Network printer (WSD) keeps going offline

johngee · 04 Sep 2013

Hi folks,

Hair pulling time

Among the three printers in our home network is a Canon All-in One MG6150. It's set up wirelessly and shows as a WSD device. Often (but not always), it's shown as Offline" in Devices and Printers. Sometimes it will show up after about a minute or so and all seems well, but it will then sometimes go off-line again for no obvious reason. When it is up and running, I can find WSD Print Provider in Device Manager. When the printer goes offline, WSD Print Provider also disappears from Device Manager. It will then sometimes re-appear of its own accord (and the printer comes back to life). It happens on both the W7 computers that print to it regularly - one is W7 Pro 64-bit (the more troublesome) and the other is a 32-bit Home Premium. Both are wirelessly connected to the network. The problem seems to have arisen since I changed my Wireless Security to WPA-2, but the wireless network itself works perfectly. Maybe that's the clue - is the printer's wireless dropping out? (But it never did so before). According to my laptops when they are in the vicinity of the printer, the signal strength is shown as excellent.

The third computer that uses this printer occasionally is connected via Ethernet to the router and, as far as I can tell, doesn't seem to have this problem.

Added: Stupid of me - if it were the printer's wireless connection dropping it would fail when connected to from the Ethernet connected computer too. So It's not that.

This is driving me to distraction! Can anyone help?

John

Anak · 04 Sep 2013

I wonder if this has anything to do with it? On Windows 7 icons for WSD devices may show up incorrectly as a different class under Devices and Printers

More thoughts:
A secure WSD device may not work correctly on a computer that is running Windows 7

This may have some value and ties in with the first two, the setting is in the Features part of Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features: How to Solve Problems Related to WSD Devices in Windows 7 | Techgenie

This sounds similar, but I'm not sure, check the OP's solution 6th post down: TMF: Canon MG6150 causing wifi problems / Help with this Blasted Computer!

johngee · 05 Sep 2013

Thank you for your suggestions. However it now seems to have righted itself with no intervention from me! Don't you just utterly hate intermittent faults like this

Many thanks - I'll post back if I find any more about it.

John

Anak · 05 Sep 2013

I have seen threads from other forums that relate to dropouts when security is changed on a router, have you ran any recent full malware scans to check for malware?

johngee · 06 Sep 2013

Anak said:

I have seen threads from other forums that relate to dropouts when security is changed on a router, have you ran any recent full malware scans to check for malware?

Yes - done as routine (Malwarebytes Pro) and has been done on all 3 computers in our home network since this problems arose. As I said though, the problem has not re-appeared.

John

johngee · 06 Sep 2013

Anak said:

I have seen threads from other forums that relate to dropouts when security is changed on a router, have you ran any recent full malware scans to check for malware?

Yes - done as routine (Malwarebytes Pro) and has been done on all 3 computers in our home network since this problems arose. As I said though, the problem has not re-appeared.

John

Anak · 06 Sep 2013

Do you know how to log into your router's settings page and check to see what channel you're using? By the way, what is the model number?
You'd want to use one that isn't used a lot by outside influences, like channel 8, 7, 6 anything other than the default might be helpful.

More:
inSSIDer for Home – Discover The Wi-Fi Around You | MetaGeek

When Defaults Are Bad: Picking The Best Channel On a Wireless Router

Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal

johngee · 07 Sep 2013

Yes, well used to my router hardware and configuration! I had previously set a channel that seemed to work reliably with the two wireless laptops. However I did change it again and the printer was detected almost immediately. That seemed good news, but it didn't last - at the next computer boot-up the printer was offline again. I then had the thought of changing channel again - when I did so the printer again came back to life. Unfortunately although it may give a diagnostic clue it's not a permanent solution. However, armed with this, can anyone suggest what might be happening?

The really odd thing is that it's only affecting the one computer; its wireless status shows a strong signal of good quality and the connection is rock solid. Really baffling.

I suppose the only other approach is to connect the printer via its ethernet port, either through a wireless bridge or a Devolo type device.

Anak · 07 Sep 2013

Have you tried setting up the printer with one of the other machines, specifically to change the printers location in your home to see if it is more dependable elsewhere?

johngee · 08 Sep 2013

To clarify a little:

Three computers are set to connect with this printer:

1) A desktop Win7 Ultimate 64-bit - connected to the router via Ethernet. This always sees the printer immediately.

2) A Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop (Win7 Pro 64-bit), connected wirelessly to the network. This has a problem with this printer - latter shown as Off Line for ages, sometimes never goes online. All other network services from this computer work perfectly, including an OKI laser printer set up as a network printer. However the latter is Ethernet connected to the router.

3) A Lenovo 3000N100 (Win7 Home Premium 32-bit), connected as the Lenovo above. Shares the same problem, although usually gets the printer sooner than the other Lenovo.

If I point the web browser from either of the Lenovos to the printer address, it finds it immediately and I can "talk" to it. So it does not seem to be an issue of printer connectivity alone.

I did try to set up the printer using a standard TCP/IP port. At first it said it couldn't find the port (although the printer was connected and on). So I set it manually as a Canon Network device. Rebooted, and printer showed up immediately. But joy was short-lived: it would not print. So back to the WSD port and it worked - until next time!

This is really a tough nut!!