MX922 goes to sleep and loses WiFi connection

[bruceadler]

I have a new MX922 that replaced a dead MX870. The old MX870 worked fine until it died but this new MX922 doesn't work correctly on my WiFi network. And the only thing that's changed is the printer (all the other PCs and printers and the Wifi router are the same as before and still work just fine). The new MX922 goes to sleep and can't be woken up from any PC on my network (to print or scan). The old MX870 NEVER had a problem on this WiFI network and NEVER had a problem with sleep mode. I also still have two MX890s that still work just fine. When the MX922 stops responding to pings, the blue WiFi logo on the front is on, and the Network Configuration Page always says "Connection Active" (but it's not).  Any suggestions that it's my router or my PC driver's fault is nonsense. It's clearly a MX922 WiFi bug which Canon needs to fix ASAP.

Over the past few weeks I've discovered that if the printer goes to sleep for an extended period it frequently "loses" it's WiFi connection and nothing I do from my PC will let me print to or scan from it. Basically it stops responding to pings (which tells me that its WiFi network connection is the issue). I usually discover the printer is offline line first thing Monday AM (after the office has been closed all weekend).

When the MX922 goes into a coma the only way I've found to wake it up is to either power-cycle it, or do go into the Device Settings menu and print out the current Network Configuration Page (it sometimes starts printing/scanning again when I exit out of the menus). AND sometimes after waking it up via the menu trick it operates very very slowly (like the Wifi connection is poor or congested) and I end up having to power cycle it to fix it. I shouldn't ever have to power cycle the printer just to wake it up (especially since it probably uses up some ink to recharge the print head each time it powers on).

Since I got it about 6 weeks ago, this printer has gone into a coma about once a week. Recently I tried disabling the Wireless DRX option and that seems to have made it worse. Since I disabled that option, It's gone into a coma 3 times in the past two days.

[Patrick]

Hi bruceadler,

Routers have a feature that will disconnect devices that have not been in use for a period of time.  If you do not use your printer, the router will stop sending wireless signals to it and will become disconnected from the network.  Please refer to your routers manual to adjust this time out period or disable it.

If you continue to have difficulties, please contact our support group using the following link:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/standard_display/contact_us_consumer

[bruceadler]

That's nonsense. Why do you Canon people keep on saying it's the fault of the router when it's clearly not. And rather than make a vague assertation that there's some sort of router setting that will fix this issue, if you knew what you were talking about you would describe exactly what option or setting needed to be changed. If you really think this issue can be fixed by router settings, then name a specific router and name the exact setting for that router that needs to be changed.

I've worked with wifi routers from Cisco, Linksys, Dlink, Netgear, Belkin, TP-link, Airlink, and others and I know of no feature on those routers that jibs with your description. As far as I know there's no way to configure any wifi router to force a wifi session to never expire. But maybe I've just always picked the wrong wifi routers. So name just one wifi router that supports your mystery feature and point me to the page in the user manual for it.

Furthermore, I've got other wifi printers on my network which do NOT have this problem. So whaterver the problem is it's only the MX922 that can't deal with it. Why should I have to do something special on my netowrk just for the MX922? It's  absurd to even suggest such a thing. If such a thing were necessary than the MX922 should have a big caveat on the outside of the box so that potential customers would know that the MX922 does play nice with standard wifi routers.

Furthermore, I have a router between my internal network and my ISP connection but there are NO actual routers between my PCs and any of my wifi connected printers (including the MX922). What I have is a couple of wifi APs connected to a 48 port managed switch. The switch is the backbone of my internal network and it has an uplink to the outside world via a separate router box. So the so called wifi routers are actually wireless switches, and any standard  "routing" related options or settings (for something link a WAN uplink) are completely irrelevant.

As far as I know, in order to function correclty,  the only dynamic information my network switch and wifi AP boxes need to know is the printer's MAC, its IP address, and which wifi box has an active wifi session with the MX922.

Now it's true that all switches have limited resources for trackng active MAC addresses and IP addresses. So if a connected device is inactive for a long period, its entry will get flushed from the switch's address table. BUT there's a simple mechanism call ARP broadcasts (which all ethernet or wifi devices must support) which makes that resource limitation irrelevant. If the MX922 doesn't know how to wake up from sleep mode and respond to ARP packets, then it's defective and needs to be fixed. You can't rely on my router being able to lock down address table entries just for the MX922.

Also, my DHCP server (like everyone's DHCP server) has a timer which flushes IP addresses of (inactive) devices that let their DHCP reservations timeout. So it's the responsibility of the printer to keep track of how long it's DHCP reservation is valid and renew its reserveration before expires. If the MX922 isn't doing this then it's not really compatible with the IP standards and needs to be fixed. If your workaround requires me to configure a static IP address for the MX922 (rather than dynamic DHCP addresses) then the MX922 is a non-compliant device which I do not want on my network.

And finally, because I'm using the MX922 via wifi (rather than wired), if the printer just goes to sleep and stops responding to packets from the AP it's connected to, then its wifi session WILL expire and there's no way to reach it from any PC on my network.

Even if I could override my router and force the session to never expire, if the MX922 doesn't know when to wake up and send the right packets to keep the wifi session active,  the MX922 also isn't going to be able to wake up at the right time to accept my print job.

The 802.11 wifi spec clearly spells out how a device is supposed to keep it's session active (even when it enters sleep mode). If the MX922 doesn't automatically wake up from sleep mode at the right time and maintain the wifi session, then that's a bug in the MX922. It's not something that you can misleading assert is caused by my wifi router disconnecting from the MX922 because I didn't use it frequently enough. Clearly, the wifi spec says that it's the responsibility of the connected station (ie the MX922)  to keep the wifi session active and if it' doesn't do the right thing then my wifi router is doing the right thing by disconnecting it. It's not a "feature". It's a requirement of the wifi spec.

[jefferyw]

Appears the Wifi module in the mx922 is junk.  Last few days had to restart printer each time I needed to print something.  Today--not responding at all. Reset printer. Still nothing.  Tried another computer. Nothing.   Attempted to reinstall printer but it can't be done since the software cannot find the printer.  It cannot be the router's fault if the printer works one day and not the next.

Coming from a mx870, this 922 was hated since day 1.  Only one bottom tray for paper? Its difficult to refill and you never know when you're out.  My 3rd SOHO printer by Canon.  The mx890 was the same useless design. This one is going back to Costco.

[Hokiecow]

I'm having the same issue.
The printer worked just fine for many months. Now, recently it's been dropping the Wifi connection and I have to reboot the printer to print or scan. It's getting old....

[SamuelRodgers]

Maybe the wifi card in the printer is overheating and cutting out.  I have mine configured with static IP and it still looses connection.  I print something maybe once or twice a day.  I agree Canon needs to come up with a fix for this problem - it is really annoying to have to re-enter the setup information each time I want to print.

[Roxbury]

This issue isn't just related to the MX922. I have two other Cannon's of different models that behave the same way. One even is directly connected to my router. Cannon appears to have chosen the wrong way to handle network connections. It MIGHT be my router as I had issues with DirecTV not finding things between the iPad and DVR. They seem to use the same way of addressing things. MAC instead of IP. And if they don't wake up or respond to the ARP call then nothing will help. Seems it might be a timeout issue from Cannon.

I wish an actual Cannon Network Engineer would break through the clutter and provide some answers to customers. If we need routers with more advanced functions tell us. Something, anything other then "move it away from your microwave and reinstall the drivers."

[LindaSpringer]

I'm not really sure your time was well spent with this message.  You might have better results, for yourself as well as for the rest of us, if you spoke with someone directly and demonstrate the respect for them that you would like for yourself.  Not everyone has the same level of expertise.

[brianprice6]

Linda - I may have replied twice to this, but the message is the same.  I do not understand your comment about my post - can you explain further?  Thanks. 

[LindaSpringer]

It's possible I replied to the wrong person.  Sorry!