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Over the years, each time I came across a network printer that lost access, it was due to an IP address assigned via DHCP. In this particular case, I broke a major rule of troubleshooting by trying to fix a problem before fully understanding what that problem was; I tried to help and wasted everyone’s time.

I apologize. It won’t happen again.

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Mike

The reason why your DHCP printers “work” is probably because they don’t get powered down and never disconnect from the network so DHCP never has to reassign an IP address. The HP printers go to sleep and thus give up their IP address, so when they wake up the DHCP server looks for an available IP address to assign; it might be the same as before or maybe different.

Or at least that’s how I figure it…….

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Mike

Hold on a sec. Was it your intent to put the printer on the guest network and then access it from computers on the main network??? Those are meant to be two “separate” networks — it’s the whole point of having a guest network so never the twain shall meet.

The difference between a static IP address and one that is assigned to the printer by DHCP is that the static address will not change (unless you specifically make the change) whereas there’s no guarantee that the DHCP address will not be assigned by the router to a different device later on. Some routers will allow you to specify that whatever DHCP address a device was assigned will be reserved for that device and so will function similar to a static address. Bottom line, if your printer has an IP address that changes, your computer won’t be able to find it.

Rereading your post a little more closely, it seems like you are using the T-Mobile router’s DHCP server and you turned off the one in your own router. That seems kind of backwards to me, but maybe the T-Mobile won’t allow you to turn the DHCP off. If it isn’t possible to switch that around then another solution would be to connect your printer to your router via Ethernet; that should allow stable access to it.

Moving the printer to the Main account might be working now but I don’t think there’s any guarantee it will continue to work if DHCP is involved.

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Mike

You did assign the printer a STATIC IP address (vs letting the router give it one via DHCP), right?

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Mike, Kirsty

Consider this…

“…if you’re encountering system instability issues like abrupt shut downs, blue screen crashes, and freezes—especially while doing something demanding like playing PC games or encoding video—your computer may be…

…overheating.”

Quote from https://www.howtogeek.com/174288/how-to-tell-if-your-computer-is-overheating-and-what-to-do-about-it/

How often do you open up your PC and vacuum all the dust bunnies out? Are your fans spinning? It might even be the 12-year old thermal paste between your CPU and its cooler. Of course it could very well be the PSU, but it might be less expensive to check inside the case first.

Just a different perspective.

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Ascaris

I needed a test program for some flaky flash drives I had just bought from MicroCenter and came across this page by Raymond.cc, a name I recognized from my distant computer past. It was back in the days when I was still running Windows, so I can’t remember which one(s) of these programs listed here that I had downloaded and used but it worked well (and I wound up returning the bad drives for a refund).

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-check-and-test-usb-flash-drive/

 

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Microfix

The CK722 by Raytheon was one of the common hobbyist transistors at the early stages of transistor experimentation. The Motorola 2N508 transistor seemed to be used in nearly all of the Popular Electronics magazine projects that caught my young eyes back then. The CK722 was germanium as opposed to (I believe) the silicon-based 2N508. Lafayette Radio was my usual go-to source for components (along with Allied mail order as you mentioned).

I will bet that, without having to look it up in those books, you will remember what these are:

CK722 and perhaps a 2N508?

 

From the image that Purg2 provided, this is an overlay and the way I deal with overlays is via an extension/add-on called Behind the Overlay. It’s available for Firefox and Vivaldi (and other Chromium based browsers).

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Cybertooth

“… IBM was thoroughly familiar with everything about that keyboard, and would therefore have known how to do it right. But Unicomp wasn’t thoroughly familiar with everything about that keyboard, and so they missed a key detail or two in the conversion process.”

I thought I had read a long time ago about the history of Unicomp, that it had been started by IBM employees who were involved with the design of the Model M keyboard. Here’s the wikipedia page that kind of/sort of describes it —

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp

In 1996, Lexmark International was prepared to shut their Lexington keyboard factory where they produced Model M buckling-spring keyboards. IBM, their principal customer and the Model M’s original designer and patent holder, had decided to remove the Model M from its product line in favor of cost-saving rubber-dome keyboards.

Rather than seeing its production come to an end, a group of former Lexmark and IBM employees purchased the license, tooling and design rights for buckling-spring technology, and, in April 1996, reestablished the business as Unicomp.

I had always thought that at some point (maybe in the next century or so) when my current stash of IBM Model M’s finally give up the ghost, that I would consider getting a replacement from Unicomp. No other keyboard will do.

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MrJimPhelps, Cybertooth

I’ve used this in a pinch. Here’s a write up on it.

https://www.makeuseof.com/libreoffice-pdf-editor/

One upside is you’ve probably got it installed already.

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Slowpoke47, samak

Here are two, possibly three, things to also look into. It all depends of course on what you will be doing with the laptop.

If you intend to spend much time typing, I would strongly suggest you look closely at the keyboard of any laptop you consider. While trying out a laptop’s keyboard won’t be all that easy if you are looking at mail order laptops, it would be recommended if at all possible. Trying to type for any length of time on a cramped mushy keyboard will be torture. Key layout is something you will be able to judge if you can get a review of the laptop as closeup photos of the keyboard are often available. Chiclet keys placed one right against another is a definite predictor of typos. Location of cursor arrow keys, the delete, home/end, page up and down keys are found in (what I consider) rather non-standard locations or certainly much different that what you might be used to on a desktop keyboard. If you intend to use a separate mouse then you won’t have to worry too much about the touchpad but that can be another item to be aware of.

The screen’s size, brightness and resolution will also vary from one make and model to another. Decide on the minimum size you are willing to put up with versus the laptop’s portability. The brightness of the screen, measured in nits, might also come into play if you intend to use the laptop in the bright outdoors.

With a desktop, you can easily change a keyboard and the monitor to suit your fancy and use, but not so with a laptop. Best to take these into consideration before plunking your money down.

“As long as I keep as far away as possible from that other devil, Microsoft, I’ll be fine!”

+1
I’ve sworn off all Microsoft products (including their Skype product, Oscar). ’nuff said; anything else and I’d get banned for MS-bashing.

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OscarCP

One obstacle that you might likely encounter will be that verification phone number. Lately, it seems that Google is not interested in landline numbers; it wants (demands) a cell number in order to text you the verification code. I have found it to be a hassle lately to register for new Gmail addresses because I don’t have a cell phone. I’ve even had trouble a while back trying to use the GVoice number as the verification phone even though it has texting capability.

And here’s my personal take on whether or not to use a Google product because it’s from Google — Over the years, I have found GVoice and Gmail to be really useful products. So useful that I am willing to allow the privacy thing to slide. Now, I happen to be one who is careful, maybe even anal, about privacy, but these products speak for themselves and I have found them to be worthwhile enough to continue using them. It might be different if I were to find equivalent products with the same or better quality. Right now, it’s an easy decision for me to continue using these two Google products.

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JohnW