New printer for small office

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J_B
J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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in Techie Stuff
I know it's been asked many times but here we go ....

I help out a bit in a friends office.

They have PC1 hard wired to a Brother B&W Laser printer.
PC2 is not used as often but works just fine.
Both PCs are on W10

They needed a new multi function printer to scan and colour print wirelessly from both PCs and purchased a Brother MFC-J4420DW
There were various connection problems with this - can't really remember what they were, so they purchased a Canon Pixma TS5150 which has been a complete PITA - it would print the first page but then just sat there saying 'processing' or something like that!
Nothing would get the machine out of this loop till you rebooted the PC, of turned the printer off at the wall.
Several sessions of installing and reinstalling the drivers/software etc made no difference and Mr Canon's recommendations all proved fruitless.
The Canon is back in the box and heading back to Currys and I was going to reinstall the Brother wireless one till they said ...
"We didn't get on with that, why don't we try to get a decent one ...."

The printer is on a separate desk about 5m from each PC so a wired connection would not be impossible, but can you hard wire two PC's to one printer??

Suggestions please ....
«13

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  • giraffe69
    giraffe69 Posts: 3,558 Forumite
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    You can connect is via wireless if either or both computers have a wireless card. You can connect via your router. People used to use printer sharer boxes but the technology has moved on I think.
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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    Both PC's have wireless cards and have connected to both printers ... just that it's all been rather problematic!
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
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    We've got a Canon MG4250 connected wirelessly to our network, and it has printed without issue from two PCs (Win 7 and Win XP), and a host of mobile devices through Airprint

    That you've had issues with both printers, of different brands, suggests the problem is not with the printers.

    Are the PCs connected via a router, or are they standalones?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    edited 11 January 2018 at 1:57PM
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    On the Brother get it to connect wirelessly to their wifi network and set a static IP address. When setting up the printer on both computers use that IP address. Part of the problem with the Brother printers is it tries to use the non-routable Web Services for Devices (WSD) which should make things easier as it should mean it can find the printer no matter where it is or gets moved to on a network but in my experience it does fall over a lot.
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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    googler wrote: »
    We've got a Canon MG4250 connected wirelessly to our network, and it has printed without issue from two PCs (Win 7 and Win XP), and a host of mobile devices through Airprint
    At my home we have a Canon MX495 which has also worked seamlessly - I suppose I ought to unplug it, take it there and try it!!
    googler wrote: »
    That you've had issues with both printers, of different brands, suggests the problem is not with the printers.

    Are the PCs connected via a router, or are they standalones?
    PC2 is plugged into the router as it's on the same desk
    PC1 is connected wirelessly to the router - there is facility to connect PC1 directly, but it isn't used.

    Tarambor wrote: »
    On the Brother get it to connect wirelessly to their wifi network and set a static IP address. When setting up the printer on both computers use that IP address. Part of the problem with the Brother printers is it tries to use the non-routable Web Services for Devices (WSD) which should make things easier as it should mean it can find the printer no matter where it is or gets moved to on a network but in my experience it does fall over a lot.
    Whoosh!
    Sorry, is there a simple guide to do this?? :o
  • knightstyle
    knightstyle Posts: 6,990 Forumite
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    edited 11 January 2018 at 7:19PM
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    We had the same problem just before Christmas at home and after spending a lot of time and many emails sent the Canon printer back. Canon UK said we could buy another printer online from them with 20% off so we got the TS3150
    To get it working wirelessly we had to uninstall all the Canon programs from a PC, Macbook and iPad, then reinstall the program for the TS series of printers from here:
    http://ugp01.c-ij.com/ij/webmanual/WebPortal/PTL/ptl-top.html?lng=en&lapp=ijstartcanon
    The printer now works fine from all over the house from all our devices.
    So try that and if no joy contact Canon online support.
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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    knightstyle wrote: »
    To get it working wirelessly we had to uninstall all the Canon programs from a PC, Macbook and iPad, then reinstall the program for the TS series of printers from here:
    http://ugp01.c-ij.com/ij/webmanual/WebPortal/PTL/ptl-top.html?lng=en&lapp=ijstartcanon
    The printer now works fine from all over the house from all our devices.
    So try that and if no joy contact Canon online support.

    J_B wrote: »
    Several sessions of installing and reinstalling the drivers/software etc made no difference and Mr Canon's recommendations all proved fruitless..
    What Mr Canon told us to do was to uninstall all their stuff and then ...
    • Download package of drivers and software:
    https://www.canon.co.uk/support/consumer_products/products/fax__multifunctionals/inkjet/pixma_ts_series/pixma-ts5150.aspx?type=drivers&driverdetailid=tcm:14-1605126&os=Windows%2010%20(64-bit)&language=EN

    But that failed to make any difference ... :(
  • toshi
    toshi Posts: 308 Forumite
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    edited 19 January 2018 at 11:01AM
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    Let’s do this “properly”, I mean in universal way. Then you don’t have to worry about which printer you are using. (it doesn’t matter wireless or not as long as the printer is networked)

    Don’t think to buy (bring) another printer, this shouldn’t be a solution. We will stick to Brother MFC-J4420DW as you have already have it. If you have more devices without understanding basics, your system will be messier and less manageable, costs you more, more consumables.

    It seems that printer manufacturers attempt to make setup easy, then your printer magically will work fine without your understanding. It is scary, isn’t it ? (lol) as it actually create a black box.

    Let's use Tarambor’s suggestion, I want you to use a static IP address for printer. But you need a basic understanding. No worry, straightforward, once you have understood a basic, it will work with any network printers (wireless or not) No more guess work and never ever want to buy another printer (lol)

    Basically you are making a network set-up. All of devices are under same network. ADSL wireless router, PC1, PC2, Printer is the same network. Then each device has a unique IP address.

    Can you try to run “ipconfig” with one of computers ? see the video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R6eiMl8T0Y

    Then we need the information of the below part, (only 3 lines we really need now)

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix :
    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.x.x (this is the IP address for this computer)
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 (you can just leave it)
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.x.x (usually this is the ADSL router address)

    Please find out one of computer’s above information.

    Initially it would take time, but in the end you will save a lot of time with confidence. We can continue to next step. Believe me, you will save more time in the end :cool:

    Happy happy computing :)
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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    Many thanks
    toshi wrote: »
    Please find out one of computer’s above information.
    I'm going back there on Monday but will see if they can get this info before then.

    J
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,443 Forumite
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    edited 12 January 2018 at 2:09PM
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    J_B wrote: »
    ................ but will see if they can get this info before then.

    [FONT=&quot] IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

    [/FONT]     [FONT=&quot] Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1[/FONT]
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