PIXMA G3270 "printer OFFLINE"

[g5000]

I bought the G3270 from Amazon in November and I have decided to throw it away and find another brand of printer.

I bought this piece of garbage because of the "megatank" feature.

Since November, I've managed to get this trash to print a grand total of three times.

Here's the thing.  When the printer is idle, it shuts itself off.  It does not go into sleep mode.  It shuts itself off.

When I go to print something, I get a printer offline message.  So I go and turn the printer on, and my document STILL won't print and says the printer is still offline.

I check the wifi connection, and it has disconnected from my wifi.  Because it had shut down.

So I go through the annoying process of manually connecting the printer to wifi on a really tiny screen which does not allow me to show my password so I can see if I am entering it correctly with the ridiculous buttons.

Okay.  So now my printer is connected to the wifi.

Back to my computer.  It says the printer IS STILL OFFLINE!!!

Now I check and make sure the printer and my computer are on the same network and they are.

Now I'm really annoyed.

I go online and look for a solution.  I find some Canon online instructions, but all it does is walk me through how to connect the printer to the wifi!

Then it suggests I reboot my router.

Sure, annoying me wasn't enough, now I must annoy everyone in the house by disconnecting their devices, but I do it.

Now I have to go through the process of reconnecting my printer to my wife, because unlike every other device on the planet, it does not automatically reconnect.

So I reconnect it.  And as you might have guessed, my printer is STILL OFFLINE.

This has happened before.  In fact, it happens EVERY TIME.  After spending hours trying to get it to work in the past, it has finally put itself online.

Only this time, nothing I do gets this thing to work.

Why, oh why, did these idiots make the printer shut off?  WHY!?!?

Also, you have no idea how much it angers me to see the manuals for consumer electronics these days to be utterly useless.  You have to figure out on your own how to get their crap to work.

Since I need to print stuff once in a while, it is necessary now to throw this junk away and find another printer.

I am not going to call support because they will just tell me to do all the things I have already done, and that will annoy me even more

[normadel]

Any printer that is used on a network needs to have a Static IP address, rather than letting DHCP on the router assign one. When a printer has a DHCP-assigned address, that address can change, making the computer not see it.....especially after it has been turned off. This is accomplished in the printer's networking menus. Also, your router has to be reserving the address for the printer so it does not get assigned to anything else.

Also, Wi-Fi is not completely reliable as a printer connection method to begin with. I have a Pixma that would lose its connection on my network routinely for no apparent reason. So I resorted to using it over USB with one computer at my primary workstation.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

While I'm in absolute agreement with you about using/assigning static IP addresses, I've not found wireless to be any less reliable than a ethernet connection.  Both of my printers have static IP's assigned.  Each has been connected this way for years.  They never go offline, except when there is an extended power outage.  When power is restored, I restart them and they reconnect automatically. 

Most Canon printers also have power management settings which allow them to be configured to shut off, go to sleep or to power off/on by schedule.  

My printers are set to go to sleep after a period of inactivity.  This is a low power state for the device except the wireless interface.  It remains active and keeps the device connected to the network.  It is always available and ready to print. When I send a print job it wakes, and prints

Using DHCP for devices which are persistent on your network like a printer will usually give you nothing but headaches.  DHCP addresses are automatically assigned, and leased to devices on your network.  This works ok for devices that "come and go".  It is not best practice or a reliable method for devices that get powered off, or go to sleep.  

Your computer will always try to use the last connection method "that worked'.  However, if your router has not seen or communicated with a device for an extended period, it may reclaim the IP (It is signed earlier ) and put it back in its pool of addresses for future assignment.  This is why it's important to use static addresses for persistent devices.  

By doing so, a printer will always be able to be found at its destination (assigned) IP address that does not change.  The configuration only has to be performed once.  It's consistent and reliable.  

These behaviors and issues are not isolated to Canon .  They can occur with any brand or model of device that is not configured properly from the start.

G5000, if you would like assistance getting things working reliably, please let us know.

You will need to:

-Assign the printer a static IP on your network 

- Adjust the power management settings so the device does not shut off after a period of inactivity 

- Install the device as an IP printer on your PC or Mac for reliable connectivity.

[normadel]

Not long ago I read an article or post on this forum written by someone knowledgeable who stated that WiFi  IS NOT as reliable as a wired network connection. Unfortunately I cannot remember where and who. But it confirmed my experience with my Pixma MG5420 on WiFI. It would lose its connection even with a Static IP and I would have to restart the printer to reconnect.

I had to use my Pixma with USB for it to be reliable, which means it is not networked. This model does not have a wired Ethernet port. I got it second-hand for real cheap, and it does a beautiful job. I will not buy another printer that cannot be connected to my network by wire. So, much as I respect your knowledge and inputs here, you do not speak for every situation.

[g5000]

Canon bills this as a WIRELESS printer.  What good is a WIRELESS printer if it loses its connection to WiFi?  None of the dozen other WiFi devices in my house have this problem.

Also, what good is a WIRELESS printer if it can only be connected via USB to ONE computer two feet away?

[g5000]

There was a giant bedsheet size paper that came with the printer.  It was useless.

I have gone online and used the Canon setup and instructions apps.  Does not work.

Now I hear from you about static IPs, power management settings, and installing the device as an IP printer.

Why is none of this in the instructions which come with the printer?  Why do the makers of consumer products totally skimp on their user manuals?  I am so sick of this trend.

"Yeabut instructions online", they say.

Nope.  No they are not.

[Mike]

You can find the G3070 series Online Manual here: https://canon.us/4jgPu3O 

Power Settings can be found on page 169 of the 469 page manual. 

We hope that helps!

[normadel]

I don't know if/that WiFi issues are limited to Canon. Any know if people have issues with other brands? There are so many posts here about WiFi printer and camera connection issues. Article I read said that printers are more sensitive to having a rock-solid WiFi connection than other peripherals. I can imagine cameras being touchy also.

Maybe it's the QUALITY of the WiFi connection, and not a Canon hardware issue. 

[g5000]

Page 169 starts with, "Open Canon IJ Printer Assistant Tool".

Gee, if only I knew what that was!

The internet says it should be on my computer and to search for it.  Nope!  Not there.

There is a Canon App which has occasionally connected to my printer if I put my finger in my ear and spin around three times.  And then the printer shuts itself off.

The printer shuts itself off.  Who does that!?!  It should not come out of the box that way, and I should not have to read a 500 page manual to get this thing to work.

Has Canon never heard of plug-and-play?  It's all the rage.

Page 36 says, "Select either link below to download Wi-Fi Connection Assistant."  I click the blue Windows link and I am transported to page 43.

Page 43 has another blue link to Wi-Fi Connection Assistant.  I click it and am transported to page 44 which tells me all the wonderful things WiFi Connection Assistant can do, but THERE IS NO LINK!

Seriously.  Thanks, guys.  But I'm done.  A product should not be this hard, and one should not need a computer engineering degree to get it to work.

It's gone.  Trash.

I should have heeded the online reviews which mentioned users have WiFi connection issues.

Canon is dead to me.

Thanks for your efforts.

[g5000]

Something occurred to me this morning.

I still had my old Epson printer in the garage.  It is now back in its rightful place and the Canon is gone.

The Epson literally never fails.  No one had to explain about static IP addresses, or blame the quality of my WiFi, or anything else everyone has said in this topic.  I just plugged it in, entered my home WiFi password and it is good to go.

If I had to reboot the router for reasons unrelated to the printer, the Epson automatically reconnected to my WiFi.

It never dropped the WiFi, and it never turned itself off like the Canon does.  It just plain works.  For 12 years now.

Maybe Canon should look into this miracle.  Maybe Canon should reverse engineer this phenomenon.

The problem has nothing to do with the quality of my WiFi.  The problem is the quality of Canon printers.

The Epson is old, and it is slow, but it works.  I replaced it because I was seduced by the Canon's big ink tank, and I thought it was probably faster, and I got it in my head I would like something new.

New is not always better.  In fact, new technology has become ridiculously harder to use, and has a much higher failure rate.

Like the saying goes, "They don't make 'em like they used to."

It it ain't broke, don't fix it.