Locally connected Printer shows as offline on Windows 7 network after initially working

Anonymous
2010-02-06T13:46:55+00:00

Ok, have checked similar threads wihich got no successful answers.

I have a PC with Epson printer connect directly via USB. Print driver installed correctly.  Works fine. 

Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bit) no security other than windows firewall and microsoft security essentials.

Laptop connected wirelessly to PC.  On same network and homegroup, file and media sharing all working fine.

Laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bit) same security as PC.

When I add a network printer it finds printer on PC and correctly installs driver etc.  Printer appears in devices and will print the first couple of times.

However, by the next day the network printer shows up as "offline" in the print spooler on the laptop.  Documents simply stack up.

The PC does not go to sleep and is left on all of the time except for the monitor which is switched off.  Printer works fine on PC, indeed with docs stuck on the laptop I can still print directly from the PC - even this does not show the printer as online on the laptop.

Have checked that the printer spooler on laptop is running and set to automatic.

Epson unable/unwilling to help - have found a similar thread with no answer - anybody any guesses as to what to try?

Many thanks

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2010-05-03T09:50:43+00:00

I had a similar problem and for me  the Problem is with the EPSON driver.  

My printer was connected wirelessly to my network, I had IP address and could ping it but WIN 7 showed it as OFFLINE.

I then went and had a look at the printer driver, (start, Devices and printer, selected the epson printer then under printer management, customise printer, ports then configure port)

And noticed that for Standard TCP/IP Port it was pointing to a different IP than that what my printer currently had. I edited it to match what the printer was and it came ONLINE.

When you turn your printer off, its IP address goes back in your routers pool to be reassigned.

The Epson windows driver still has the old IP. You turn your printer on and your router happens to give it a different IP from last time. It now doesn't match with what the Epson driver stored before and tells you it is OFFLINE.

For me,  rather than changing the IP in the driver each time this happend I assigned a static IP (fixed host ) address in my router to match my printers MAC address. This way it always gives my printer the same address everytime and no more fake OFFLINE messages appear in Windows.

This is an Epson driver problem, not a windows problem.

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Anonymous
2010-05-28T07:49:43+00:00

Set the IP address of the printer to a static address as stated earlier in this thread.  If you add the printer again by browsing the network, the Standard TCP/IP port will only work as long ast the printer retains the same IP.  If the print device support DNS or WNS name registration you can add a Standard TCP/IP Port using the hostname rather than a transient IP address for DHCP enabled print devices. 

Alan Morris Windows Printing Team; Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-08-14T15:52:00+00:00

    My issue is almost identical, except it's with a parallel printer which connects to the network via a NetGear parallel server.  The server has a static IP assigned (192.168.2.90).  On my notebook running Windows 7 Home Premium, connecting wirelessly with 802.11n, I can print a few times after initially installing the server / printer.  Then the printer goes OFFLINE and will not switch back.  All other computers in the network run XP Pro and print fine.  Currently connected to //PARALLELPORT_P1 as originally set up.  Attempts on the WIN7 machine to check port settings result in a message of "An Error Occurred During Port Configuration.  This Operation Is Not Supported."  A search of NetGear's site shows no updates to the server software.  Suggestions Please?

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-06-06T05:47:18+00:00

    This issue does not occur on XP and other operating systems since there was not an automatic search for printers that sets up the Standard TCP/IP Port using the IP address of the network card of the printer rather than the hostname.  Print out the network configuration page of the OKI device to obtain the Hostname.  Open the printer properties, then ports, and add a new port using the hostname,  this will not change where as the IP assigned dynamically to the printer network card can change depending on how the network is configured.

    I spend most time in college buried in Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta and actually got hooked on computers when working with the Department of Natural Resources in Washington state determing economic viability of commercial Porphyra growth in the Puget Sound but that was a heck of long time ago and almost another life.

    I am sure I could not perform species identification but I did pull out "Biology of Plants", Raven, Evert, Curtis  1976 as a refresher.  

    Alan Morris Windows Printing Team; Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-06-04T18:38:27+00:00

    Whilst this is very interesting, and I have managed to set a static IP address for my HP inkjet because there are instructions to do so on the screen, there seems no way to do so with my OKI C3300. Now no doubt some computing guru could do this (such as you, Alan Morris), but I would challenge you to identify members of the Glomeromycota, which is what I do. Microsoft should not really expect everybody to be capable of dealing with such problems, especially as it cost me more than £100 to buy Win 7 Ultimate which I now realise is a bit less useful than Win7 Hope Premium (the latter at least still runs with an old version of Access). I just want to be able to set up my computer simply and without fuss. Since the system worked nicely before with Win2000 and XP and Vista, I wonder why it doesn't work with Win7 64 bit.

    So, it really has to be a Win7 problem -- doesn't it?

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