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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

88 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2011-10-07T03:21:39+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

    Rolandsizzers

    Ok here is what I think is going on.

    Your printing to a Printer that is connected to a PC via USB port.

    If you use DHCP to assign your Desktop PC an IP address your IP address for the Desktop PC

    will change from time to time.  I don't know what scope you are using from your router for DHCP

    but let's say  Router is setup for DHCP address range of 192.168.X.100 -- 192.168.X.150.

    Your routers IP is probably 192.168.X.1 or 192.168.X.254   So what you should do is set the desktop to say 192.168.X.50

    That address is outside the scope of the DHCP and you can remap printer on the Laptop to

    \\192.168.X.50\shared_Printer_Name and the Printer should not drop offline.

    You can setup a host file on your laptop with the desktops computer name mapped to the IP address.

    Example  Host file

    Location is : C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

    Edit hosts file with notepad

    Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

    lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

    For example:

    #      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server

    #       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

    localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.

    # 127.0.0.1             localhost

    # ::1                          localhost

    192.168.0.50         PCComputerName

    You don't need to use host file if you use the IP address to map the printer But if you use the computer

    name then this will cause your computer to not have to use Dicovery to find the IP address of the shred printer computer.

    Hope this Helps

    Robert Hale

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2011-09-10T21:32:50+00:00

    Thanks for your advice. I was able to add another printer with the corrected address and it's now working!  Many thanks for your help.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2011-09-10T18:27:09+00:00

    Thanks

    Method 3 was the answer

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments