Printer Sharing issues

[cforsythe]

We have a very simple network setup through a hub. We don't share files but we do share printers on the network. I am experiencing problems with certain people in my office not being able to connect to a particular printer through the network. Only a couple of people were bounced off. I was not able to get them connected to the printer again unless I shared the printer through my computer. The problem is that once I connect them to the printer through my computer their connection to the printer only lasts a day or two and then they get bounced off again and I have to reinstall the printer on their computers. What is also interesting is that we are all also connected to the internet through the same network and no one is experiencing any problems with that. The IP address to the printer has not changed as I have continued to check it.

HELP!

 

[DelJo63]

ok, we need description of ALL network hardware, the printer and it's connection,
and the OS of the systems that work vs. those that get disconnected.

is the printer connected wirelessly or wired?

sounds like it's a Network printer; connect it directly to the router.

 

[cforsythe]

Okay, so the hub we use is Netgear 10/100 24-PORT SW, All users are using XP, the printer is an Oki C5500N. The printer is not connected wirelessly. We don't have a router in place for this situation. We work out of a Regus Business Centre and the server is in their main control room. At one point I had everyone in the office connected to it through the network and it worked fine. I then upgraded to a 24 port hub from a 16 point Netgear hub and about a week after that is when about 3 people couldn't connect anymore. So after several attempts to reconnect I ended up connecting them through my computer which has had no problems. We actually have one guy here with Vista on his laptop, but I made him buy a small desktop printer.

Hope this information helps.

 

[DelJo63]

ok.

a switch does not have the DHCP of a Router, so you're likely having a conflict
of ip addresses that you are attempting to manage manually..

get a copy of Network Magic; it will inventory ALL systems that are online
for the whole subnet - just put in the range to be scanned;
eg 192.168.0.1 --- 192.168.0.254

save the result;

now bring any system online and rescan.

click on Network Map to see the systems.
click on an icon and the right of the screen has three tabs: tasks, Details, Alerts
click Details-> name and IP address show up

if a system will not show itself when running and connected to the switch;
investigate the IP address on the View Network Connections of that system

 

[cforsythe]

Thank you for the network magic suggestion

jobeard,

You are a godsend! I downloaded the network magic and wala things are the way they are supposed to be.

Thanks so much for the help, this seems to have solved my problem.

 

[DelJo63]

SUPER!
Please share with us HOW you fixed it using Network Magic, as without a problem to
address, I can't test every feature. Your input might help someone else too

 

[cforsythe]

Problem resolved

Actually, all I did was install network magic (free version) and reshared the printers through network magic and once I did that one of the gals in my office that was not able to print yesterday was able to print to the printer we were having problems with immediately.

Thanks again!