Pixma MX920 on a different subnet not detected with install software

[jwilseyRCDB]

Hello, Has anyone been able to install a network Pixma MX920 on a different subnet from the PC using the Canon install software?

I have a user that bought a Canon Pixma MX920 and we are trying to set up the printer to work over a wired LAN connection. I have configured a static IP for the printer and can easily ping and access the INTERNAL webpage of the Pixma.  We are a school and have a lot of devices, so we have a separate VLAN for printers and other deivces.  For example, the printers IP address is 192.168.1.20 and the client has 192.168.0.195 (these are /24 networks).  The Canon install software from the CD (v1.1) goes through most of the process and then runs its network detection program that happily says it didn't find anything and doesn't let me type in the IP address.  Also, I used the Pixma webpage to turn off IPv6 since I couldn't figure out how to do it from the printer console (the printer is so loud with every button press that I didn't want to spend time playing with it).  For what it is worth, the printer is on firmware 2.020 as reported by the webpage as well.

I tried to install with Windows, which lets me type in the IP address, but when Windows detected the printer, it couldn't tell what kind of network card the printer was using and I didn't see a way to add something to that list.  FYI, I have the printer drivers installed already, this is a separate step where Windows tries to determine how to communicate with the NIC of the printer.  So far, one computer is hooked via USB and that works great for that one computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, even if to say that this printer is ONLY intended for home networks with one subnet and few devices.

[diverhank]

I'm writing this for a broader audience since so many people are having the same problem.  You seem to know what you are doing so I do not mean to be condescending.  Sorry in advance.

The biggest problem with failing to reliably print on a network printer is the dynamic IP and the computer failure to reliably detect a new IP every time you power the printer on/off.  The default is every time the printer power is cycled on, the printer assigns itself a new IP address.  The computer is supposed to be able to pick this up and adjust the printer properties accordingly.  In practice, this rarely works so the printer works fine one day but not the next.  Without knowing the printer new IP, the computer would then trying to communicate with a printer IP that isn't there anymore.  Your printer now has a different address.  What you want is a static IP address that never changes for the printer.

1. Check your router and find out what its IP address is.  It is either 192.168.0.xxx or 192.168.1.xxx where xxx is typically 001 through 256.  In your example it's the former - with a zero.  The printer IP first 3 numbers need to match the network's.

2. You need to assign the printer a static IP address which means this address never changes when you power the printer on/off.   Use this procedure to do so, select "Use the following IP address" option:

http://ugp01.c-ij.com/ij/webmanual/NetworkTool/M/4.1/EN/NWT/NWT_Settings0600.html

3. Enter an IP address like 192.168.0.xxx where xxx is large enough to avoid ones that are already or will be assigned to the network computers - you have 24 computers so I would use something larger than 30.  I use 250 (my favorite number).  Make sure the 0 or 1 matches your router address. Save the settings

4.  Load your Canon print driver for your computer.  

5. In your computer , create a new printer using tcp/ip and enter in the IP address and specify the correct printer.  Follow this procedure or google one for your operating system:

http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/GetArticle.aspx?docid=69efd80e2ea44d948fea2365d3e0c9eb_Configuring_TCP...

There is no need to use the Canon software except you need to load the correct print drivers of course.  This method is the most reliable one.  Once it works, it will print every time, doesn't matter how many times you've turned your computers and printer on/off and it will work whether you've configured the printer for wired or wireless.

[jwilseyRCDB · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your reply.  I agree that a printer with a DHCP assigned IP would be unusable.  I have already set the printer with a static IP (which is why I mentioned 192.168.1.20).  We have 300 wired computers and around 500 wireless devices, plus many networked printers, so we use different subnets (which is why I mentioned the CIDR nomenclature of /24, meaning we have our subnet mask at 255.255.255.0 for the wired networks).

Anyways, I did get Windows to install the printer as a Web Services Device, but it was very slow.  What I did to get the Canon intall software to work was to put the PC on the same network as the printer (so the pc was changed from DHCP to use 192.168.1.195) and the Canon software was perfectly happy to install properly.  Once I changed the PC's network back, everything continued to work properly.

So the correct answer, in this case, is, "The Canon setup software only searches the PC's subnet for printers, it does not spend the time to search all possible networks, which would be quite an intensive task."  The solution would be to allow the user to manually put in an IP when printer detection fails, or tell customers to not buy home printers for business use.

[jwilseyRCDB]

Also, the major advantage of using the Canon software is that their solution provides a lot more functionality over the "Windows Fax and Scan" that is included with Windows. For instance, I couldn't get the Windows to scan from the document feeder, and it wouldn't scan to PDF (Windows only supports scanning to images). Canon did spend some time to make their software package nice.

[cat5weaver]

I believe I have the same issue with a PIMAX 475 I have just acquired.   

The printer is connected to my wirelss AP. It has an IP address and I can browse to it but the Canon set up program does not find it.

The printer and my PC are on different SSIDs and IP subnets. I believe the printer is probably sending out some layer 2 identity packets which are not seen by my PC (on a different subnet.)

I'm going to test my theory by moving my PC temporarily to the same SSID and IP subent as the printer.