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HELP! Wireless Printer always showing Offline! INFURIATING!

S

steveyraff

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 8, 2014
20
2
I run my own business from home. I just recently bought a new Wireless printer - a Canon MX475 Pixma.

When I first brought it home, it was an absolute ease to install. It connected to my home wifi network, and showed up on my Macbook, and I was able to print away.

Well, a few days ago, Three Mobile Network had a huge UK wide blackout. The Three website kept telling me all services in my area were running normally and all was good. So I began trouble shooting my own network. I ended up reseting my entire home network. Infuriatingly, just after this I found that Three was in fact down, and it was nothing to do with anything at my end.

So then I had to go through the laborious process of setting up my Wifi Router again, and all the devices that connect to it, as well as my Netgear Wifi range extenders.

Ever since then, the printer has not worked.

When I print, the print jobs box says "The Printer Is Not Connected" and beside the job itself it says "The Printer Is Offline".

When I open System Preferences where you would manually add or delete printers, beside the Canon MX470 Series it has an amber light and says "In Use, Default".

I've tried the following:
  • Resetting all the printer LAN settings.
  • Resetting the Extender that the printer usually connects to.
  • Resetting the main Router and connecting the printer to that instead.
  • Downloaded all updated drivers from Canon's website
  • Connected the printer via USB and tried re-initiating communication between printer and Macbook that way.
  • Restarting/Rebooting Printer and Macbook
  • PRAM reset on the Macbook
  • Restoring the printer to Factory Settings
  • Running all Canon connection wizards etc
  • Deleting the printer in System Preferences and re-installing
I've tried everything I can possibly thing of. I have no idea what else to try! It seems to simply not see my Macbook or vice/versa. Both are connected to the same Extender or Router, and both say they are online, but they simply will not communicate with each other ! !

Please help, its driving me mental. P.S running Mojave on a mid 2012 Macbook Pro.
 
Ok - well, I've tried some other things, deleting and re-installing all drivers etc. Nothing works. It worked perfectly before my internet went down and I had to factory reset the router. Now all devices are set up and back working again, except the printer. So, even though this printer is probably in perfect working order, I guess I have no other choice but to see if I can send it back to the shop. Ridiculous.
 
satcomer said:
Can you ping that wireless printer? If you can see if you can put that IP into your favorite browser and see if you can see the Printer‘s Wiki!
Click to expand...


I ready the manual in an effort to see the printers IP so that I can address it manually to the Macbook, but i can't seem to find the IP for it. I'm not sure how to find the "ping" as you put it, either. Sorry.
 
It must be something with Mojave. I have the same problem with my Brothers laser printer showing offline. I can still access the printer through a web browser but it shows offline in device settings. I either have to push the “go” button several times or restart the printer to get it to show online.

Stevetraff, open up your router web admin page and look at all devices attached to the router network. Your printer should show up and you will see its IP address.

I always manu set up my printers with a static IP address instead of DHCP (automatic) so it’s easier to find and trouble shoot over the network.


To edit my post. The printer works fine with my 2010 Mac Mini running High Sierra, all the Windows 10 computers and even with my Linux computers. That’s why I think it may be a bug in Mojave.
 
Last edited:
1) In your troubleshooting process it looks like you have diligently performed a full reset or otherwise eliminated every element (extender, router, printer) except the Mac. In the Mac's case you've uninstalled/reinstalled software, but who knows what cruft there is over time, and what changes have been made to settings. Frankly, printer software and drivers for Mac have traditionally been terrible. At this point I'm leaning toward something in your current MacOS installation being the problem.

If you have a spare drive of sufficient size, I'd hook it up, install MacOS fresh to that, and install nothing other than the latest correct software for your printer to see if that works. Doing this step will either eliminate or confirm your MacOS installation as the problem.

2) Others have suggest pinging the printer to ensure basic IP connectivity between the Mac and the printer. This is a good idea. You can print the printer's IP address from its LAN configuration menu using the front panel controls.
 
An update on this problem.

I wanted to wait a few days before reporting how I fixed my Brothers printer always showing offline. It was originally setup by USB cable for wireless use. What I did to fix it was to just add the printer under system preferences by using the IP address and now it always shows up as available.
 
I had a similar issue with a Canon MB 2340 which switched into "offline" mode no matter what solution I tried. Then I simply fixed it by switching it off. Disconnected the printer from the mains. Press the On button for a few seconds. Plugged the printer back into the mains. Pressed the On button again. Fixed.
 
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steveyraff said:
I ready the manual in an effort to see the printers IP so that I can address it manually to the Macbook, but i can't seem to find the IP for it. I'm not sure how to find the "ping" as you put it, either. Sorry.
Click to expand...

Blame your carpets for creating static cling in electronics! Try the trick from post #9 to fix!
 
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