TPLink Archer C7 printer discovery problem

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Under my old Linksys EA2700, I had my Brother 5250DN printer connected through the router and available on my network.

When I switched the router to a TPLink Archer C7 V2, the router could not find the printer. The light on the printer ethernet plug blinks like something is going on. The router display for the port the cable is plugged into shows that something is plugged in.

I spoke to a few support people (in China?), one of who eventually had me add the printer MAC address to ARP list in the “IP & MAC Binding” section. After doing that, the printer was discovered and everything was working well. For a while anyway.

But over the next few weeks, I began to experience increasing problems with opening websites, seeing delays opening webpages as long as 30 seconds and/or webpage timeout messages. Bypassing the router and plugging the network connection directly into the PC eliminated these problems each time, proving that the problem was with the router.

I call TPLink support again and am told to reset the router (which will cause me to lose all my settings). I should also NOT reload the old settings from backup because something in there might be contributing to the problem. Sigh.

So I reset the router and entered each setting as it was before (I took screenshots to make sure I duplicated them exactly). Whew.

However, after recreating the settings, I was back to the printer not being shown/discovered/found.

Call TPLink support again. Verify settings. Reboot the router and computer and cable modem multiple times w/o success. Take another suggestion to make an addition to the “Address Reservation” section under the DHCP section. That did not work.

Decided to RMA the router.

When the replacement arrived, manually entered all the settings yet again. But the router will still not find/recognize the printer (yet the old Linksys EA2700 still does).

TPLink support does not know what to do. They claim they can’t test EVERY printer on the market, so [shrug] see ya…

I am running Win 8.1. The TPLink router has the latest firmware. I have changed the network cables all around.

Anyone have any ideas on what else I might try?

Edit:
Removed dump on TPLink router.

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Does the printer have a manual network set up in its control panel ?

It may be time to RMA this one as well on compatibility grounds and get something else.

A few years back, TP-Link routers had a compatibility problem with some Belkin wireless adapters as fitted in laptops.

If you were happy with your previous Linksys, why not just get another one ?

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Does the printer have a manual network set up in its control panel ?

It may be time to RMA this one as well on compatibility grounds and get something else.

A few years back, TP-Link routers had a compatibility problem with some Belkin wireless adapters as fitted in laptops.

If you were happy with your previous Linksys, why not just get another one ?

Yes, I have the static IP set through the printer CP. Remember, everything works fine if I plug in the Linksys router.

I got rid of the Linksys because the firmware had not been updated in over 2 years. Also Linksys is now owned by Belkin, which does not have a great reputation for supporting technology.

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Nearly a year ago I had no end of problems with a new TP-Link TD-W8968 router and, after nearly a fortnight of tortuous email communication with TP-Link Support, ended up getting it returned and replaced with a different make/model.

Whilst most of the problems were with the router dropping its WAN connection regularly, I also had no end of problems with a printer connected to its USB port. Although I gave the printer a static IP address outside of the router’s DHCP range, the printer would disappear from the network soon after it had been ‘discovered’ by the TP-Link USB Printer Controller application.

If your router is similar to the TP-Link I was working with then, within the router settings, you need to specifically tell the router (in Advanced Setup) that you want to use the USB port for a USB Print Server rather than the default USB Mass Storage (e.g. USB flash drive or HD).

I ended up updating both the router’s firmware and the TP-Link USB Printer Controller application that came on disk, so check the TP-Link website for updates to these. These updates didn’t help and I ended up getting the router replaced with another one by the shop that supplied it. This didn’t help either.

Whilst I found TP-Link Support tried very hard to be helpful, I found I had to explain the setup and issues repeatedly as if the person I communicated with hadn’t read previous emails. I also found the Support person tended to ‘guess’ solutions at times. For example, I had to use the expression “No, as I mentioned in my first and third emails, the printer is using a static IP address.” several times when the Support person kept ‘guessing’ it was an issue with DHCP. There was also a little bit of ‘Do you mean…’ as we struggled on occasion to reach a common understanding in English. (No complaint whatsoever… I can’t speak a word of Chinese so I thought the Support person at TP-Link did an incredible job.)

In the end I gave up. I found many web pages complaining that TP-Link didn’t really know what they were doing with using the USB port for a print server and showed little interest in providing any trouble-shooting steps or utilities to try to figure out the problem. I also found the TP-Link USB Printer Controller application to be very clunky. It would work fine the first time it was installed but then wouldn’t work a second time when the printer disappeared from the network. As a result, I lost count of the number of times I had to un-install the TP-Link USB Printer Controller application, re-boot and re-install. Life’s too short (and the poor family who had bought the router lived too far away for me to visit every single day to fix the problems with the router). I wrote to TP-Link Support, thanked them for their help and told them I would be advising the family to get a refund, which is what they did.

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Are you seeing any errors in the Windows Event logs related to the printer and/or the network?

Have you checked the logs on the router for any connectivity errors?

Does the printer have a static or dynamic IP address on the network? Static would be preferable.

Static IP addresses should be outside of the range of DHCP addresses. For example, if the range is 192.168.1.20 to 192.168.1.40, static addresses should be below the starting address, or above the ending address.

So in the example above, you might assign the printer to 192.168.1.19 or 192.168.1.41.

Also, make sure that File and Printer Sharing is turned on.

The Share this printer option should be unchecked in the Printer Properties > Sharing tab…

Yes to all the above except you do not need File and Print sharing on to connect to a printer on on the network.
To the OP:
Do you see the printer in Network Places? Which Brother tool are you using to connect to the router? Have you tried reinstalling Brother driver?

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Yes to all the above except you do not need File and Print sharing on to connect to a printer on on the network.
To the OP:
Do you see the printer in Network Places? Which Brother tool are you using to connect to the router? Have you tried reinstalling Brother driver?

I tried replacing the printer driver but that didn’t help any.

I am not using any Brother tool to connect to the router. I did not have to use such a tool before. I just plug the ethernet cable from the printer to the router and wait for the router to discover it. I do see a flashing green light from where the cable plugs into the printer and the router recognizes that something is plugged into the port.

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I agree with re-installing the Brother driver…I would have done that first thing. But at this point, I think the Corbett solution makes the most sense, return and swap it for a different make wifi router.

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I agree with re-installing the Brother driver…I would have done that first thing. But at this point, I think the Corbett solution makes the most sense, return and swap it for a different make wifi router.

As I said originally, I had already swapped this for another C7 router, which did not fix the problem.

Since it is past 30 days since purchase, I cannot get a refund on the router.

I can try to petition TPLink for an upgraded model, say C8 but am not sure that will work any differently. Or perhaps they will refund the router since they can’t make it work with the printer.

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I have been having a lot of problems with WS not working today. I had tried to post this earlier. Guess it didn’t work.
————

Are you seeing any errors in the Windows Event logs related to the printer and/or the network?[/quote]
Nope. It does not sense the printer.

Have you checked the logs on the router for any connectivity errors?[/quote]
Yes. Nothing there because the printer is not found.

Does the printer have a static or dynamic IP address on the network? Static would be preferable.[/quote]
Static

[

Static IP addresses should be outside of the range of DHCP addresses. For example, if the range is 192.168.1.20 to 192.168.1.40, static addresses should be below the starting address, or above the ending address.[/quote]
Nope. Checked and made sure it is within the range.

Also, make sure that File and Printer Sharing is turned on.[/quote]
Yup, is on.

The Share this printer option should be unchecked in the Printer Properties > Sharing tab…[/quote]
I don’t have this since the printer can’t be seen. But why would I want this unchecked?

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I would try using it…it may work, or give you more clues.

This one is for Win 7 64-bit…

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hl5250dn_all&os=93&dlid=dlf004448_000&flang=4&type3=393

Had this already. Tried to run it again. Get this error msg:

“The device could not be found on the network.”

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The static IP should be outside of the DHCP range…

Huh? Don’t understand. Why does it matter?

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IP address collisions…

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-static-addresses-printers-57587.html

Don’t understand why DHCP would allocate an address already in use as a static address but OK.

Spent a couple of hours tonight messing around with this problem. Removed the static IP address to see if the router DHCP server would pick up the printer then, but no change. So put back the static address.

Downloaded the BRAdmin Pro software from Brother but it can’t find the printer, so not any help.

Had removed the ARP Binding in the router for the printer (which seemed to make it work originally). Re-added it. Did not make any difference one way or the other.

Printer does work when connected to my computer via the USB connection.

Will give Brother a call tomorrow to see if they have any ideas or help.

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“Don’t understand why DHCP would allocate an address already in use as a static address but OK.”

Some DHCP clients and servers do not perform any conflict detection.

Have you seen this TP-Link article?

http://www.tp-link.us/faq-415.html

Yes. tried to make that work but no luck either (even though the printer works fine when connected to a computer USB port.

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Yes. tried to make that work but no luck either (even though the printer works fine when connected to a computer USB port.

Do you have that USB printer control s/w installed? If so since you are not using it I would suggest removing it.
Can you ping your printer when it is ‘not seen by the router’? Maybe time to do a reset on the printer just to make sure.
You might want to log into the printer’s web server and check setting. You must have created an admin pw and be logged in to see the controls. :cheers:

On my printer you can also check for firmware updates from there, which might help

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I was puzzled when you said you had set up the static IP through the printer’s control panel.

Perhaps Brother printers are different, but this is normally done within the router and while it’s customary to use an IP outside of the DHCP range, using one within the range would make it a reserved one so that DHCP wouldn’t assign it to any other devices.

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I was puzzled when you said you had set up the static IP through the printer’s control panel.

Perhaps Brother printers are different, but this is normally done within the router and while it’s customary to use an IP outside of the DHCP range, using one within the range would make it a reserved one so that DHCP wouldn’t assign it to any other devices.

How so Sudo? If it is not reserved on the router, could not the router give it away to another nic whist the printer is in sleep mode?

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Once a DHCP IP address is reserved to a MAC address of a device then it isn’t assigned to any other device regardless of its status.

DHCP can only assign IP addresses within its range so any device with an IP outside of that range will not have its IP given to another device when it isn’t online which is why when setting up a static IP in a device is best outside of the DHCP range.

While you can set a static IP outside of the DHCP range for a particular network adapter in a computer, I wasn’t aware this could be done in a printer, but setting it up as a fixed host in the router would ensure the device is connected to the router.

The problem here seems to be wireless connectivity between the printer and the computer, so nailing it with an IP in the router, either within or outside of the DHCP range may be a better way to go.

I may have misunderstood how the static IP was set up and while the Linksys is happy with this arrangement, the TP-Link may not be.

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OK, problem solved!

Got a very competent support person from Brother on the phone. He had me reset the printer to remove the static IP address and use the router DHCP server to generate the IP address and connection, which seems to be working.

The printer now appears in the router DHCP client list.

We also uninstalled the Brother printer drivers I had in CP ‘Devices and printers’ and then reinstalled the driver. Brother does not have a driver for Win 8+ for this printer, so I have to use what is included in the OS. Now I have one Brother printer in devices, which is as it should be.

Everything seems to be working now. Whew.

Thanks for all who tried to help!

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