Dell Printer Keeps Changing IP Address

kah22

I’d appreciate a word of advice.

I have a Dell 1600n laser printer which I use occasionally.

However, when I go to use it the IP address seems to keep changing e.g. a few weeks back it was 192.168.0.2 and it changed to 192.168.0.3 and this morning when I went to print out a letter it had changed again to 192.168.0.6. Don’t understand why. The problem has only started recently.

When I look at the printers Port properties the 192.168.0.6 is selected. The other ports like LTP1 LTP3 etc remain unchecked.

Why does the printer keep changing its IP address and what can I do to stop it. Occasionally the printer will be unplugged so I can use that power supply, could this be the problem.

As always many thanks for your advice.

Kevin

Ximian

Do you power cycle the printer? It sounds like it might be configured for DHCP and every time the printer is turned off and then back on, a new IP Address is assigned to the printer. See if you can configure the printer with a static IP Address

Static Addressing To enter the TCP/IP address from your multi-function printer's operator panel, take the following steps:

1. Press <Menu> until you see "Network Setup" on the bottom line of the display.
2. Press the scroll button ( or ) until "Configuration" displays on the bottom line. Press <Select>.
3. Press the scroll button ( or ) to display "TCP/IP" and press <Select>.

The first available menu item, "Manual", appears on the bottom line and press <Select>.

1. The first available menu item, "IP Address" displays on the bottom line.
2. Press <Select> to access the IP Address menu.

An IP address consists of 4 bytes.

1. Enter the numbers from the keypad and use the scroll button ( or ) to move between octets and press <Select>.
2. Repeat Step 5 to complete the address from the 1st byte to the 4th byte.
3. To select other parameters, such as the Subnet Mask, Gateway or Primary DNS, press <Return>, then use the scroll button ( or ). Press <Select>.
4. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to configure the other TCP/IP parameters.

Nilrem

If the printer is not set to use a specific IP address via it's software (a lot of network printers will let you permanently set an IP address they default to), the chances are it's getting one via your modem/routers DHCP every time it's turned on.
If that's the case it'll be getting whatever the router or modem decides is the next available IP for your network.

The simple way to fix this (if the printer software doesn't have it as an option), is probably to go into your routers menu, look under options and see if there is a way to assign a specific IP to the printer.
Most routers have an option to do this, with a D-link 615 for example it's in the "Setup>Lan Setup" and then down the page it lists the DHCP clients. and has an option to assign IP's to them.
Most routers should have a similar option, that way you can set the router to give the printer the same IP every time (I use it on my network to give my main PC's fixed IP's).

Mista_C

If you follow either of the good advice given before this post and opt for the printer to have a static address but find you can't reserve an address in your router then make sure you give the printer an address higher in the range to prevent the router issuing the same address and causing IP conflicts later down the line.

If you give the printer a static address of something like 192.168.0.249 then, unless you've got 249 devices on your network or churn through leases quicker than hot dinners, you should avoid any IP address conflicts later. Try not to use anything above .249 though as some network devices (routers, wifi points, etc.) tend to have default addresses of .250-.254.