Wireless Printing Problem

PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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Bought a new Cannon printer on 25 March and it worked wirelessly until yesterday when problem started. Wouldn't always print, error messages such as 'printer not responding' etc. So I decided to reinstall it but couldn't and a 'network error' message. Now given that all other devises here are working thorugh my home hub, am I right to conclude that the problem lies with the new printer? BTW the printer works OK when connected via a USB cable.

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  • thespooksterthespookster Posts: 25
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    If it's anything like my samsung wireless printer then things can go awry and it is not made easy to the user how to fix it. Problem I had was the printer was set to get its ip address by dhcp from the bt home hub and it sometimes would get a different address, but the pc sets the ip address of the printer port at installation time when you have to connect printer by usb so that the install process can physically update the printer. So I used to have to either reinstall driver or change the ip address on the printer properties.

    After a while got bored of doing this and simply told the home hub to reserve the same ip address to the printer and not to use it for any other device. Problem solved. Then also found out that the web server built into printer had a handy login feature that gave access to the network setup without having to reinstall printer driver.

    I assume you might be having same issue, and you will probably just find the printer is now running on a different ip address than what your pc is expecting it to be on.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    And it doesn't help when I have no idea of what an ip address or dhcp is, let alone how to tell the home hub to do anything.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Paperhouse wrote: »
    And it doesn't help when I have no idea of what an ip address or dhcp is, let alone how to tell the home hub to do anything.
    IP Address is a group of numbers that locates any device on the network. Each device must have it's own unique address otherwise things start to get messy.

    DHCP is a means for the router (Home Hub in your case) to dish out IP addresses and other essential information to each device automatically. In theory it means everything gets it's own unique address and you don't have to worry about setting everything up manually all the time.

    If the printer is using DHCP to obtain an IP address then it can quite possibly change from time to time. If the PCs on your home network are assuming the IP address is fixed however then they will lose contact with the printer if the Home Hub doles out a different address to the printer for whatever reason.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    IP Address is a group of numbers that locates any device on the network. Each device must have it's own unique address otherwise things start to get messy.

    DHCP is a means for the router (Home Hub in your case) to dish out IP addresses and other essential information to each device automatically. In theory it means everything gets it's own unique address and you don't have to worry about setting everything up manually all the time.

    If the printer is using DHCP to obtain an IP address then it can quite possibly change from time to time. If the PCs on your home network are assuming the IP address is fixed however then they will lose contact with the printer if the Home Hub doles out a different address to the printer for whatever reason.

    Very well explained chrisjr. I've now exchanged the printer and will see if the new one does the same. If it does, thespookster suggested that something can be done with the homehub to resolve things. I'll keep you posted.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Paperhouse wrote: »
    Very well explained chrisjr. I've now exchanged the printer and will see if the new one does the same. If it does, thespookster suggested that something can be done with the homehub to resolve things. I'll keep you posted.
    You might not need to touch the Home Hub at all. You might get away with just feeding in a fixed IP address on the printer.

    That is what I have done with my printer. I simply set it up with an IP address well out of the way of any that the router would dish out via DHCP. No changes made to the router config at all and it just works.

    It depends on whether the printer allows you to enter an IP address manually or not. If it does not then you would need to go into the config of the Home Hub and tell it to allocate the same IP address to the printer all the time. But to do that you may need to know the MAC address of the printer, which is a whole new concept to get your head around :)
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    New printer installed and, so far, working as it should.
  • oilmanoilman Posts: 4,529
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    If you have not assigned a static IP address, then you could still get a problem later on. Suppose IPs serve by router are

    192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200 (ignore first 3 numbers it is the 100 -200 that is important here).

    You switch on laptop - it is given address 192.168.1.100
    You switch on printer - it is given address 192.168.1.101
    The printer software when installed tells you PC to print to IP 192.168.101.

    Now you turn off printer (address 192.168.1.101), and you decide to turn on another PC or whatever. This is then allocated 192.168.1.101 instead.

    You turn on your printer again, and it is allocated 192.168.102.

    Your PC will now not print correctly as it will point to wrong address.

    Some Routers are clever enough (or you can tell them to do so) to remember the item connected and the IP address initially assigned, and will not give that address to anybody else unless it is running out of addresses (virtually impossible on a home network).

    So it may work between your PC and the printer with no problem. The key test is to check if a 2nd PC or laptop also prints correctly. If this works, your are probably ok.

    As others said before, the best way is to set the IP manually in the printer's management sofwtare (usually a web interface). This should be in user manuals supplied with printer.

    The key thing is to choose an IP address well away from DHCP range on router. Usually a fairly low number e.g. 198.168.XX.20 is ok. The first three number must be same as on your router. You can tell the XX easily as there is normally a sticker giving the router IP as something like

    192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.254, 192.168.2.1 etc.

    You can also use command ipconfig/new under a command line window and look for your PCs IP address.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    oilman wrote: »
    As others said before, the best way is to set the IP manually in the printer's management sofwtare (usually a web interface). This should be in user manuals supplied with printer.

    The key thing is to choose an IP address well away from DHCP range on router. Usually a fairly low number e.g. 198.168.XX.20 is ok. The first three number must be same as on your router. You can tell the XX easily as there is normally a sticker giving the router IP as something like

    192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.254, 192.168.2.1 etc.

    You can also use command ipconfig/new under a command line window and look for your PCs IP address.
    On my router the DHCP range defaults to 1 to something like 100 (and is adjustable). So a high number would be needed to take it out of the DHCP range. Not sure what the BT Home Hub defaults to.

    And to see what IP address is assigned to a computer you just need IPCONFIG or IPCONFIG /ALL to see all the gory details. :)
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    OK. The new printer has been working for just over a week and we have been able to print correctly from two different PCs, but it has now started playing up as the previous printer did.

    When trying to print there is a message saying printer not responding and shows the Port as CNBJNP_180CAC0C1B17. Is that the IP address? And does anyone know how to assign a sepecific IP address for the Canon printer on a BT Homehub (the black box?) and seperate router (the white box). I do hope that this make sense to someone out there.

    Thanks in advance.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Paperhouse wrote: »
    OK. The new printer has been working for just over a week and we have been able to print correctly from two different PCs, but it has now started playing up as the previous printer did.

    When trying to print there is a message saying printer not responding and shows the Port as CNBJNP_180CAC0C1B17. Is that the IP address? And does anyone know how to assign a sepecific IP address for the Canon printer on a BT Homehub (the black box?) and seperate router (the white box). I do hope that this make sense to someone out there.

    Thanks in advance.
    That is not an IP address. So the router should be sorting out directing data to the correct destination regardless of what IP address it's giving the printer.

    What you could try is putting an IP address into the printer manually. That should work without having to touch the router.

    If you post the exact model of the printer it should be possible to look up the manual online to see how this can be done.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    That is not an IP address. So the router should be sorting out directing data to the correct destination regardless of what IP address it's giving the printer.

    What you could try is putting an IP address into the printer manually. That should work without having to touch the router.

    If you post the exact model of the printer it should be possible to look up the manual online to see how this can be done.

    It's a Canon Pixma MG4250.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    If you use this guide

    http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/7/0300008387/01/MG4200_NonPC_EN.pdf

    scroll down to nearly the end of the document to the section headed "The device may not be able to connect to the network in the following cases" and follow the instructions there to get into the manual IP settings.

    It doesn't specify what happens next however. But at the very least it will need an IP address and possibly a Subnet mask and Gateway address. To work out what to enter here open a Command Prompt on any computer on your network and type

    IPCONFIG

    then press Enter which will return a set of figures somewhere in which will be something like this

    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

    What you need to enter into the printer is the IP address changing the last number (2 in the example above) to some other value. If it's a low number enter something like 100, eg 192.168.1.100. If it's a high number (100+) enter a low number but not the same as in the Gateway address.

    Enter the Subnet Mask and Gateway exactly as shown on your computer. If it asks for a DNS address use the Gateway address for that as well.

    Not sure if after that whether you will need to go through the printer set-up again on your computers or not.

    Give that a try and see what happens.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    Thanks chrisjr. Sounds complex to an olden like me but I'll give it a try.
  • max99max99 Posts: 9,002
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    Wireless printing can sometimes be temperamental. It might work perfectly or you might have to keep faffing around every few weeks to get it working. If you keep running into problems, just stick the USB cable in and make life easier for yourself.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    max99 wrote: »
    Wireless printing can sometimes be temperamental. It might work perfectly or you might have to keep faffing around every few weeks to get it working. If you keep running into problems, just stick the USB cable in and make life easier for yourself.

    How true. Tried to print the Canon instruction manual wirelessly but it would only print a couple of pages and then give up! So I installed a USB cable and printed the manual that way. But now the Canon printer will not respond to the PC. I shouldn't have to reinstall the printer simply because I have used a USB cable for ten minutes should I?

    The annoying thing is that I didn't necessariy want a wireless printer. But if it has the feature then I would like it to work occasionally.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Paperhouse wrote: »
    How true. Tried to print the Canon instruction manual wirelessly but it would only print a couple of pages and then give up! So I installed a USB cable and printed the manual that way. But now the Canon printer will not respond to the PC. I shouldn't have to reinstall the printer simply because I have used a USB cable for ten minutes should I?

    The annoying thing is that I didn't necessariy want a wireless printer. But if it has the feature then I would like it to work occasionally.
    If you plug it into one of the computers then that will need separate drivers to be installed to the ones you used when it was networked. Which likely happened automatically. It may also have set the USB version as a separate printer and made that the default device.

    So if you look in Devices and Printers you might see two printers.Just change the default back to the network one.

    How far apart are the router and the printer? Would it be better to run a cable between the two? Don't think that is an option with your printer as I don't remember seeing mention of an ethernet port? But it might work more reliably. In my case my router and printer are no more than 3 feet apart and so no issue cabling the two together. And in my case I've never had any problems. No matter how long the gap between print jobs.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    chrisjr wrote: »
    If you plug it into one of the computers then that will need separate drivers to be installed to the ones you used when it was networked. Which likely happened automatically. It may also have set the USB version as a separate printer and made that the default device.

    So if you look in Devices and Printers you might see two printers.Just change the default back to the network one.

    How far apart are the router and the printer? Would it be better to run a cable between the two? Don't think that is an option with your printer as I don't remember seeing mention of an ethernet port? But it might work more reliably. In my case my router and printer are no more than 3 feet apart and so no issue cabling the two together. And in my case I've never had any problems. No matter how long the gap between print jobs.

    I've already changed the default back to the network one but the printer is now not recognised by any computer. The PC and printer are side by side at the moment so are easily connected by USB cable. But it would be nice to locate the printer somewhere else.

    I don't understand your comment re ethernet cable.

    Also.....

    In your previous advice you said 'open a Command Prompt'. Sorry to be a numbskull but what doe that mean exactly?
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    Just double clicked on the printer icon and it searched for 192.168.1.72 (IP address). I then found Signal Strength 86% and Link Quality 92%.
  • PaperhousePaperhouse Posts: 1,707
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    Not quite sure how but I've now found

    IP address 192.168.1.72
    Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway 192.168.1.254
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Paperhouse wrote: »
    I've already changed the default back to the network one but the printer is now not recognised by any computer. The PC and printer are side by side at the moment so are easily connected by USB cable. But it would be nice to locate the printer somewhere else.
    Check the settings on the printer and make sure WiFi hasn't been turned off as a result of plugging in the USB cable. I think one of the links I provided above shows the button presses to do this.
    Paperhouse wrote: »
    I don't understand your comment re ethernet cable.
    Your computer and printer are communicating via your router, not directly (just turn off the router and see what happens!). If the router and printer are more or less side by side there is little point using WiFi.

    If the printer has an ethernet port then a cable connection to the router may well be more reliable and stable than WiFi. However I don't think your printer has an ethernet port so talk of cable is probably academic anyway (unless you get a new one :)).
    Paperhouse wrote: »
    Also.....

    In your previous advice you said 'open a Command Prompt'. Sorry to be a numbskull but what doe that mean exactly?
    Just type CMD into the Search box on the Start menu and select either cmd.exe or Command (Prompt) depending on what is returned.

    If you were into computers back in the days before Windows you'll be completely familiar with what comes up. :D
  • max99max99 Posts: 9,002
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    At this point I would uninstall the printer completely and start again. So unplug the printer if it's still connected via USB, uninstall the printer from Control Panel and also delete it if it still appears under Printers. Restart the computer, run the printer CD again and choose the USB option. Plug in the USB cable when prompted.

    You can try and persevere getting it to work wirelessly, but I can't see it ending well.
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