Wireless Printer Port Confusion

[Chris Nicola]

I have set up my wireless D-Link print server to my Canon iP4850 and it worked fine. I later had to connect it to a usb cable to disable the ink monitors as this cannot be done in wireless mode. To make things easier I created a second instance of my printer and called it Canon USB set to a USB port. My original printer called Canon Wireless is set to the correct wireless TCP port IP_192.168.10.3P1.

Then later with the USB cable disconnected when I tried to print to the wireless printer configured to the wireless port it did not print. But as an experiment I tried to print to the USB printer configured to the USB port that is not actually physically connected and it eventually prints wirelessly after an error message for a few seconds that says there is no communication with the printer.

At least I can still print wirelessly but there is some kind of scrambled port issue that prevents me printing without a delay and an error message. Does anyone have an idea what the problem is?

Your advice would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Chris

 

[PooMan UK]

Hiya Chris

I',m assuming that 3P1 is a typo

TCP port IP_192.168.10.3P1

But have you tried connecting to the print server via your browser and doing a test print ?
Also what is the error that you eventually get (take a print screen and paste it in here to show us) just makes it easier to diagnose the problem

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry 192.168.10.3P1 is the port name and the address is 192.168.10.3

The printer will not do a test print from the Wireless printer properties window. It will do a test print wirelessly if I select the USB printer that is not physically connected by a USB port. I don't know how to print from my browser. Screenshot of error message that only lasts for a few seconds is attached.


Kind Regards
Chris

 

[PooMan UK]

Hiya Chris

According to the error message it seems that the printer may be "paused" Try "un-pausing" the printer and try again.
To test print from your browser just put the ip address of the print server into your browser and follow the on screen options

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks for your thoughts. When I try to unpause the printer nothing I do will unpause it. This is probably because the usb port is not attached. However after a few seconds the error message disappears and it starts printing wirelessly anyway.

What I should really be asking is why when I wish to print wirelessly I need to print to the wrong printer that is configured to a usb port that is not attached? Why can't I print directly to the wireless printer? When I type 192.168.10.3 in my browser it just does a Google search, there is no connection with my printer.

Kind Regards

chris

 

[PooMan UK]

Chris pal, if you can't establish a connection to the print server, then you'll never be able to print to the printer. Can you ping the print server? Open a command prompt (click "start" "run" type in cmd hit enter).
The command prompt will open. Then type in ping 192.168.10.3 you should be getting a reply back. Let us know what results you get

 

[Chris Nicola]

Thanks again. I appreciate your help and support. I am now closer to solving the mystery. It seems there are two ways to print using the D-link software. One way is using the TCP web address. I finally realised that its not 192.168.10.3 but actually 192.168.10.1. When I entered it correctly then it started printing effortlessly from the wireless port. The other way it seems is using the D-link software which imitates a virtual usb port. One has to launch the PS-link software and click on the button that says "link". Then the printer will print as if configured to a usb port instead of a TCP port and the software does the wireless configuration in the background. If one forgets to click on "link" the printer will still print from a virtual usb port but there are delays and then the error messages pop up.

So all's well that ends well...for now at least!

Kind Regards

Chris

 

[brady]

It seems your printer is set to DHCP, you'll need to change that to a static IP address through the printer in wired mode. Stop the print spooler then delete the printer listed using the USB port. Once you have set the printer's IP, change the TCP port to the correct static IP and you should be good

 

[Chris Nicola]

Ah, so thats why the address keeps on changing! Thanks for the tip. I have changed it to a fixed IP address now so hopefully things will improve.

Kind Regards

Chris