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
    2013-09-27T01:55:22+00:00

    Same problem with a Brother printer.  Problem is PC pointing to wrong port.

    Go to  Start, printers, see whats printing.

    click on printer, sharing, ports

    Check box should be checked for printer you are using.  Mine was pointing

    to a Fax port.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-23T11:33:33+00:00

    I do not find in windows 7 that there is a Use Printer Offline to uncheck which is so unfortunate.  That was a very helpful feature in windows xp and below

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-28T13:03:12+00:00

    @NatalieKlara: This is an old thread, but I want to make some clarifications:

    NO, your IP does NOT go back to some router pool;

    That happens ONLY *if* you are using DHCP without a reservation;

    and/or ONLY *if* you are not using static printer ip addresses.

    Me, personally, I am using DHCP reservations, and the same thing happens to me. Note that the printer does go into "power saver mode," so that may be part of it.

    Above, you can assume the person likely us using 'DHCP' but, still, please remember to qualify your statements, since many people do use static IP and/or DCHP reservations.

    Bottom line: this should NOT happen - and, in my case, it is a "bug," pure and simple. I have the IP address reserved so, this really never should happen, at least in my case.

    I do note also that the printer gets magically assigned, in my case, some "WSD-d9161982-..." port, when it should be a Standard TCP/IP port. Not also, mine is a Dell 2330dn printer. We have seen repeated problems with these Dell 2330 and 2350 printers, where they magically get assigned a "WSD" port, which causes all sort of problems - one huge problem is insanely long pauses between print jobs. Creating a standard TCP/IP port and changing the printer off the WSD port seems to fix most of the issues. I hope this might prove helpful to someone searching for network printer issues.

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