Printing from local network

Hi-

I am hoping someone has run across this and can offer some advice
My printing worked fine up till a few weeks ago.
I have removed and unintalled the printers, drivers and packages.
Rebooted my laptop
Went to vendor website and downloaded latest drivers
Installed printer first as local LPT1 with the latest drivers from previous step
added port, a TCP/IP port and provided the static IP address reserved for this printer.

When I try to print a test page it sends to printer and after about a minute the print queue
will show "error printing" and that is it.

Print spooler is set to automatic and started
no other jobs are in print queue at time I send the test page

Thanks in advance for any help, tom

How is your printer connected? USB, wireless, or Ethernet cable? Also what is the printer model?

Hi and thanks to everyone who replied.
It is a Brother HL-5370DW laser printer that is ethernet attached.
I have added a second printer, Brother MFC-J870DW that is also ethernet attached
and it too is not printing, same issue. The printers print fine from other PCs that
are on the network, just this one that is not working.
I have done the complete delete and uninstall of the drivers and packages and resinstalled
but no luck. I may try connecting one via a USB port to see if that makes a difference.


regards, Tom

Can you ping the printer? Also if it were me I would redo/start over from scratch. You will need to uninstall both the printer and the driver(s). Here is a link to a video that shows how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRlx0arzY2s.

Also when loading the driver you might want to do it this way. add printer> create new port> down arrow to "standard TCP/IP Port"> key in IP address of printer> Here I normally uncheck the query box> Then follow thru with the rest of the install. I hope this makes sense.

But the first thing is can you ping the printer!!

If you have physical LPT1 port, then try to map your Network printer to LPT2 or LPT3. Se how that goes.

Hi
Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions and tips.
My printers are ethernet attached
I am able to ping both printers
The problem seems to be more in general as it effects all printers.
I uninstalled and reinstalled print and document services but it made no difference.
Since I can ping both printers is there a way to trace where the problem is?


Thanks, Tom

All printers must have a static IP address. I normally set my printers IP address to somewhere around 50-100 higher than my PCs. For instance if my PCs are 192.168.1.5, 192.168.1.15, 192.168.1.20, I set my printer to something like 192.168.1.75 and make sure DHCP is turn off on the printer. You may already know this but just wanted to make sure.

Next I download the driver from the printer manufacture's website and place it in a folder I created on the desktop. Then I go to "Devices and Printers> Add a printer> select Add a local printer> select create a new port> select the drop down and choose Standard TCP/IP Port> In the Hostname or IP address box I type in the IP address of the printer and usually uncheck the "Query box below" and click next> I then choose have disk and navigate to the folder on the desktop and select the driver. This is how I did it. There are other ways. The important thing is to get the right driver, assign the printer an IP address not used by anything else on your network, and turn off DHCP on your printer. Here are some guides that might help in the install process. Keep in mind that there are different ways to accomplish this. Also if you actually have a static IP address on the printer that is used by something else on your network, which I have seen many times in my work, you can ping the printer just fine but you cannot print.

Install a Network Printer in Windows 7 / Vista | Michael Smith Laboratories

How to add a printer in Windows 7 - How-To - PC Advisor

Hope all my rambling helps. I have not had my fill of coffee this morning.