imageCLASS MF753Cdw - regularly loses network connection

[justsometallguy]

This happens daily. The only way I have found to fix it is to restart the printer or unplug it then plug it back in. Has anyone found a way to keep it connected? It’s super frustrating to have to constantly walk over and do this before I can print anything. 

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Are you using a wired or wireless connection? 

Do you have a static IP address assigned to the printer? 

If you are using DHCP, it's possible your router is reclaiming the IP address of the printer after some period of inactivity.  This is often why power cycling the printer restores the connection. 

[JW-BWC]

I'm having the same issue. Can you elaborate on your instructions.  I'm not super computer savvy.  What do you mean by DHCP and when I reinstall how do I make it use the static IP address? Thank you!

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

A router or DHCP server is responsible for managing IP addresses on your network.  This service maintains a pool of addresses it assigns to devices when they request a connection.  IP addresses are leased for a set period of time, unless you reserve or assign a static IP to a device.  Many devices come and go.  Devices like a printer are persistent.  These devices benefit from getting an assigned "static" IP address.  

Address reservation or static IP assignment is done on your router.  This process basically tells the router to assign the same IP address to a known device.  It's typically identified by its MAC address.  A MAC address is a unique hardware. Identifier embedded on a network device during the manufacturing process.  

The DHCP server on your router will periodically check in with connected devices to see if they are still on the network.  If the router doesn't get a response, it reclaims the assigned IP for future use.  However, if the device has been turned off for a long period of time or is gone to sleep, It may not get the same IP address when it wakes up or gets turned back on.  Now when you try to print your computer attempts to send the job to the last known destination.  In many cases the IP address has now changed.  The print job fails or the printer shows as offline.

By assigning a static IP, your printer will always get the same IP address. You then install the device as an IP printer on your computer.  Now when you print the job is sent to the static IP or "destination" that never changes.  This ensures persistency and that any device (computer, mobile device, tablet) will always be able to find the printer at its assigned destination IP.

[justsometallguy]

Hi Rick,

I've made the revision and assigned it a static IP; however, the issue still persists. To be clear - the printer itself still shows it's connected to my network via wifi, but none of my devices (iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro, Windows 11 PC, MacOS MacBook) can consistently find the printer. It's as if the printer is totally hidden from all the devices until I power cycle it, then it shows up. Do you have any other ideas on what might be causing this? Thanks!

[normadel]

Try connecting to your network by Ethernet CABLE instead of WiFi. The printer has the capability.

I have a printer that has USB and WiFi only. I first set it up to use WiFi. It had a nasty habit of losing its network connection even though I was using a Static IP address. Had to restart/reboot it for it to reconnect. I finally got tired of it and changed over to USB. No problems since, except it is no longer networked.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

So you have assigned the printer a static IP address on your router and confirmed the printer is using this IP address?  

Please open a command prompt on your computer and ping the IP address you've assigned to the printer.  Does it reply? 

Are you able to open a web browser, input the IP address into the address bar, and does the printer's remote UI/ web server login display?

What is the brand and model of your network equipment?  Who is the ISP?

Scroll to the right on the printer's LCD and check for firmware updates please.  The printer must be connected to the network and have access to Internet for the update check.

I don't expect you to use a USB connection since this completely defeats the purpose of owning a network device and limits the ability of other network devices to utilize the printer.  

Using ethernet should not be necessary.  The only exception would be if the printer was outside of the broadcast range of your wireless network.