reserve static addresses tied to specific MAC addresses, but this router’s firmware makes it needlessly difficult to delete such assignments (you have to reset the router to clear all the assignments). In this case, had the printer used a static address instead of DHCP, it still would have had a problem if another DHCP device grabbed the address before the printer tried to get it.

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See #2705247. That might prevent that from happening.

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For years I’ve gotten around this issue on home networks by using DHCP reservations. Ensuring the printer never loses its dynamically assigned IP seems to keep WSD happy.

For business networks, on the other hand, I give all printers a fixed IP.

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I did not realize this was such a mess! I generally set up my business/home IP addresses with a narrow DHCP range and the rest for fixed IP addresses.

It got really complex for a few years when I had a NAS unit at each of my two sons’ university dorm rooms and had the NASes and PCs interoperable at both home and school.

Anyway, I have used fixed IP addresses for most things over the years and find it to be relatively easy to manage (with the help of a master spreadsheet). Phones, Tablets, and Laptops all use DHCP. Desktop/Tower machines, printers, NAS units, WiFi Access Points, etc, all get fixed IP addresses.

My main internal network is behind a second firewall beyond the cable modem (Ubiquiti) while the IoT, IPTV, Security System, and VOIP are directly off the cable modem. I found I needed separate WiFi access points for IoT and IPTV so a barrage timer-function for the IoT devices doesn’t grab WiFi radios away from IPTV. But  it’s pretty rock solid now.

 

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I have used ethernet to connect both of my printers to our little LAN.  So DHCP issues are eliminated in my case.

But a thought occurred to me.  You may assign static IP addresses from the router rather than the device, if my memory serves me correctly,  can’t you?  In which case, even if the router experiences an outage, it would retain the static IP addresses after restart.  Or are there other issues associated with this approach?

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Modern routers may or may not have features to allow fixed IP assignment and/or designation of an IP range for DHCP assignment.  The better routers do.  I prefer Netgear and sometime Asus routers, better quality than the cheap ones.

I omitted this possibility from my article due to my own blind spot.  For the most part, I deal with small networks.  My own network here is probably the largest with two towers, six laptops, three cell phones and three printers.  Ever since I installed a Netgear 802.11ax router nearly two years ago, I have not run into any IP address conflicts or other problems.  Everything simply works.

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rbailin

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Ethernet/Wifi has noting to do with static/dynamic IP address assignment. I am glad you have no problems, but Ethernet has not been your savior.

You are correct that the router is really in charge of IP address assignment.

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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FYI: If you want a good detailed explanation of both IP address and subnets, I have one here

https://routersecurity.org/ipaddresses.php

And, as others have said here, avoid HP printers in the future. More details on this here

https://defensivecomputingchecklist.com/printers.php

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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Cybertooth

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This article was pretty disappointing, and sad.

On one level, discussing a networking problem while only focusing on Windows and the Printer is wrong.  This is a router issue, not a printer issue, not a Windows issue.

For example, why hack the Windows registry to see the IP address of a printer, when the router knows it and many LAN scanning programs/apps can find not only the printer but all the devices on the network. The cited Zenmap, is one of these programs, though probably the hardest to use.

On another level, the lack of focus on the router has resulted in a wrong solution. It is surprising that no one here has realized that the solution is wrong. Sure, it will work for a while, but the proposed solution, by focusing on the printer, leaves open the possibility that  the problem may well re-occur.

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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And the correct solution is?

cheers, Paul

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rbailin

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The router controls whether a LAN side IP address is static/fixed or dynamic. The printer does not control this. Windows does not control this. The correct solution involves updating the router configuration. Configuring the printer to always use the same IP address does not prevent the router from giving the IP address out to someone else. To the router, its still a dynamic IP.  Lots of details here

https://routersecurity.org/ipaddresses.php

Also note that some routers, such as those from Peplink, will try to give the same device the same dynamic LAN side IP address forever. Of course, at some point the router will run out of previously-used IP addresses but this could take a while depending on how many new devices join the network and on the subnet.

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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Paul T

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Michael432 wrote:

You are correct that the router is really in charge of IP address assignment.

The router is in charge for internal IP addresses.
The ISP is in charge for external IP address.

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