XP Pro SP2 loses connection to Dell 1600N

[JebediahTBone]

I have a computer with a network connection to two Dell 1600N MFPs.

Because these are TCP/IP connections, i have created two TCP/IP
printer ports during the setup. Both configurations are identical,
except the IP Address of the printer for that port.

One printer is connecting and working perfecty well. The other printer
connection, however is dropped about every hour or so. The only way to
reconnect is to delete the installation and reinstall.

Any ideas on how to fix this or what's going on?

Thanks
-Jebediah

 

[Rev. G.G. Willikers]

I have a computer with a network connection to two Dell 1600N MFPs.

Because these are TCP/IP connections, i have created two TCP/IP
printer ports during the setup. Both configurations are identical,
except the IP Address of the printer for that port.

One printer is connecting and working perfecty well. The other printer
connection, however is dropped about every hour or so. The only way to
reconnect is to delete the installation and reinstall.

Any ideas on how to fix this or what's going on?

Thanks
-Jebediah

How are is the printer connected to the LAN?
Router?
Can you ping the printer after the print failure?

--

Rev. G.G. Willikers
(Founder, Custodian & Janitor of the Shrine of HOoMSJ)


"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would
I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in
fact exist, sir."

 

[JebediahTBone]

The two are on a LAN. Printer has static IP. Computer is DHCP. These
two are plugged directly into the same switch. At all times (working
or not) I can ping the printer.

Another computer in the same office, on the same switch does not have
this connectivity problem to the printer. There are no other network
related problems with this machine. Therefor, I do not believe this to
be a printer problem or a switch problem. Oh, the firewall is
configured correctly as well.

Thanks.

 

[Warren Block]

The two are on a LAN. Printer has static IP. Computer is DHCP. These
two are plugged directly into the same switch. At all times (working
or not) I can ping the printer.

Another computer in the same office, on the same switch does not have
this connectivity problem to the printer. There are no other network
related problems with this machine. Therefor, I do not believe this to
be a printer problem or a switch problem. Oh, the firewall is
configured correctly as well.

It would probably be helpful to know what happens.

How do you know the firewall is configured correctly? What firewall?

 

[JebediahTBone]

It would probably be helpful to know what happens.

How do you know the firewall is configured correctly? What firewall?

Firewall is AVG. I know the firewall is config'd OK, because a) this
doesn't happen with the second TCP/IP-connected printer on that
machine and b) if I disable the fw i can still replicate the issue.

As for what happens, the symptom is simple. After about an hour the
connection is "lost". If you send a print job, the queue fills up, but
nothing prints. Checking the printers (from control panel) shows the
icon greyed-out. Restarting the printer spooler service clears the
queue, but does not reconnect to the printer. Rebooting does not fix
anything. The only way to reconnect is to delete the printer
installation, and reinstall.

I found one note on another message board that one possibility is that
the printer goes into sleep mode. When sending the print, the printer
does not come out of sleep quickly enough for the spooler and the
spooler somehow gets hung. So, I disabled sleep mode on the printer
and we'll see what happens. Why this occurs with only one of the two
printers (both Dell 1600N), I don't know.

-Jebediah

 

[Warren Block]

As for what happens, the symptom is simple. After about an hour the
connection is "lost". If you send a print job, the queue fills up, but
nothing prints. Checking the printers (from control panel) shows the
icon greyed-out. Restarting the printer spooler service clears the
queue, but does not reconnect to the printer. Rebooting does not fix
anything. The only way to reconnect is to delete the printer
installation, and reinstall.

I'd first swap the Ethernet cables between the two printers and see if
the problem moves with it.

After trying that, if the printer supports more than one type of
communication, try the other one (i.e, lpd/lpr instead of port 9100).
For that matter, if you are using some proprietary network driver, skip
that and use the network port driver that comes with Windows.

I found one note on another message board that one possibility is that
the printer goes into sleep mode. When sending the print, the printer
does not come out of sleep quickly enough for the spooler and the
spooler somehow gets hung. So, I disabled sleep mode on the printer
and we'll see what happens. Why this occurs with only one of the two
printers (both Dell 1600N), I don't know.

Sounds unlikely, unless there's some really poor quality control with
those printers. Comparing the configuration of the two printers might
reveal something.

 

[JebediahTBone]

I'd first swap the Ethernet cables between the two printers and see if

the problem moves with it.

After trying that, if the printer supports more than one type of
communication, try the other one (i.e, lpd/lpr instead of port 9100).
For that matter, if you are using some proprietary network driver, skip
that and use the network port driver that comes with Windows.

I'll keep this in mind and try it next, if necessary.

Sounds unlikely, unless there's some really poor quality control with
those printers. Comparing the configuration of the two printers might
reveal something.

It looks like disable sleep mode on the printer is doing the trick.
This event would happen within one hour of no one printing to this
specific printer. Now that I've disabled sleep mode on the printer
(about a day and a half ago), we've not seen the problem. So it seems
there is some communication problem between this specific printer and
this specific computer. For now, I'm keeping an eye on it, but if we
don't see this problem after the weekend, I'll call this problem
closed.

-Jebediah