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2019 iMac wifi issues

Martyimac

Martyimac

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 19, 2009
2,462
1,697
S. AZ.
My 2019 27" Retina iMac seems to have issues staying connected to airprint/wifi connected printers. I just tried again yesterday with my Brother color laser and again, withing 15 minutes of setting it up, I can't print to it. What happens is the que comes up and says searching for printer but never finds it. My old 2013 MacPro (trashcan) never loses the printer. Both computers running the same build of Big Sur.

I have a workaround which works well but it makes me curious if anybody else has had these issues.
 
Not that anybody cares since there were no responses but here goes. I started to suspect EMI since all 4 of the other puters in the house never lost the Brother laser printer. So I put the iMac in another room and moved my tcMP into my man cave. Now the iMac doesn't lose the printer anymore. Seems to me the 2019 iMac is susceptible to EMI since it now doesn't lose the printer. And the tcMP has not lost contact with the printer and it's in the same place the iMac was when it "lost" the printer.
Thoughts anybody?
 
If by EMI you mean electromagnetic interference than I don't believe that to be the case. Hypothetically speaking, if EMI was an issue here your iMac wouldn't lose connectivity to just the Brother printer but the entire network. EMI doesn't discriminate between UPNP and other packets so it cannot interfere with one but not the other.

Things I would ask myself in your situation:
  • What's the distance between the iMac and the wireless access point?
  • Do you have multiple access points in your house? If so are they simple repeaters or are they spanning a wireless mesh network?
  • Is your iMac connected to the same access point now as it was before?
  • Is your iMac connected via 2.4 or 5 GHz now? And how was it connected before?
I agree with your assessment that the iMac is somehow causing this as no other computer seems to be losing connectivity with your printers. I do, however, not believe that electromagnetic interference is at fault here.
 
mj_ said:
If by EMI you mean electromagnetic interference than I don't believe that to be the case. Hypothetically speaking, if EMI was an issue here your iMac wouldn't lose connectivity to just the Brother printer but the entire network. EMI doesn't discriminate between UPNP and other packets so it cannot interfere with one but not the other.

Things I would ask myself in your situation:
  • What's the distance between the iMac and the wireless access point?
  • Do you have multiple access points in your house? If so are they simple repeaters or are they spanning a wireless mesh network?
  • Is your iMac connected to the same access point now as it was before?
  • Is your iMac connected via 2.4 or 5 GHz now? And how was it connected before?
I agree with your assessment that the iMac is somehow causing this as no other computer seems to be losing connectivity with your printers. I do, however, not believe that electromagnetic interference is at fault here.
Click to expand...
The iMac was about 3' from the access point/main router.
I have an Eero mesh network using the main router and two other "repeaters", or whatever they are called.
The iMac is now connected to one of the other access points, not the main router.
The iMac is connected via 5GHz now and before when it was losing the printer.

Thanks for the response. Any more ideas based on my answers to your questions?
 
If you are spanning a wireless mesh network then those aren't repeaters but regular access points. That's the main difference between a mesh network and regular repeaters. The latter can be had for $20 a piece but are crap when compared to a (semi) professional mesh grid.

The only thing that immediately grabbed my attention was this:
Martyimac said:
The iMac is now connected to one of the other access points, not the main router.
Click to expand...
If possible, could you turn off this access point and make sure the iMac connects to the main router again? That way you could either eliminate or confirm the main router as culprit.
 
Just curious, but do you have any USB 3 devices or hubs attached to the iMac that were not connected to the trashcan after you moved it to where the iMac was? In other words, do you have the exact same peripherals attached to the trashcan now that were attached to the iMac?
 
rpmurray said:
Just curious, but do you have any USB 3 devices or hubs attached to the iMac that were not connected to the trashcan after you moved it to where the iMac was? In other words, do you have the exact same peripherals attached to the trashcan now that were attached to the iMac?
Click to expand...
Great question and the answer is no, the peripheral attached to the iMac is not connected to the trashcan AND it is not now connected to the iMac. HMMM.

Edit: the peripheral is a "TRIPP-LITE Superspeed USB3.0 Hub" Model U360-007
 
mj_ said:
If you are spanning a wireless mesh network then those aren't repeaters but regular access points. That's the main difference between a mesh network and regular repeaters. The latter can be had for $20 a piece but are crap when compared to a (semi) professional mesh grid.

The only thing that immediately grabbed my attention was this:

If possible, could you turn off this access point and make sure the iMac connects to the main router again? That way you could either eliminate or confirm the main router as culprit.
Click to expand...
I may be able to. But now wondering if it was the peripheral that @rpmurray mentioned that could be the issue.
 
That could also be the case, yes. However, based on my experience USB peripherals tend to be problematic in combination with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks and not 5 GHz bands. That's why I asked what type of connection you had. But it's definitely worth a shot if only to rule it out. When you do make sure to connect it to the exact same port and have it sit at the exact same spot in relation to the iMac as before. Moving it around even an inch can make a huge difference if the hub is actually the cause.
 
mj_ said:
That could also be the case, yes. However, based on my experience USB peripherals tend to be problematic in combination with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks and not 5 GHz bands. That's why I asked what type of connection you had. But it's definitely worth a shot if only to rule it out. When you do make sure to connect it to the exact same port and have it sit at the exact same spot in relation to the iMac as before. Moving it around even an inch can make a huge difference if the hub is actually the cause.
Click to expand...
Roger that. Will let you know what happens.
 
Okay, 3 hours later and the printer is NOT lost, yet. But this is longer than it has ever gone. Once I hit 24 hours I'm going to call this fixed. So hopefully I'll remember to check that out and report back tomorrow and yes, it seems the tripp-lite USB hub may have been the offending actor.
 
rpmurray said:
Before you toss the hub (if it still looks like the culprit) you may want to try it with a different cable. It could be poor shielding (or lack thereof) that is causing the interference.
Click to expand...
Good idea, thanks. But I will probably get something from OWC at this point.
 
mj_ said:
That could also be the case, yes. However, based on my experience USB peripherals tend to be problematic in combination with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks and not 5 GHz bands. That's why I asked what type of connection you had. But it's definitely worth a shot if only to rule it out. When you do make sure to connect it to the exact same port and have it sit at the exact same spot in relation to the iMac as before. Moving it around even an inch can make a huge difference if the hub is actually the cause.
Click to expand...

rpmurray said:
Before you toss the hub (if it still looks like the culprit) you may want to try it with a different cable. It could be poor shielding (or lack thereof) that is causing the interference.
Click to expand...
I just quoted both of you because you both were very helpful in diagnosing this issue.

But the winner is @rpmurray ! The hub was the issue.

So THANK YOU to both of you for your help!
 
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