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

Question: Are you using drivers from the manufacturers site?

My HP 2600n did not have drivers on HP.com initially and I had to use the "built-in" drivers in windows. Later HP release win7 drivers and posted them on hp.com. I have not had the offline issue with that printer since downloading and installing the drives from hp.com.

However, my HP 5p (which HP has not release drivers for since win9x) developed the problem after the 2600n was fixed. The printer is old but is still listed in the expanded list that the  "Windows Update" button get when I added the printer. To be clear, I did not download win7 drivers from hp.com for the Laserjet 5p because they don't have them.

I tried unchecking the SNMP status box, it did change the printer from showing "offline" but I sent a test page and it did not print. I will reboot and see if that prevents windows from thinking the printer went offline in the first place. The problem is that after a fresh reboot the printer is always back online. So it may take a few days to see if problem comes back.

I have also run into USB printers with this problem too. I of course checked cable, unplugging and re-plugging in both ends. Windows would chime when the cable is properly connected, but the printer would not show as online. And yes I pushed the power button to make sure the printer was on and not asleep.

Since your 2014 was after my first post (2012), and did not post in direct reply to me, I was not informed of the post, and have not scoured the thread in a while. And this was not the first place I posted looking for solutions.

Thanks for the advice I will see what it does. For most of my customers whom had usb printers that did the "offline" trick is really mute, but I'd still like to know the answer. I recommended that they replace the printer with a newer one. Most of them were Win9x/WinME maybe WinXP (Pre SP1) printers anyway. It was the excuse for them to replace a printer that was 10 years old.

I think you have missed a major point. There is a difference in drivers that you download from a manufacturers site, and the ones in the Microsoft Windows Update database.

The digitally signed drivers on the manufactures sight are drivers the company made for their product and submitted to Microsoft to verify that they work with the device, and with the intended version of windows. It also assures that the device driver meets Microsofts security levels for safe device drivers.

Those are NOT the drivers I've been talking about. I'm talking about the ones "built into" windows. If they are not included with Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10, then Windows can download an expanded driver list from Microsoft. Like when you click add printer, you look through the list of "included" drivers, and if the printer is not in that list, you can click on the "Windows Update" button and it downloads an expanded list.

Now ANY and ALL drivers that are in that list are at very minimal Microsofts fault. As Microsoft builds and included that list in windows and on their update servers. If their is a faulty drive in that list (NOT the manufactures support site) then it is the fault of Microsoft as they minimally compiled and supplied the list and drivers for devices in that list. Disagree with that? If so, then who compiles the list of "built in" drivers? Who compiles the list of driver ONLY obtainable from running the windows update program? Please do tell! I'm dying to know who puts the drivers on the Microsoft servers that windows downloads it's updates from if it is NOT Microsoft!?! Is Microsoft at least responsible for any and all information hosted on their computer? I believe there is legal precedents that says the owner of the computers is responsible for what is on them.

If I download a driver from HP.com, and the driver is not digitally signed, then Microsoft bares no fault in that driver. If I download a driver from Realtek.com and the driver DOES have the "Digital Signature" then Microsoft has put their mark on the driver as being approved by them and they agree that the driver works. Now if that digitally signed driver has problems, then Microsoft shares in that blame, as they signed off that the driver works properly (assuming the correct driver for the hardware, and the correct version of windows that it was intended for).

See the point of the signed drivers is Microsoft guarantees that (if properly used under intended circumstances) that the drive will work. That necessarily means they SHARE in blame for problems. If the driver is not signed, then they are blameless.

But see the discussion about signed and unsigned drivers is mute. I was not talking about drivers that were obtained from the manufacturer. The drivers were obtained from the internal list of device drivers that Microsoft provides from the servers they own and operate for the purpose of updating the windows operating system.

See even this discussion point would have been avoided had you simple read in full the post I have made. When you skim through and only read part you miss MAJOR pieces of information. By not completely reading the post, you make comments that show that you either didn't read or didn't understand.

Now had you read the post in hole, you would have seen I clearly stated the broken drive came from the Microsoft Update database. The working driver (for my printer) came from hp.com. I never said I downloaded the initial drive from hp.com, that is the bad assumption that you made when you didn't fully read the post.