Why is my printer 'offline' so often? (Network)

Question

I have an HP 6100 PhotoSmart series that is our network default printer. I use it with my new DELL Inspiron 1720. Almost every time I want to print, it fails to do so. When I go into the printer control panel it says "Offline" and the only way to cure this is to delete the printer and then reinstal it from the Windows menu. This is stupid. What else can I do to fix this annoyance?

Thanks for any help!

JS

Printerpro123 · Answer

Not sure about what operating system that you are using, but this is a common problem having to do with the security settings.  Check your firewall and make sure that SMB as well as your printer port (usually 9100 or 525) is open.

JSACKS · Answer

I have Windows VISTA Home Premium. The Windows firewall on this new DELL is not even turned on, I just checked. This is the only PC in our network where the printer keeps get dropped OFFLINE. I booted up this a.m. and just did a print command and no deal, it's OFFLINE again.

Appreciate the post. Anything else?

JS

JSACKS · Answer

I just deleted the printer and reinstalled it (5th time). The printer PROPERTIES window has a lot of tabs about Security, Ports, etc. The printer is assigned to a standard TCP/IP port; every time I have reinstalled the printer it has added another number to the same IP number like so _1 (or 2,3,4, etc.). Is that normal. I have no idea what's going on. Why do they make this stuff so complicated for normal people?!

JS

JSACKS · Answer

I think I figured it out. I deleted all of the additional IP numbers in the PROPERTIES/Port page until I was down to just one "standard" TCP/IP port. Then I marked that port as the active one and now it works without going offline. I can reboot, restart, wake the PC up, etc., and the printer remains connected all the time.

JS

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Why is my printer "offline" so often? (Network)

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