Trouble connecting Macintosh and Epson printer - rest of network is fine

[heavymod]

At some point, the macintosh laptop stopped connecting properly to our epson printer. Print jobs would time out, etc.

I have no idea where this problem is located. PCs can print without problems. Mac can sometimes see the printer. Sometimes it installs it, sometimes It can't find it, sometimes it finds it but fails with a connection error. Or stalls on "Setting up... " When I add it manually via IP, it is unable to verify the printer on the network.

I'm really at a loss. Router and Printer firmware updated. Latest drivers on mac.

• Enabled IGMP snooping
• Turned off broadbeam
• Firmware and hard restarts on printer and router

I recognize the problem could be in several places, but I've seen people have some ASUS issues, so figured I'd jump in here. Any help appreciated.

 

[Grisu]

you could try disable airtime fairness.

 

[ApexRon]

I have a similar setup; ASUS router, Epson printer (WF-3520), and a MacBook. All are within a distance of 30 feet from each other with the printer in a closed wooden cabinet. I never had a problem with AirPrint. When I am away from home, I have even used Epson Cloud print but I prefer Google print.

I would recommend installing the Discovery app from the Apple App Store. Here is an example from my network:

This app will show you all the protocols the Mac sees on WiFi or what ever connection it has to the ASUS.

My MacBook connects on the 5GHz network while the Epson printer connects on the 2.4GHz. I suspect your printer is having a WiFi connection problem either due to range or contention on the 2.4GHz band. Please utilize WiFi Explorer app to understand strength of signal as well as contention on the 2.4GHz band when the Mac is near the printer's location.

Additionally, make sure that the Epson is running current firmware.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Does your printer have an Ethernet port? If yes then connecting the printer by Ethernet might eliminate the problem. Wireless clients will still be able to print.

 

[heavymod]

you could try disable airtime fairness.

Yes, I did disable airtime fairness. I apologize, I should have kept better track of the changes I made. But I thought this was going to be a 5 minute thing, not a 5 hour thing.

 

[heavymod]

Does your printer have an Ethernet port? If yes then connecting the printer by Ethernet might eliminate the problem. Wireless clients will still be able to print.

Ok - it does have a port I believe, and also allows Direct WiFi, which might be an option. Currently the printer is not near the router at all. Maybe I can open another can of worms and use an access point and connect the printer to THAT with ethernet! What could go wrong!

The weird thing is, today, I clicked connect, and the mac found the printer, installed it properly, and I just printed something. what the hell. I'm beginning to think it is the router, or at least a networking problem.

 

[CaptainSTX]

For devices that don't need mobility an Ethernet connection is always the superior way to connect.

If you have an old router that you can repurpose as a media bridge it might be stable, but don't set it up as a repeater as this will slow down all your WiFi connections unless you have a setup with multiple radios and streams.

IMHO the problems with wireless printing are usually the fault of the printer.

 

[heavymod]

I have a similar setup; ASUS router, Epson printer (WF-3520), and a MacBook. All are within a distance of 30 feet from each other with the printer in a closed wooden cabinet. I never had a problem with AirPrint. When I am away from home, I have even used Epson Cloud print but I prefer Google print.

I would recommend installing the Discovery app from the Apple App Store. Here is an example from my network:
View attachment 18804
This app will show you all the protocols the Mac sees on WiFi or what ever connection it has to the ASUS.

My MacBook connects on the 5GHz network while the Epson printer connects on the 2.4GHz. I suspect your printer is having a WiFi connection problem either due to range or contention on the 2.4GHz band. Please utilize WiFi Explorer app to understand strength of signal as well as contention on the 2.4GHz band when the Mac is near the printer's location.

Additionally, make sure that the Epson is running current firmware.

Thanks. Grabbed that app, will be very helpful for troubleshooting. I have updated firmware on router and printer. I'm running High Sierra on the mac.

Router and Mac are line of site. Printer is maybe 30 feet away with 2 walls between printer and router. I've never had a printing issue ( going on 2 years ) between PC and printer ( PC is on ethernet to router ). Printer networking check shows strong signal. So everyone is talking to router... Just seems like the printer and the mac struggle. Right now ( god knows why ) it is working.

Something I found odd from using the Discovery app. I see Bonjour service available for the printer, but only the scanner service. This aligns with what happened in the past - I run printer set up, and it only finds the scanner. ( which then doesn't connect properly ).

 

[heavymod]

For devices that don't need mobility an Ethernet connection is always the superior way to connect.

If you have an old router that you can repurpose as a media bridge it might be stable, but don't set it up as a repeater as this will slow down all your WiFi connections unless you have a setup with multiple radios and streams.

IMHO the problems with wireless printing are usually the fault of the printer.

OK, that is good to know. I have no problem believing this is a printer issue! I'm learning quite a bit about my router and local network as well. I have my old ASUS RT-N56U I could try that with.

 

[sfx2000]

At some point, the macintosh laptop stopped connecting properly to our epson printer. Print jobs would time out, etc.

I have no idea where this problem is located. PCs can print without problems. Mac can sometimes see the printer. Sometimes it installs it, sometimes It can't find it, sometimes it finds it but fails with a connection error. Or stalls on "Setting up... " When I add it manually via IP, it is unable to verify the printer on the network.

Check this article from Apple - I've had similar issues, where one Mac can print, and one keeps failing...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203343

sfx

 

[heavymod]

Check this article from Apple - I've had similar issues, where one Mac can print, and one keeps failing...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203343

sfx

Thanks - that is a good process. I did all of these steps except the last one... but I definitely didn't do them in that order. And I know sometimes that is the difference between working/not working. I have no idea why that last time it made it through all the hoops ( found printer, added printer, could still communicate with printer ) when all the previous times it dropped out at some step along the way. I was talking to the other person who uses it, and they said that a print job would go through it would just take hours to complete. That doesn't make any sense to me, considering they both have rock solid connections to the router.

Edit: Just went to print and it is not working. good times.

 

[sfx2000]

Everything is on the same sub-net right?

Are you running the same SSID for both bands?

On the Asus router, double-check airtime fairness, the default with factory firmware is "enabled", and this has caused issues with some devices in the more recent SW from Asus.