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Scott Shepherd
07-07-2011, 6:16 PM
I setup a network printer here at work a couple of months ago. It's been awesome to be able to print from anywhere at any time. Everything is working great, no issues at all. It's networked with 5 PC's and 2 Mac's, plugged into a switch that's plugged into a Linksys router.

Yesterday I print something and get the error message that it could not print. No real details, just that it couldn't print. The power had been off due to a storm. So I rebooted the router, switch, and cable modem, along with my computer. It printed after that. So, I go to print today, same thing. I reboot everything, still won't print. I turn the printer on and off, nothing.

I uninstall the driver and install it again. Test print won't print, get the same error. I go to any computer in the place, PC or Mac and it'll print. This is the only computer it won't print from no matter what I do.

So I'm guessing it's security software driven. I'm running eset's security suite on this computer (the only one using that) and it's so many things to change or look at in there, I can't figure out where the issue is.

I try and print and then look at the security log to see if it's blocking the port or something, but nothing shows up in the log, so maybe it's not that. The firewall part of that security software is disabled.

Not sure why it's worked all along and now it won't, just from this one computer, but I'm stumped. It's becoming a pain to send all my email and files to the Mac to print.

Anyone got any suggestions on what to look at, knowing in advance that I have no idea what you're telling me to do, so please dumb it down :)

Thanks!

paul cottingham
07-07-2011, 6:56 PM
Install Linux.

Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)

Is it setup as a share from the computer that won't print? Or is it a network share?

Scott Shepherd
07-07-2011, 7:48 PM
It's setup as a pure network printer, not hooked to any computer and not sharing from any computer. It's plugged into the switch with a cat 5 cable.

I personally believe it's a eset security issue, but I'll be darned if I can figure out where it's stopping it or how to fix it. I turned that all off and it still won't print, which made me think it wasn't related to that, but if it's not related to that, then I'm even more lost, because it's not that complicated, and I would have thought uninstalling and re-installing it would have resolved that.

paul cottingham
07-07-2011, 7:59 PM
can you ping it from the workstation in question? Is the windows or eset firewall enabled?

Luc Vincent
07-07-2011, 9:36 PM
I have the same problems with power trips and resets when I have my laptop plugged in. It seems the DHCP decides that the printer and laptop is more important than the wife's desktop and kicks her off the net.

Try this: Shutdown all PC's except your "main" one and make sure printer is on. Reboot the main computer and do a test print with it. If that works, then turn on each of your other workstations. The DHCP should register correctly then and assign IP's down the line. I do know Mac has it's own network assigning setup and it may be blocking the printer, since you say you're not using the internet security firewall. Other than that, go to each workstation and manually assign IP's vs just allowing dynamic IP assignments via DHCP.

paul cottingham
07-07-2011, 9:46 PM
That doesn't make any sense at all. DHCP doesn't care a wit about what kind of machine is looking for an address. If you are getting dumped, it could mean one of the machines has a static ip assigned to it that dhcp is trying to assign to one of the machines.

This message sounds more snotty than I intended....

Just another guess, tho'

Greg Peterson
07-07-2011, 10:02 PM
Ping the printer. If that fails, check the printers IP address. My guess is the printers IP reset to the default.

Bryan Morgan
07-07-2011, 10:48 PM
First off, what kind of printer is it? Do you use a built in or external print server? If its an hp with a removable Jet Direct card, what card is it? When you say you print direct, are you just making a TCP port 9100 connection? If so, do you configure it via IP or DNS name?

I've installed over 100 network printers since January... probably over 1000 in the past few years. Little desktops to massive $500,000 production behemoths. I know a thing or two about them and the stupid little things you have to do to make them work. One thing is for certain, I hate printers. :)

No really, I bleeping HATE them! :D

Scott Shepherd
07-08-2011, 8:32 AM
First off, what kind of printer is it? Do you use a built in or external print server? If its an hp with a removable Jet Direct card, what card is it? When you say you print direct, are you just making a TCP port 9100 connection? If so, do you configure it via IP or DNS name?

It's an Epson WorkForce 840.
No external printer server. I plugged the cat 5 cable in the back, put the installation disc in, and selected "network printer", and went from there.
I have no idea on the TCP connection.

I just plugged it into the switch, which is plugged into the router, and it worked. It still works from every computer in the place except my PC.

The firewall is disabled in eset, and nothing has changed. I know how people change things and say "I didn't do anything", but in the case, it was working when I left work, I came back in the next day, it doesn't work. No changes to anything.

I did ping the printer and got the times back, so I guess it's pinging.

Robert LaPlaca
07-08-2011, 8:43 AM
Assuming you are doing straight IP printing. If so it sounds like your network printer is acquiring it's address via DHCP, what that means is it's IP address will be variable. It's best to assign a statically assigned IP address from your internal addressing, more than likely you are using an internal address something like 192.168.0.x. If you want to do everything network wise kosher go into your DHCP server on your linksys router and reduce the number of available dynamic addresses to like 20, then assign your printers IP address as 192.168.0.22, or the easy way is to assign the printers IP address as the last address in the IP network 192.168.0.254.. You will then have to configure the network interface in the printer to use the static address and each workstations printer will need to be reworked to now utilize the new static IP address..

Scott Shepherd
07-08-2011, 9:13 AM
Can't I just hit it with a hammer?

Robert LaPlaca
07-08-2011, 9:52 AM
Can't I just hit it with a hammer?

Many times it works better than most IT type solutions.. And as a secondary benefit it certainly makes you feel a whole lot better and you clearly let the devices know who's boss..

Greg Portland
07-08-2011, 2:32 PM
MOST IMPORTANT: Stop rebooting the printer unless absolutely necessary! You use TONS of ink on these hard power cycles; use standby mode instead!

Some random ideas:
1) On just the printer, can you print a test page (i.e. go through printer's button menus)?
2) The test page should have all the printer's network settings. Are they set correctly? Is your switch and router mimicking those settings (i.e. everyone agrees on the IP addy, etc.)? It sounds like you are NOT using wireless which is good... I think the Epson's force you to disable security settings with wireless printing.
3) Can you ping the printer (and you're sure it's the printer and not some other device)? Check port 3629 (TCP/UDP)... that needs to be open.
4) Is the printer only set for network printing (i.e. no USB cable attached)? I'd remove the USB for now.
5) Turn off all computers except 1 PC. If your system is still failing then I'd try contacting Epson support.

Scott Shepherd
07-08-2011, 2:58 PM
See answers in red.


MOST IMPORTANT: Stop rebooting the printer unless absolutely necessary! You use TONS of ink on these hard power cycles; use standby mode instead!

Some random ideas:
1) On just the printer, can you print a test page (i.e. go through printer's button menus)?
Yup, printer works fine from all other computers in the building. Just not my PC.

2) The test page should have all the printer's network settings. Are they set correctly? Is your switch and router mimicking those settings (i.e. everyone agrees on the IP addy, etc.)? It sounds like you are NOT using wireless which is good... I think the Epson's force you to disable security settings with wireless printing.
Not using wireless, I have no idea if anything is set correctly, it's all the same as it was when it was working.

3) Can you ping the printer (and you're sure it's the printer and not some other device)? Check port 3629 (TCP/UDP)... that needs to be open.
I did ping it, it sent back some time data, so I assume that means it found it. I have no idea what port 3629 is, how to open it, how to check it.

4) Is the printer only set for network printing (i.e. no USB cable attached)? I'd remove the USB for now.
There is no USB hooked to it.

5) Turn off all computers except 1 PC. If your system is still failing then I'd try contacting Epson support.
Did that, nothing changed.

paul cottingham
07-08-2011, 3:52 PM
I would try shutting off the firewall service on the offending pc if it is running. I would also turn off eset completely if possible, maybe disable the service if possible.

Greg Portland
07-08-2011, 5:09 PM
I have no idea what port 3629 is, how to open it, how to check it.

Open a command prompt on your PC and type the following (replacing <*> with the printer's IP):
telnet <IP_ADDRESS_OF_PRINTER> 3629
Also try telnet 127.0.0.1 3629 (to see if current machine's port is open)

If you get a blank screen or login prompt on screen then it's open.

Greg Peterson
07-08-2011, 10:32 PM
Scott, at the printer there is an option to print a test page. The printer will print out a report, likely several pages, with various bits of information about the printer. One of the items it will report is the printers network configuration.

This test page information is most likely unavailable from a PC on the network, you generally have physically be in front of the printer to request this test page.

Bryan Morgan
07-09-2011, 12:30 AM
It's an Epson WorkForce 840.
No external printer server. I plugged the cat 5 cable in the back, put the installation disc in, and selected "network printer", and went from there.
I have no idea on the TCP connection.

I just plugged it into the switch, which is plugged into the router, and it worked. It still works from every computer in the place except my PC.

The firewall is disabled in eset, and nothing has changed. I know how people change things and say "I didn't do anything", but in the case, it was working when I left work, I came back in the next day, it doesn't work. No changes to anything.

I did ping the printer and got the times back, so I guess it's pinging.

When you say you ping it, are you pinging it by the IP address or the network name?

You can check the port its using by going to another PC and opening up the printers in the control panel. Right click on the printer and click on properties. Look at the port tab and see how the computer is actually connecting to the printer. Do the same on the computer that is not working and see if the ports match. If they do, its possible that you have firewall issue or an automatic MS update broke something. If they do not match you should be able to edit the port to match. Sometimes these automatic installers install by network name and PCs (Windows and Macs on a Windows network) will occasionally have random problems with this... thats why its best to use IPs rather than names.

You should be able to dig around in the menus on the front panel and see if the TCP/IP setting is set to DHCP or a static address. If it is set to DHCP it would be wise to set it to a static address. You will probably have to reinstall the printer drivers on all the machines once you do this. I hate the installers that printers come with and generally throw the discs in the trash... the exception being Brother MFC devices because they never completely work with just the driver alone, you must use their crappy installer.

To have it run reliably, I'd recommend a couple things. Uninstall any junk Epson installed. Manually set a static address on the printer. Manually install the printer drivers. Control Panel -> printers -> add printer -> local printer / tcp/ip printer -> plug in the static IP -> pick the driver (if its not there, use have disk and point it at the cd it came with... or download the latest drivers and unzip it and point this option at that new folder). The Mac install is pretty much the same.

Shawn Pixley
07-09-2011, 10:42 AM
See answers in red.

Grom your first answer above, it seems aparent that the issue is in your computer - not the network, not the printer.

Check to see if you have the right driver and updates for your OS. Check with Epson for known issues- DAMHIKT. Is your OS different than the other PCs on the ntework?
Go to othe computer that works with printer and copy their settings
Add / update these into yours.

Scott Shepherd
07-10-2011, 10:00 AM
I pinged it by the IP address.

It does print out the network settings from the printer itself, and I have that. I have changed it to manual settings and a static IP address on the printer itself. However, I still can't get it to work.

I disabled my eset anti-virus and firewall completely. I rebooted the router, the switch, and the cable modem.

I uninstalled the print driver and installed it again. When it goes into the installation, one part of it says it's going to connect with the printer. When it does that, it says it connected and returns the MAC address of the printer, so clearly, it's communicating with the printer. It runs through the entire installation and gets to the "Print test page" part, I click it, it sits there for a minute or so and then returns the "this document failed to print" message and that's it.

If it's returned the MAC address from connecting, to me, it looks like it's communicating fine. It just won't print.

My computer is on battery backup, so when the power did flicker the other night, when this all started, my computer power never went off, only the printer, router, switch, and cable modem.

It still prints from every computer in the place, PC's and Mac's, just not my PC, which it printed from fine for the last couple of months, when I first hooked it to the network. Running XP, it's all up to date on patches, as are all the XP computers here.

Jerome Stanek
07-10-2011, 10:19 AM
uninstall your printer drivers and reinstall them.

Scott Shepherd
07-10-2011, 10:40 AM
I uninstalled the print driver and installed it again. When it goes into the installation, one part of it says it's going to connect with the printer. When it does that, it says it connected and returns the MAC address of the printer, so clearly, it's communicating with the printer. It runs through the entire installation and gets to the "Print test page" part, I click it, it sits there for a minute or so and then returns the "this document failed to print" message and that's it.


I've done that about 5 times now. Doesn't seem to change anything.

Greg Peterson
07-10-2011, 12:19 PM
Flush your network settings.

From a command prompt run the following commands (in this sequence):

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

The release command resets your machines IP address to 0.0.0.0.
The renew command requests a new IP address from the DHCP server on your network.
The flushdns command flushes out the dns cache so that if there is a name/ip mapping that is incorrect this will be removed.

Probably would not hurt to reboot the PC either.

paul cottingham
07-10-2011, 12:40 PM
Try replacing the network cable, and the nic if possible. All that remains is a layer5 issue

Scott Shepherd
07-10-2011, 1:14 PM
Flush your network settings.

From a command prompt run the following commands (in this sequence):

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

The release command resets your machines IP address to 0.0.0.0.
The renew command requests a new IP address from the DHCP server on your network.
The flushdns command flushes out the dns cache so that if there is a name/ip mapping that is incorrect this will be removed.

Probably would not hurt to reboot the PC either.

Done. No change. Still the exact same thing.

I have 2 NIC's in this computer, I'll try using the other one when I get a chance. I've also got plenty of cable, so I'll try changing that out too.

I just don't understand what it's missing if it can grab the MAC address from the printer, there is obviously some communication going on.

Jerome Stanek
07-10-2011, 1:48 PM
Are you getting a print spooler error. My SIL had a problem that she couldn't connect to her printer and I ended up doing a recovery install of windows.

Scott Shepherd
07-10-2011, 2:03 PM
No specific error message, it just says "This document failed to print" and that's all it says.

Greg Peterson
07-10-2011, 2:44 PM
You have a multihomed workstation? Are both NIC's installed and showing up as enabled in device manager? Is there a reason why your machine has two NICs?

If both NICs are enabled, it is possible that print driver may be bound to the NIC that isn't plugged in.

Scott Shepherd
07-10-2011, 3:40 PM
It has 2 NIC's because one of them was used for a dedicated connection to a piece of equipment.

I think the problem has been resolved. Plugged into the new NIC, it still didn't work. I changed ports on the switch, and it still didn't work.

I swapped my laptop connection with the connection on my PC and it worked. Now, the old PC connect to the laptop works on the laptop too. So all I did was switch ends at the computers, and it works from both systems now.

Using the same NIC it always did, same everything, just swapped the cable ends from one to the other.

Glad it's fixed. Tired of fighting with it and tired of forwarding all my emails to my laptop to have a place to print them from!

Thanks for all the help, it is appreciated.