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  4. Why can’t a printer print after several days of working properly?

Why can’t a printer print after several days of working properly?

If a printer cannot print after some time of using, it may be because the restaurant sets a dynamic IP when installing a printer in the network. This may lead to the situation that after installing the printer can work properly, but some time later it cannot print because its IP is changed.

To solve this, the restaurant should set a Static IP (fixed IP) for the printer so that the printer can work stably.
Some printers allow to set static IP directly on the device, go to Manual IP or Fixed IP to directly get fixed IP for the printer.
For the printers which do not display menu, to set up a static IP follow these steps:
Step 1. Search current MAC AND IP address of the printer.

  • To know current IP address of the printer, print a test page. Different printers have different ways of printing a test page. For example: For Epson printer: Turn it off, hold Feed button and then turn it on.
  • Each printer has a single MAC address. MAC address is shown in the test page or attached with the production information on the printer or in the manual (it is possibly shown in Physical address or Hardware address).
Step 2. Establish static IP for the printer (on TPLink router).

  • From a PC in the LAN network, open the browser and access to IP address of the router and enter username, password in Settings. Note: If the user has not changed IP address or access account, it is defaulted as follows:
    • With TP Link Router, the user can type: http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1 or http://tplinklogin.net.
    • With Router of Linksys/Tenda/Other it can be http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.2.1.
    • username is defaulted as admin. Password is admin or left blank.

To set up a static IP, on Router setting interface:
1. Go to DHCP\ Address Reservation to see list of devices set a static IP.

2. Click Add New to enter static IP parameters for the restaurant’s printer.

3. Enter MAC address of the printer in MAC Address box (MAC address is discussed in Step 1).
4. Enter a fixed IP for the printer. (e.g.: 192.168.1.10)
5. Select Status as Enabled.
6. Click Save to save changes.

At this time IP of the printer is changed (e.g. 192.168.1.10), so it is necessary to re-select printer in order for the other devices in the network to recognize the printer with new fixed IP.
Note: to establish DHCP Reservation (set up static IP for a device accessing to the network) can be different among different routers.

  • On Linksys E-series router go to: Setup\ Basic Setup\ DHCP Reservation: Check Select corresponding to the printer to be set and then click Save
  • On Tenda router go to: DHCP Server\ DHCP Client List

In addition, if the printer is set with a static IP and it still cannot print, see Common problems with printer here.

Updated on 19/09/2022

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