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printers disappear - unplug hub

By slsparks ·
We're running 7 Win 9X, 1 ME, and 1 XP PCs on a peer-to-peer network. We also have 2 printers setup as shared local printers and 2 network printers. Lately, the printers disappear. It seems to happen more often in the morning, but not necessarilybefore anyone has printed to one of them. It doesn't seem to always affect all the PCs. Quite often, a PC that looses its printers will also lock up. Affected printers cannot even access the Printers folder (Start/Settings/Printers), so they cannot even print to a local printer.

We've found that if the hub is unplugged and plugged back in, and then all affected PCs re-booted (sometimes multiple times) the problem goes away and the printers quit hiding for that day. This is an intermittent problem and does not happen every day.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by bchesmer In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

HAve you tried another hub?

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by slsparks In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Having to buy a new hub isn't quite in the budget right now, but it may have to be put there.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by Grey_Woolf In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Although this is the MO of a hardware connectivity issue I would not ignore the possibilty of a network wide virus. Use a good anti-virus software package _ I recommend Norton from Symantec.

If no virus found then check wiring continuity.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by slsparks In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Each PC is running a current version of Norton, so I don't think the virus idea holds water. Not sure how to check the wiring continuity of a hub. I've checked continuity on other electrical circuits. Same thing?

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by Grey_Woolf In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

If you have tested the continuity of the ethernet cables as being good, are you certain of the correct wiring schema was followed (IEA568-B)?

There can be no other cause. It is electical.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by slsparks In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Poster rated this answer

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by seanmcpherson In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

You are having a data collision problem, you should consider using a switch instead of a hub. It seems to me that the traffic would cause the lockups and disappearing printers. The switch handles network traffic much better.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by slsparks In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Thank you. We tried a switch (cheaper than a new hub) and it seems to work just fine. Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm sorry this took so long to wrap up, but we've been off for the holidays.

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printers disappear - unplug hub

by bchesmer In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...
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printers disappear - unplug hub

by slsparks In reply to printers disappear - unpl ...

Must have been sent in error???

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