Printers

Due to a spell of idiocy I put W10 on my Desk Top and my Printer. [among other things] stop talking to the Computer. I tried reconnecting it and various other methods of persuasion but only by reverting to reinstalling W7 did I manage to get the Printer working again. They also have a habit of telling you that the ink has run out when it has not, then on renewing the ink containers still telling you that the ink has run out, or stopping printing during an important document and informing you the paper has run out when it's not!!

 

Depends very much on the printer, and it depends what you are wanting your printer to do. If it is losing wi-fi connection, it is more than likely that the problem lies with your router rather than your printer - have you reserved an IP address on your network for your printer? If not, I would strongly advise that you do, and you might just find that it solves your problem

 

I reckon that is where your problem lies then @pete - if you don't know what it is, then there is next to no chance you will have a reserved IP address for your printer.

Basically, whenever anything in your home wants to connect to the network it communicates with the router to 'ask' permission to join the network; if the item 'asking' has the correct password, the router will allow it to join and give it an address, something along the lines of 192.168.100.102 - however, this is not a permanent address (think of it like a PO Box number that will expire in a couple of days)

So, if your printer was assigned the number above, and you then set your laptop up to work with it, when you print anything it would be sent to that address.

The problem comes when your router reviews its list of addresses (called DHCP renew) - - effectively, it communicates with each item on the network and providing it gets an answer, it will give out another address to last a couple more days; BUT, this address could very well be different to the items prior address - - let's say that it is 192.168.100.104; now when you try to print, your laptop sends it to 192.168.100.102, because that is where the printer lives....... except it doesn't, it has moved house.

Now, just to confuse things a little bit more, every item that connects to your network (phone, laptop, printer etc) has a MAC address. Think of this like a serial number that stays with the item for its lifetime, and is its unique identity. It usually looks something like 2E F3 6D 84 7d 6Q

On most routers, you can set it to make sure that every time it 'sees' 2E F3 6D 84 7d 6Q, it should allocate it an IP address of 192.168.100.102. This means that your printer will always be assigned the same address no matter how long it has been since you last used it, and no other item will be assigned the address of 192.168.100.102 (it will simply remain reserved).

The process for reserving an address depends on the make and model of your router - if you have the make and model, I will happily try and dig up the relevant instructions for you?

 

As most of you know, I know nothing about all these new-fangled techie thingies. So I try to make things as easy as possible.

What's wrong with doing it the old fashioned way? Just plug the printer into the computer

Running out of ink too quickly:- if you have an ink jet printer then if you turn it off it will automatically run a head cleaning procedure when you switch it back on (unless they've got over this on newer models). This uses a fair bit of ink. The recommended thing is to not switch the printer off (mentioned by Which? magazine). Apparently the cost of keeping an ink jet on stand by is much less than the cost of the amount of ink used, unnecessarily, on head cleaning.

 

Superhub that is anything but Super..... I know, I have one!

I have disabled the wi-fi on mine and use an attached TP-Link router, however I think I can still remember how to drive a Superhub.

On your web browser, go to the address bar (where the www address usually goes) and type in 192.168.0.1 then press Return/Enter. You should then see a Virgin screen asking for username and password. From memory, these are usually set as Admin for both (but you may well have changed them, as is recommended).

I've found this which might help you get sorted, failing that if you Google "DHCP address reservation Virgin Superhub", that will bring up loads of web links with tons of advice. Of course, you can also come back here with any questions and we will all try and help too.

 

I am working Saturday (I think) but should be about on Saturday night and all day Sunday if you need me - even on Saturday, it is worth dropping me an email if you are stuck and I will answer as soon as I can. You've got my email, haven't you?

 

It is no bother

PM on its way.....