I print on a Phaser 6280 printer connected to a network and half the time it works OK. The remainder of the time the printer appears to be offline and the document will not print, showing an error on the printer que. If I shut off the printer then turn it on again it works OK. Then later, it is not reachable. It is as if the printer goes into sleep mode and does not wake up when a document is sent to it.
I have a similar problem with a 6280 that I support. It's at a small office 80 miles away, so I avoid making the trip.
Here's the situation:
Printer ran fine until a week ago.
Printer is connected through a network interface
Print server running on a Windows 2003 server
Printer says ready, low black toner (Not low enough to stop printing from what I describe further below.)
Print queue shows "Error - Printing"
Restarting the print document changes the status to Printing, but it goes back with no printer activity.
Restarting the server print spooler does nothing
I can print a configuration page through the front panel (Therefore toner isn't low enough to stop printing)
Tried creating a new printer through Windows, but it doesn't discover the device, even when I enter the IP address.
I can ping the printer's IP address.
Entering the printer's IP address through a browser on a computer connected through VPN or remote desktop returns an "Under construction" page.
I can have someone local at that office get to the web management page for the printer, and while it says low black toner, it also says it can still print. (configuration page printing proves that.)
Tried restarting the network connection, and restarting the printer through the web management interface.
Printer is at the same firmware level that is available for download.
Tried the good ol' turn the power off, and restart.
Tried installing Centreware on the server, but since it's main job is a terminal server, that failed since the computer running IIS can't be running terminal services! Sheez.
Tried installing Centreware on a computer I connect through VPN after installing IIS, and all the adjustments, but got SMTP errors.
Bottom line is that it appears to be connected to the network with a valid IP address, but the printer just isn't doing it's printing work.
well, xerox has known problems with connection dropoffs the network,
as far i know 8560mfp and 6121 were affected, maybe yours too ?
but those new "beta" firmwares are not always listed on the xerox download site, so its better to call xerox and ask for this new firmare if it exists ...
This was taking too much time to figure out, and I took the DNS troubleshooting path. That really messed things up, so I made the trip. Just got back where I found that a tunnelling PPP adapter grabbed the printer's IP address. (Sigh.) Every now and then I miss Novell's IPX. Sometimes there's just no substitute for being there.
Just curious. Do you think you would have been able to resolve this by pinging the IP before the drive out there? I've got a similar issue and geographical scenario. Thanks...if you're still reading this almost a year later.
