Finally Fixed It!!!

[KoolTech]

Wow, what a week. Been on with the same problem all week.

 

Basically a photocopier stopped working and was the only thing on the network that stopped working. Tried the lot, IP, Switches, ports, cables! Had the engineer out and when he plugged it directly into the laptop it worked fine.

 

After lots of digging and 4 of us working on it(!) it finally turns out it was a small wireless printer sitting at the back of someone's room just silently broadcasting on the same range as the photocopier resulting in the photocopier being dragged down!

 

Never seen this before and neither had any of the other printer engineers. If this ever happens to you, check wireless printers!!

 

So pleased, its had my life this past week. Nice cold beer to celebrate tonight I think

[fairm010]

We don't allow Wireless printers for this exact reason

[KoolTech]

I would never have set it up wireless. It wasn't even set-up or being used! It was sat at the back of a classroom powered on and the member of staff said "Oh I haven't used it for ages, it doesn't work!"

[mac_shinobi]

Wirelessly printing broadcasts on your network !!

[Michael]

I agree, wireless printers are suitable for home use, not business/school use. There's enough wireless traffic flying around as it is, plus print jobs can be enormous. It's definitely better suited for a cabled 100/1000 solution.

 

The only exception (where it's needed) is for the likes of AirPrint, which talks to iPads directly - but for Windows devices, a cabled solution is always better.

[FN-GM]

I would also make it so your WIFI is on a separate VLAN than your weird stuff to limit this kind of thing. We chunk the devices into many vlans to prevent this.

[jmak]

I would also make it so your WIFI is on a separate VLAN than your weird stuff to limit this kind of thing. We chunk the devices into many vlans to prevent this.

 

I try and keep my weird stuff separate from everything