Q: Printer Not Connected Issue
Several months ago, we began experiencing a problem with our networked HP LaserJet CM1415 and I cannot figure out what the issue is.
Background: Everything was working just spiffy but our ISP had some connectivity issues with the web. As I was trying to play nice and humor them in an attempt to prove that the problem was with their service not my equipment, I disconnected the printer from our wi-fi network. Once they admitted that they were indeed having trouble with a relay somewhere and that my router/wiring/network was not the problem, I reconnected the printer via wi-fi. This is when the troubles began.
Systems Experiencing Issue: MacBookPro 10.11.6, MacBook Pro 10.x, and MacBook 10.7.x. We have two Windows systems (7 and 10) that don't appear to experience the problem, but I can't be 100% certain it always works for them as they are infrequent printers. They have never complained of the issue though, so at this point it appears to be a Mac issue.
Issue/Symptoms: Ability to print in intermittent. By this I mean I can send a job to the printer and it will print fine. Literally 5 seconds later, I can send a second job and it will hang in the cue as shown below. Also, there are times when even sending a job to the printer is a crap shoot as to if it will print or just hang as shown below.
Fixes Attempted: I have attempted the following fixes.
- Cycling power to the printer. This sometimes allows us to print immediately after restart but then we end up back in hit-or-miss after a job or two.
- Uninstalling and reinstalling the printer on the Macs. This is similar to cycling power. It may allow us to print a job or two but then goes back to hit-or-miss.
- Using a fixed IP address for the printer with the thinking that the DHCP lease was maybe a factor. Made no difference.
- Setting the printer to never go to sleep with the thinking that waking it from sleep was an issue despite the fact that back-to-back print jobs done within seconds of each other have issues. Made no difference.
- Connecting to printer via wi-fi to an unused AirPort Extreme Base Station and hard wiring that to the network router. Made no difference.
- Disabling the wi-fi networking on the ISP provided router and configuring the AirPort Extreme to act as the wi-fi service and hard wiring it to the router for internet/web access. I believe this is the way I had it setup when everything was working fine, but have been reluctant to return to it due to the number of users connected to the network.
Does anyone have any other brilliant ideas for me to try?
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), Intel i7, 8 GB RAM, 2 TB HD
Posted on Sep 14, 2016 8:35 AM
I may have stumbled upon the answer myself after posting this. I did verify that it is only a problem for the Mac computers on our network (just for clarification, our network involves 20-some devices connected wirelessly
I disabled the wi-fi on the ISP router but left it dishing out the DHCP addresses.
Then, I used the AirPort in Bridge Mode as the wi-fi connection point for wireless devices.
Obviously, this way the devices connect wirelessly to the AirPort but the ISP router passes them DHCP assigned IP addresses through the AirPort and allows internet access. Seems like adding an extra device and "step" that shouldn't be necessary since the router itself can do both jobs but for whatever reason without this the printer and the Macs only get intermittent communication.
So far, this seems to be working. I was able to print a lot of jobs (like 2 dozen) back-to-back with no "printer not connected" issues. I should know pretty fast if it won't last or if it continues to be an issue for other users. Once my other users come back online this evening I'll know for sure if it is the solution.
Posted on Sep 14, 2016 5:01 PM
