A printer that goes “offline” every week is not a faulty printer. It is a badly installed one.
It is the most frequent reason for a call on this subject, and it almost always has the same cause. The router gives the printer an address, that address changes after a power cut or a restart, and the computer carries on writing to the old one. The setting that fixes this for good takes five minutes - you just have to know it exists.
Reserving a fixed address for the printer in the router's interface. Without it, every power cut redistributes the addresses and the printer “disappears” from the computers. It is the difference between an installation that is done and one that holds. We always do it, and we note the address in the documentation we leave you.
The two Wi-Fi bands. Many printers only handle 2.4 GHz. If your computer is on 5 GHz under a different network name, the two devices cannot see each other - even though everything looks correctly connected on both sides.
The guest network. A printer connected to it is isolated from the other devices, which is exactly what that network is for. It has to be on the main network.
The generic driver. Windows often installs a minimal driver that prints but does not scan, or that loses double-sided printing and the extra trays.
Duplicates. You frequently find several entries for the same printer in the device list, one of them a dead copy that documents are being sent to.
Our article on a printer that has stopped working sets out these checks, and adding a printer over Wi-Fi gives the steps one by one.
The stakes shift. A multifunction copier shared between ten people needs rights management - who can print in color, who can scan to a network folder - and clean integration with the machines. Scanning to a shared folder or to email is the most requested function and the most often badly configured.
We also handle replacing a copier at the end of its contract: cleanly removing the old one from every machine, installing the new one, and checking that nothing is still sending to a device that has gone.
We are happy to give an opinion before you buy, and it often runs against the offers at the front of the shop.
For occasional use and mostly text, a mono laser costs a little more to buy but far less to run, and above all it does not dry out between uses. It is the first piece of advice we give people who print a few pages a month: an inkjet used rarely ends up with a blocked head, whose replacement often exceeds the value of the device.
For photos or a lot of color, inkjet keeps its place, provided you print regularly. Refillable-tank models change the cost per page considerably for heavy use.
A question that always comes up. Compatible cartridges do not damage the printer, contrary to what people say. Some manufacturers do, however, reject them after an update to the device's internal software - an error message on a brand-new cartridge often comes from that. We tell you where your model stands before you buy a batch.
It is the most requested function in a business and the most often shaky. Scanning straight to a shared folder assumes the printer has an account with write access, and that account is frequently one belonging to an employee who has left - the scanning then stops working with nobody understanding why.
We create a dedicated account for this, with rights limited to that one folder. It is cleaner, it survives staff changes, and it stops a badly protected printer becoming a way into the network.
The printer's network address, the steps for reinstalling it on a new machine, and the scanning procedure. Three pieces of information fitting on half a page, saving a call every time there is a new computer.
Installation works very well remotely when the printer is already on the network, or at your place for a first setup.
Almost always because its address changes every time the router restarts. Reserving a fixed address settles it for good, in a few minutes.
No, not with a network printer: it works on its own. That only applies to a USB printer shared from a machine.
For text and occasional use, a mono laser, because it does not dry out. For photos or a lot of color with regular use, inkjet still makes sense.
Yes on most multifunction devices, and it is very handy in a business. It is also the function most often badly configured, particularly on access rights.
Can't find your question? It may be in our full FAQ.
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Describe your problem: we reply with an initial assessment.
A fixed address and the full driver: the installation holds, it does not get redone every month.
Automatic assistant: it can make mistakes. Never share a password or a card number.
