topic Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC in Printer Software & Networking

imageCLASS MF644Cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

kaushikn — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:34:36 GMT

I have been struggling to get this printer to work consistently on my network from my MACs. Most of the times when I try to print, I get an error.

Opening the Settings --> Printers and Scanners --> Canon 644c,

The banner says that the printer is offline.

Under the print job I get the message Priner - Unable to find printer

The printer is on
The printer is close to the wifi router
I am using a reserved ip address for the printer (so that I have the same ip each time)
I can access the printer from the browser using the ip address
I was able to print from a moblie phone
I can scan from the Canon Print Business mobile app
I have installed the latest drivers from the support site on the PCs
I have tried to use the Airprint driver as well as the Canon Support site drivers

None of the macs can consistently print using the print function.

Anyone else face the same problem?

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

VideoGuy — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 03:03:13 GMT

I have the exact same issue with a Macbook Air with a MF641Cw !! We have removed and reselected the printer many many times as we thought that this sometimes worked. Right now, I am installing the latest firmware update - something about a monitoring server, related to proxy authentication - whatever that is. We can't be the only ones having this problem and its a serious one!

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

upnorthwi — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 00:15:33 GMT

Exactly the same problem. I have the same situation. The printer will occassionally print but it takes at least 10-20 minutes for the Macbook to find it. Often it doesn find it at all. The PC connects and prints just fine. I have been at this all day. Very frustrating

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Hector — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:56:55 GMT

Hello kaushikn,

If the Macs keep losing connection while other devices are still able to communicate, it could be caused by signal strength or a network communication issue. If the printer is on WiFi, ensure the MF644Cdw's signal strength is at least at "Good."

<Status Monitor> <Network Information> <IPv4> Select the setting to view Check the settings

If the signal strength is poor, you can try moving the printer to see if it gets a better signal. If the signal strength is good, you can try refreshing your network connections by unplugging your router from the power for five seconds. Once the network is back up, you can try printing again to see if it responds from the Mac.

To provide additional information or to provide other options, we would need some additional information. If you could reply to the message with the information below, we would be happy to assist.

What version of the Mac OS are you using on your computers?
When you are unable to print, are you unable to scan from the Mac as well?

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

upnorthwi — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:14:01 GMT

Hector: Thanks for the advice but I'm still having the same problem. The signal strength is strong (same room as router).

The Mac won't wake up the printer from sleep mode. I just get an error: "The printer may not exist or is unavailable at this time." One must physically walk to the printer, turn it off and on, and print.

I haven't tried scanning yet. I will try that if I can get the printer to work.

Mac OS 11.1.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

VideoGuy — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:19:15 GMT

FWIW, after I installed the latest drivers/firmware, I couldn't locate the printer at all from the MAC. I forget the option to do this on the MAC, but I knew the IP address of the printer as I had dedicated it on my router. I told the driver to use that IP address - low and behold it worked and I've haven't had a problem in two weeks! Fingers crossed. Hope this helps.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

kaushikn — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 15:41:58 GMT

Hi Hector -

Thanks for responding.

The network connection is Good
I've restarted both the printer and the mac multiple times
Till recently, I was on OSX 10.15.7. I had the issue then. Last week I upgraded to Ben Sur. I still have the issue
Often times both printing and scannig are impacted. 1-2 times I noticed that the printer was offline and scanning was possible
Note that this is a shared network printer
Sometimes I scan from one PC and then when I try to scan from another, it fails. Then I cant scan from the first PC either

kaushikn

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

upnorthwi — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:12:55 GMT

Same problems. No help from Canon. Today is my last day to file a return for the printer. I have opted to send it back and purchase something else. I will not forget what a terrible experience this was.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

TGA516 — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 01:50:36 GMT

I have had this same issue since day 1 with this printer. It consistently works fine from my Windows systems but has always failed to work with any of the household Mac computers (2 Mini’s and 3 MBP’s) and the common denominator is the Mac driver. We have deleted and reinstalled the driver so many times it makes my head spin and Canon support has just pretended they know nothing of this issue and it’s never come up before. It has persisted through several Mac OS/X upgrades and is beyond frustrating.
My network is mesh and solid throughout the house; I can print from my Windows machines from anywhere and Macs nowhere.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

SGUFan — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:15:06 GMT

I'm having the same issue with my brand new MF743Cdw on two different versions of MacOS (11.2.1 and 10.15.7)

One difference with mine is that the printer is connected via Ethernet, not WiFi, so there's no way it's a WiFi signal issue.

I have no issue setting up the printer, but it goes offline after the printer goes to sleep and the Mac can't wake it up to print. What's really odd is that the scanner still works even though the printer says it's offline. I can switch to the scanner in Settings > Printers & Scanners. But even scanning something doesn't bring the printer online.

I've tried resetting the printing subsystem and I've removed and readded the printer numerous times.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Gnome1 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:03:29 GMT

I have the same issue. Two days ago the MF644Cdw printer was fine. Yesterday we lost power a few times and after that the printer was offline.

The printer sits right over the router and is connected by a cable.

It is connected to my Macbook Air wirelessly.

I reset the router with no luck.

I have turned the printer off and on with no luck.

Could this be a toner issue? I get a message that toner is low, although the printing quality has not gotten worse.

I will next try to reinstall the drivers.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Danny — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:23:49 GMT

Hi, Gnome1!

So that the Community can help you better, we need to know exactly which version of macOS is running on your computer. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, click HERE search our knowledge base or find additional support options HERE.

Thanks and have a great day!

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Gnome1 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:25:19 GMT

Thank you! I am running Big Sur 11.2.3 on my MacBook Air.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

VideoGuy — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:33:26 GMT

Is the IP address to the printer dynamically assigned? If so, it probably changed with the power glitch when the router rebooted. To avoid this in the future, set the address to be static in the router configuration page.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Gnome1 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:43:56 GMT

I found the IP address but don't know how it's assigned. Please advise.

Also, I went to the Canon page and downloaded the latest drivers that work with Big Sur 11.0, but I'm not sure how to get the printer to access them.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

VideoGuy — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 12:51:56 GMT

I don't believe it's a driver issue as we recently updated to Big Sur also without a problem. To set the address as static, you have to log in to your router webpage (easy to google) and set it within there. Also, the printer setup on your Mac needs to know what that address is. I'm not a mac guy (its my daughters laptop), so I don't know the steps from memory, but that's what I needed to do in our situation - FWIW. Hope that helps.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Gnome1 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 13:19:44 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions!

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

TGA516 — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 14:21:21 GMT

This is the usual answer from Canon but it’s bogus: I have Windows based systems on exactly the same network condition that work just fine. This is a Mac-specific problem.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

VideoGuy — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 14:34:15 GMT

Yup - I think its specific to the Mac driver. Setting the IP address as static was my -working- solution.

Re: MF644cdw - Shows Offline from MAC

Gnome1 — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 01:53:33 GMT

Well, after all this, I deleted and reinstalled the printer, and it worked. So I learned I could do that without the computer "forgetting" the printer. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions!