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View Full Version : Sharing a solution I found to solve Printer Offline issue with Windows 7/ Ethernet



Larry Bratton
07-27-2012, 11:56 AM
I got a Windows 7 computer a couple of months ago. I had always used a USB connection with Windows XP without any issues. Although I managed to finally get the laser to work with the USB connection in Windows 7, I had continuous problems with it. Epilog suggested we set up the EXT to run from an Ethernet connection. Our laser is actually in another room from the computer and we were using a powered USB cable but the problems were not solved. We used a 50' standard cable (not crossover) to connect to an ethernet port on our Linksys router. Upon initial connection and installation the laser printed with no problem.

Upon shutting down the computer and laser at the end of the day and then re-booting and restarting the laser the next morning, the laser (printer) shows as Offline in the Devices and Printers window. You cannot print to it. This issue is apparently very wide spread with other printers and I am going to assume some of you have run into it also. There is actually a very simple fix for it, although to me it is totally illogical. I don't think it would occur to many people to look and see What is Printing? on the menu bar at this point. Obviously nothing. However, if you highlight the laser, then click on See Whats Printing, you will see that USE PRINTER OFFLINE is checked. Uncheck it and your laser will then show READY. Assuming it's turned on, you can then print as normal. This fix apparently is permanent, because with subsequent re-boots it does not show as OFFLINE again.

I had gone through trying to fix this with Epilog tech unsuccesfully. I advised Brian this morning and he said they were going to incorporate this in their documentation. Just thought this might be of help now or for future installs.