$20 bounty to the IT guy who can solve this

Sooooooo, I have a crazy mystery IT problem for you guys. Whenever my office printer/copier does anything I get knocked off the network. It comes back on its own in 20-30 seconds, but im getting really annoyed. I'm running windows 8 64bit. It does it on wireless and wired. Does not knock anyone else off in my office. I'm running the company Sophos Endpoint Security and had the same problem when I was running Norton. My machine is a lenovo Y500 Core i7 16 gigs of ram and dual 256gb SSDs. A full reload is my last resort, but would love to find the solution without doing that. if you have any other questions about my configuration feel free to ask.

 

I found similar questions online that said the problem is due to the computer and printer using the same IP address. Google how to change your IP address and try that.

 

Sounds like an IP conflict. We had an AP at work stealing IPs of printers before. That was fun to track down.

Check the printer IP and set it manualy. Then do an ipconfig /renew in cmd.

my 02 cents

 

I agree with the others about the IP conflict. If your office is running DHCP, ensure that the printer IP is excluded (if static) or reserved (if DHCP) from the DHCP pool on whatever server is running DHCP. Hope you find your problem...

 

Keep the $20 and spend it on some Google skills. Many years of solitary computer time and countless ruined relationships have prepared me to solve your internet queries.

 

I'm usually very good at finding these issues on google, but I was turning up nil when searching for this one.

This does not appear to be the issue. My machine is on 192.168.0.7 and the printer is up at 192.168.0.212 setup on a static IP. I did add a reservation for it in the router. Will see if that helps, but I dont think it will. For good measure I disabled IPV6 on my machine in case that is the issue.

 

This didnt solve the issue. Any other Ideas?

 

IP conflict was my first thought, but guess that's not your issue.

Question - is the printer shared from your computer or is the printer a stand-alone? I've had computers bog down that were the shared host for a printer.

2nd question - The printer and your computer, are they on the same router/switch? That could be the weak link and it needs to be replaced with something newer or more robust.

 

The printer is a office copier/fax/scanner deal. big professional deal. I am plugged into a small switch that is plugged directly into the router. the printer is plugged into a different switch that is plugged into the router. I have tried moving things around a bit. but there are other devices plugged into both switches and directly into the router and none of them get dropped offline. this also happens when i am connected via wireless. its really strange.

 

are you running a driver designed for windows 8?

 

It's not a printer issue its an issue with your Windows 8 box.. i'd check your drivers maybe reinstall the NIC/WiFi drivers.

 

Yes, My machine came with windows 8 on it.

 

being as windows 8 is new, consider downgrading the drivers (though you may lose some printer features). also try testing another simpler printer if you have access to one and see if the problem persists.

 

The printer may not be the problem, but there may be a conflict with the printer drivers and the NIC/WiFi drivers. Updateing the printer drivers may fix that.

The printer drivers aren't necessarily windows 8 compatable. I would go out to the manufactures website and update the printer drivers. i would also see if there are updates for your network card, WiFI card (as Aw9d suggested), and mother board as well.

What kind of printer is it?

 

Its a Ricoh Aficio 2851

 

http://support.ricoh.com/bb/html/dr_ut_e/ra/model/mp21/mp21en.htm

Try out the pcl5e driver first and see if that works.

 

Are the switches managed or dumb switches? It could be an ARP issue where one switch believes the MAC address belongs to your machine and the other thinks it is the printer. Have you tried powering off the router and switches? Do that with the PC and printer off. Power on the router first, each switch second, printer third and last, your PC. This will clear any ARP issues.

Run a cmd prompt after printing to the device and type "arp -a" to see all devices arping to you.

If that doesn't fix it, install wireshark and capture the packets to/from the printer and PC and duplicate the issue. Examine the capture and filter it to the two IP addresses and look for the conflict.

 

Seems it was a printer driver issue, but neither of you were dead on. Some how it seems that it had reverted to some unknown driver. I was getting a different screen when i clicked print properties than i used to. I removed the printer and reinstalled it. I forced it to use the PCL6 driver from Ricoh and things seem to be working now. I will give it til tomorrow to make sure then i will send each of you $10. Sophiasdad11 and Krap22. PM me your paypal addresses.

 

No need to send me any money. Glad it's fixed.

 

OK well ... false alarm.. its still there... I'm getting sooooo frustrated!