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
    2011-01-07T15:20:19+00:00

    HERE IS THE ANSWER: you don't have to use a static IP address if you use the printer HOST NAME rather than the IP Address. 1) Open the Printer Properties and go to the Ports tab. 2) Highlight the port your printer is using and click Configure Port. 3) In the Printer Name or IP Address field, replace the IP address with the Host Name of the printer. You can usually find the printer host name by printing the network summary report (network configuration report) from your printer's panel. 4) Click OK, then Close the Properties screen. Give it a minute or 2, and your PC should resolve the Host Name and go back on line.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-01-02T03:31:03+00:00

    I tried everything I could understand (some of the suggestions were Greek to me) and then I restored the system to a date before Windows did an automatic update and voila -- the printer is now online.  I think that's what started the problem.  If not, the printer is still working now, so I'm relieved.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-11-07T17:40:19+00:00

    I fixed my same problem by going to "add a printer" option. When all of the names of the printers and the location of each was found, I used the IP address for the printer that was there. Then I went into the properties for the printer I was trying to get to work and updated the Port Address to the matching address.  i.e.- The "Port name" for the printer is 192.168.1.105 and the address WAS the same. But after I did the add a printer method I found the printer to be at 192.168.1.106. Just one digit higher, I assume dynamically created. All I did was change the IP address to this new setting and it worked right away. Hope this confusing description helps.

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