Windows 10 says the printers are offline....oh no they aren't....

Box Brownie

Box Brownie

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Hi all

Had a little mystery on the OH laptop that initially foxed me.

Up until 3 days ago she printed via WiFi to both our printers without any issues. But yesterday could she print....heck no!!!

Both printers were showing as "Offline".....Googled and checked the 'Offline' setting in the Print Queue settings and according to that they were 'Online'.

Checked Windows updates for any indication of a recent one causing the problem, nope nothing there.

So a real :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: then I checked the Canon printers online manual and its WiFi connection troubleshooting guide and bingo. It specifically mentioned to use the 2.4Ghz band only.

I checked the laptops WiFi connection and it was on the 5Ghz...............switched to 2,4Ghz and all hunky dorey :)

However, the mystery is the laptop has been configured to use either channel as W10 sees fit and it has been fine for a very long while in regard to her being able to print.

Plus bearing mind the laptop is able to use the Internet on either band and the the laptop and the printer on on the same network NAT table range. So as far as I was aware the laptop was communicating with the printers 'through' the router i.e. it mattered not which band the laptop was using.

So it would appear, note as mentioned above no Win updates of influence in the connection, now the laptop is communicating directly with the printers hence the WiFi band being critical.

As I said at the start, all a bit of mystery as to what may have changed to have caused the 'problem'???

PS for clarity, though on my desktop PC which is Ethernet connected to the Router I do print via WiFi and the band used by the printers is 2.4Ghz.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Probably port number changed if you presumably left network on auto. They do this after a while which is why you need to come up with your own made up IP numbers.
Click to expand...
FWIW
Both printers have 'fixed' addresses and the laptop is DHCP addressed.
 
I have a hateful Canon wireless printer that sometimes does this. When it powers up, it takes a random amount of time to show up as "online".
If you've already fixed IPs so they aren't changing, then you can ignore that, and the 2.4ghz/5ghz wifi thing - assuming your printer is connected to a wireless router, not wireless direct to your laptop, it doesn't matter whether your laptop is on 2.4 or 5, it just matters that the printer is connected via 2.4 to the same network.

I've found that every couple months I just need to delete and re-add the printer, I suspect the blame lies with Canon's crappy software TBH...
 
Go into the router. Make sure the 2.4Ghz interface is bridged with the 5Ghz. If the router doesn't give you that option, get a better one :)

Normally, all 4 Ethernet ports AND the Wifi interfaces (sometimes there are more than 2) are all layer 2 bridged in the access point/router.

If the 5Ghz stuff can't talk to the 2.4Ghz stuff, even though they are on the same subnet, it's probably because the layer 2 ethernet segments are no adjoined.

If you can't put them into a bridge, the only other option is to put the two on different subnets are route them at layer 3, which is messy.

Do however look for options like "Network/Wifi isolation" and turn it off. If it's per network, leave it on for a "guest" network only.
 
A much less involved approach is to just disable 5Ghz Wifi entirely. 5Ghz will only really work well with clear line of sight to the router and you will only see anything like it's potential speed in a RF quiet room within 3 feet of the router.
2.4Ghz is far more reliable and longer range.
So unless you want to stream 4K movies to a 5Ghz Wifi TV, go Wired + 2.4Ghz.
 
landwomble said:
I have a hateful Canon wireless printer that sometimes does this. When it powers up, it takes a random amount of time to show up as "online".
If you've already fixed IPs so they aren't changing, then you can ignore that, and the 2.4ghz/5ghz wifi thing - assuming your printer is connected to a wireless router, not wireless direct to your laptop, it doesn't matter whether your laptop is on 2.4 or 5, it just matters that the printer is connected via 2.4 to the same network.

I've found that every couple months I just need to delete and re-add the printer, I suspect the blame lies with Canon's crappy software TBH...
Click to expand...
When I had a an older Canon (and at the time a different router) the Canon WiFi link was as I recall a tad flakey but this TS8250 has been by comparison AOK since I installed it a good while back ~ not too sure now when I got it???
paulca said:
Go into the router. Make sure the 2.4Ghz interface is bridged with the 5Ghz. If the router doesn't give you that option, get a better one :)

Normally, all 4 Ethernet ports AND the Wifi interfaces (sometimes there are more than 2) are all layer 2 bridged in the access point/router.

If the 5Ghz stuff can't talk to the 2.4Ghz stuff, even though they are on the same subnet, it's probably because the layer 2 ethernet segments are no adjoined.

If you can't put them into a bridge, the only other option is to put the two on different subnets are route them at layer 3, which is messy.

Do however look for options like "Network/Wifi isolation" and turn it off. If it's per network, leave it on for a "guest" network only.
Click to expand...
FWIW

I have the BT Business Hub 6 and it IMO a very good bit of kit................quite configurable and usable on non BT service(s) such as PlusNet. It does have a quirk(?) in that it does a soft reboot approx every 11 days. The last auto firmware update was Oct 2020 and it has been robust in its performance.

Since day one I have separated the two WiFi bands and both the printer have been 100% accessible up until what I describe in my OP ~ note: I also realised that my Android phone also lost its print capability like my OH's iPad and laptop.

As I say it was very odd and still a bit of a mystery as to what was going on???
paulca said:
A much less involved approach is to just disable 5Ghz Wifi entirely. 5Ghz will only really work well with clear line of sight to the router and you will only see anything like it's potential speed in a RF quiet room within 3 feet of the router.
2.4Ghz is far more reliable and longer range.
So unless you want to stream 4K movies to a 5Ghz Wifi TV, go Wired + 2.4Ghz.
Click to expand...

Personally I find both bands have quite good reach around the house and into the garden...........................if on my drive approx 60ft away my phone will auto switch to the 2.4Ghz band even though the 5Ghz is still low strength. NB my old Netgear also had similar if not slightly better range!

Note: WiFi range IMO is so very dependant on the type of house and the materials of construction, we live in a chalet style house so the upper floor in one orientation direction is primarily wood. In a stone built house with more solid internal walls, no doubt folk will have a very different WiFi experience.
 
Apologies for being negative, but as soon as you said a BT Hub, my first thought was, "Oh ... oh dear". Get rid. I have a box of them thrown out if you want a few more? Last ISP tried to send me a new router and I said I didn't want one, they said it was FREE and I said, "Nope. It's not worth it, thanks."

Plusnet are owned by BT. The plusnet home hub is a rebranded BT Home hub. It includes many interesting "features" which have to be taken as potentially miss-usable. The UIs are dumbed down so far it reads like a Peter and Jane book to network engineers.

FTTP is a bit different though, you have to take the provider ONT equipment, but you can still replace the router with your own.

On Wifi range and signal. The only way to know for sure is to speed test it. To do that properly requires a bit of setup. Sure your 5Ghz might have 3 out of 4 bars and claim 300Mbit/s, but when you start to put load on it, you will find it will degrade and settle at as much as a 10th of that. I have heard rumours that the new Wifi2 stuff is more stable, but.. not backward compatible.

You don't need a really expensive router, just one that has sensible firmware, ideally Open-WRT compatible, then you get all the bells and whistles.
 
The change in Windows BTW, may have resulted in different Wifi network selection or an upgrade in it's access point search code. I didn't check the windows patch notes. I just wish they would stop breaking HDMI audio every other release. You turn the tele on and the sound comes out the little speaker in the ex office PC.
 
paulca said:
Apologies for being negative, but as soon as you said a BT Hub, my first thought was, "Oh ... oh dear". Get rid. I have a box of them thrown out if you want a few more? Last ISP tried to send me a new router and I said I didn't want one, they said it was FREE and I said, "Nope. It's not worth it, thanks."

Plusnet are owned by BT. The plusnet home hub is a rebranded BT Home hub. It includes many interesting "features" which have to be taken as potentially miss-usable. The UIs are dumbed down so far it reads like a Peter and Jane book to network engineers.

FTTP is a bit different though, you have to take the provider ONT equipment, but you can still replace the router with your own.

On Wifi range and signal. The only way to know for sure is to speed test it. To do that properly requires a bit of setup. Sure your 5Ghz might have 3 out of 4 bars and claim 300Mbit/s, but when you start to put load on it, you will find it will degrade and settle at as much as a 10th of that. I have heard rumours that the new Wifi2 stuff is more stable, but.. not backward compatible.

You don't need a really expensive router, just one that has sensible firmware, ideally Open-WRT compatible, then you get all the bells and whistles.
Click to expand...
Yes the PN Hub is a re-branded and restricted function BT HH 5b and there is a litany of posts on a particular thread on the PN Community about how awefull the PN Hub is (for a significant minority?)...............and that is why I retired it in favour of the BT BH6

The BT Business Hub 6 has a widely as far as I could learn (including from some very clued in PN users on their Community Forum) respected reputation and IMO it has been a solid performer.

If I had not read good reports of the Business Hub I would not have gotten it. Yes, no doubt there are newer and better models (Netgear, TP Link etc) but so far no need to update(yet?). When I was using my Netgear 834G (I think that was it), it was a solid performer and at that time in place of the supplied PN ADSL router ;)
 
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