On Jan 3, 2023, Alan wrote
(in article <tp2nj0$296rn$
3@dont-email.me>):
On 2023-01-03 17:53, Bob Campbell wrote:
Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
...to work consistently?
Why is it that (in this case) Windows cannot maintain a reliable system of connection to an AIO printer/scanner/copier.
Probably nothing to do with Windows and everything to do with the printer driver, which comes from the printer manufacturer.
I'm sorry, but I do tech support for both Windows users and Mac users...
...and this stuff never happens with the Mac users.
That’s because Mac users have Bonjour turned on by default. Install Bonjour or some other zero-conf agent on Windows and the problem will go away.
Whenever I had this problem (been a while and a couple printers ago), I found that assigning a static IP address to the printer fixed it.
There is no static IP assigned.
Assigning the printer a static IP, or reserving an IP for it, will ensure
that nothing else grabs its IP. If you don’t want to install a zero-conf, that’ll work.
If you have a typical small Class C network, your network IP will be
something like 192.168.1.0, your broadcast will be 192.168.1.255, your
gateway will be 192.168.1.1 (or 192.168.1.254 if your ISP is AT&T or another telco that thinks like them) and your DHCP pool will be 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.253. This gives you 99 IPs you can assign as static addresses, and 153 IPs in the pool which can be reserved. I usually just use zero-conf. Desktops don’t usually need to have IPs reserved, they’ll typically
usually on and mostly no-one cares.
If you have sufficient nodes on your net that you want/need to use a Class B
or CIDR, it’s a bit more complex.
Unless you use the printer every day (we don’t), the printer’s DHCP-assigned IP address will get assigned to some other device on the network.
I suspect that you turn the printer off. I just leave printers running.
Lasers don’t use that much power and inkjets clog up if not allowed to
waste ink in periodic cleaning cycles, which they can’t do if turned off. We’re scraping all inkjets except for a few dedicated units required for certain work.
So you turn on the printer, it gets a different IP address and it
looks like “Windows cannot maintain a reliable system of connection to an AIO printer/scanner/copier”.
Smarter/newer/better/whatever printer drivers scan the network for the printer, so your DHCP server changing the IP address of the printer is not an issue.
Sorry, but the software involved is up-to-date HP software...
Ooh, my condolences. HP doesn’t usually install a zero-conf. Other vendors do.
...and the problem appears to be Windows inability to restart a
background program necessary for scanner-to-PC functionality.
I suspect the HP software. I really do. Hint: we used to use a lot of HP printers/MFDs at the office. Most have been replaced by Brothers. Windows has no problem with Brother systems. There were problems with HP systems. YMMV.
In any case, installing a zero-conf will solve some problems.
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