Network range changed and now Mac books cannot logon users nor find printers

[Jehanzeb]

good evening everyone,

 

Hope you are well.

 

We recently changed our ip range as the previous one exhausted. Since we changed the ip range now users on MacBooks cannot login using their username and password. We are using Mac server for DNS, DHCP, and users are created under dhcp clients. MacBooks are running on 10.6.8. Printers are HP X576DW with air print, bonjour and cloud printing enabled.

 

Issues:

1: some MacBooks can see printers and are perfectly printing but some refuse to show any printer under system preferences-->Print & fax. I have tried resetting the printer queue by using ctrl+right click but that didn't help. If I open word document and click print all old printers list is shown. The print & fax doesn't show any printer even after adding it by + sign and selecting the right printer. Adding printer shows old printers as well as a bonjour service.

 

2: some users can access their accounts using their username and password but others cannot login at all. The network sign on user account shows red dot 'the accounts are unavailable'. This red dot appears on those user laptops who are able to logon.

 

These issues are driving me crazy, any help will be highly appreciated.

 

Kind regards

 

J.

[Jehanzeb]

Update: The network accounts issue has been resolved, had to reconfigure server on MacBooks but the printer issue is still on. Can't figure out why it doesn't show the printers. Tried resetting permissions, removing printers but no luck whatsoever.

[m25man]

Sounds like the subnet mask on the printers does not match your new range.

[Jehanzeb]

Thanks for a quick reply m25man, I am not sure if that is the case as other printers are working with other MacBooks. All printers have static addresses. For example one class had two MacBooks placed a meter away from each other, one shows printer list under system preferences --> print & fax but the other MacBook with the same OS 10.6.8 with same settings doesn't show any printer under the list. The one that doesn't show printers, when click on + sign shows all available printers Bonjour service. When I click the printer it shows right driver and shows it has added the printer but doesn't show anything on printer list. If I try adding the printer again it says one is already in the queue. The only way to remove it is by pressing ctrl+right click --> reset printers. This reset doesn't fix the issue.

 

The bizarre thing is not being able to show any printer but when I open word document and click print, it shows all the printers but doesn't add or let me print anything.

 

Regards

 

J.

[m25man]

If you extended your IP range then your subnet mask will have been changed to match.

If the printers are static IP and the mask is unchanged they will not be able to respond to any clients that reside in the upper octet even if the client can see them.

Basic IP.

 

All devices must have the correct subnet mask. Changing your DHCP scope settings will not change your printers, router or any other static device.

These must be changed manually.

 

Don't forget your gateway device either.

 

Your description is a classic example of this kind of oversight.

 

Check every device end to end.

[Jehanzeb]

M25man thank you for kind input, I will double check the ip and subnet mask on printers; though before changing the range we didn't have the printers. Printers were installed after the range and I set ip, subnet, and gateway on the them (static IP). Laptops are on the same range(dhcp IP). The biggest problem I am having is that some laptops can see the printers and some don't. I'll try and upload screenshots to clarify.

 

Best regards

 

J.

[m25man]

What is your IP address pool range and subnet mask?

[Jehanzeb]

IP range is /21 with subnet mask 255.255.248.0 with APs and printers set upper range of static IP. Rest of the network has dhcp.

 

Regards

 

J.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Jehanzeb

[m25man]

Well with 2048 nodes in your network welcome to broadcast heaven.

 

Hope you have a well documented network with a good change log policy.

 

One misconfigured device can and will bring you to a standstill at some point.

 

The most common misconfiguration with this type of setup is failure to Exclude static IPs from the DHCP scope and incorrectly addressed static devices.

 

Packets only get lost because they are incorrectly addressed/masked or the route doesn't exist.

 

Not being funny but this type of fault normally takes 5 mins to trace and less to fix with the right tools.

Without them you could be looking for weeks

 

Face facts, if you didn't have the problem with your old scope it has to be IP related!

[Jehanzeb]

Thank you for continuing support m25man, I checked the IPs and they all seems correctly associated. I have taken some screenshots of the issue I am having with only some MacBooks and not all.

 

The above is what's happening, I can't see any printers regardless. If I try to add the printer again it shows the following message

 

 

If I reset printers it goes back to the same loop, doesn't show printers even after adding it it wouldn't show it.

 

This is going to into loops.

 

Regards

 

J.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Jehanzeb

[furby]

Perhaps I'm over simplifying this but, why do you need to see them in System Preferences? If they show up when you go to print then surely it's all fine. No?

 

It's always been that way for me when printers have been 'deployed' with workgroup manager and profile manager

[Jehanzeb]

thank you for taking part in the discussion Furby. I wouldn't have any issue if the printers wouldn't show under system pref but would work under Ms word or excel. The biggest issue I am having is the inability to not only see the printers under system pref but also not being able to print anything off them. I have searched the Internet for this issue and it seems a lot of people are having the issue after an update to OS X 10.6.8 (combo update). Unfortunately I cannot revert back before the update using time machine as it wasn't configured. I can't update to yes omits because certain programs that are running now will not work.

 

There are hints and fixes for example "Repair 10.6.8" "OS X printer fix" but none seems to be working. The printers are shown under system profiler, 10 of them are pointing to the old range. There is only one printer that I installed x576dw but that seems not working either. [see below]

 

 

I can't seem to uninstall any of these printers. I need a script to clear the MacBook from all old printers. Someone also mentioned to copy and replace a socket file from a working MacBook to this to make it work but I don't know how that can be achieved.

 

Regards

 

J.

[furby]

Ah, ok, I misread your post when you said the printers did show in Word (but didn't let you actually print). My brain ignored the important bit :s

 

I'd remove the managed preferences from the client machine

 

Go to /Library/Managed Preferences and just delete all the files

 

and/or

 

Go to http://localhost:631/admin and delete the printers there.

 

How are you setting the printers, through WGM or Profile Manager or something else? If yes, which version of OS X is your server?

I assume you removed and re added them on the server before pushing them out again?

 

Couldn't hurt to flush the DNS on the client as well.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202516

 

I'm sure I have a script here to remove all printers, easier if you have lots of machines, let me see if I can find it.

Edited March 2, 2015 by furby

[apeman]

what does lpstat -l show from terminal?

[Ric_]

Have you checked ALL the network config on EVERY device? If only some clients in some locations have the problem, I suspect that there will be something on common.

 

Not down the IP, subnet mask and routing table on each device (including whatever does your routing and anything involved with wireless).

 

When you compare the working systems to the non-working ones, you'll probably find your issue.

 

Of course another consideration is that you could have 2000 shouty devices and the competition is too great.

[Jehanzeb]

Thank you everyone for kind inputs. I have cleared the cache, that was the first thing I did. The local host:631 cups shows no printers in the list. The managed pref only had the user green10, and I have deleted it. Still no luck

 

I have opened the safari bonjour service and in there I can see all printers.

 

It doesn't seem to be the network issue (most probably wrong in saying this) but I took the laptop to the printer and connected it using USB cable, downloaded the full software from HP support drivers site, installed it and when I connected it and went into system pref --> print & fax, there was nothing there. The printer didn't show up under word or excel either, though when I went into HP utility, it showed the printer and printed a test page but only from the utility. The earlier point reference to word document printing I was referring to was when I open the document and click print it doesn't show any printers but when you click on nearby printers or add printers it shows all printers even the reference to old obsolete printers. When I click and try to add a printer it doesn't add the printer.

 

With regards to ip addresses and subnet and default gateway, HP has a web portal that we can use to access printers (using printers IP address) I not only physically went to the printers and checked them but also went online onto the portal and checked every printer. The subnet IP and default gateway all of them are set correctly.

 

Furby I will be highly appreciative if you kindly share a script to clear all printers from the client machine.

 

Oh and lost at -l shows nothing under terminal

 

Regards

 

J.

[furby]

I think it's a software issue as well, so on the CUPS page when you click on Manage Printers it's empty? Bit odd if they're showing up in the print dialog.

 

When you are on that System Info(.app) page. A bit further down, There should me Managed Client. Does it show them there?

 

You can just paste this into Terminal (and press return) or run it from Remote Desktop

 

#!/bin/bash

lpstat -p | awk '{print $2}' | while read printer
do
echo "Deleting Printer:" $printer
lpadmin -x $printer
done

Edited March 3, 2015 by furby

[Jehanzeb]

Fixed!! A very big thank you Furby.

 

Here's what I did

1. Flush the DNS on client machine by opening Terminal and entering the following command (Mac 10.6.8)

dscacheutil -flushcache

2. Open "Finder" --> click "Go" --> "Go to folder" and type

/Library/Managed Preferences

3. Open user folder for example Green10

4. Delete the file "com.apple.mcxprinting.plist"

5. Flush DNS one more time (step 1)

6. Go to System preferences--> Print & fax

7. You will see all the printers in the list, delete all of them and then add the new printer.

 

Although I can still see the old references I.e. Old printers in the list of "add printers" -- when you press "+" sign under printers & fax but at least the new printers are added without issue.

 

I really want to delete all references to old printers but unfortunately even after deleting the plist it didn't get rid of old printers list. For now the new printer started to work.

 

With regards to the script above how do you want me to run Furby? I tried copying pasting it into terminal but nothing happened.

 

Regards

 

J.

 

Update: under CUPS manage printers I can see all the printers.

 

How can I get rid of these printers please? System info app page is now showing all printers including old ref printers. This was empty before.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Jehanzeb

[furby]

Great, looks like you're close. With regards to the script;

 

Copy (and paste) it exactly to the terminal.

The cursor will sit on done. Press Enter/Return

It will run and delete all printers

Like so

http://i.imgur.com/ODWy5p5.png

 

You can also use the "Send Unix Command" in Remote Desktop and run as root

 

and just to be thorough

 

From the CUPS page:

Administration

Manage Printers

Click on the printer (Queue Name)

Maintenance Dropdown on the left and Choose Delete Printer on the right.

Delete Printer, user name as pass and then it should be gone.

[Jehanzeb]

Furby you've been a great help. Thank you! I have printed a sheet with "how to" instructions for future reference.

 

Many thanks once again

 

Regards

 

J.

[Jehanzeb]

The solution seems to be only temporary as when users restart their machines the problem appears again. I cannot understand why, I have tried logging onto a local admin user and remove printers using the script above. It removes the printers, which is fine but only until I am logged onto the laptop. Perhaps I have to login and logout of each and every user on the MacBook to make changes ? The server side I have deleted all the printers from the server using the same script. Not sure where these old printers are appearing from.

 

Regards

 

J.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Jehanzeb

[furby]

I guess you could have the script remove and add printers at login, not used the Lpadmin command to do it but apple support pages makes it look easyish to accomplish, sure that won't be true though. Will have a go later

 

Must be picking up the managed preferences from somewhere though. Are you using Workgroup Manager, Profile Manager or something else? Are you applying them at the user or computer level?

 

Try clearing the mcx cache https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201913 might not do anything but worth a try.

Edited March 9, 2015 by furby

[Jehanzeb]

Thanks Furby, I just found out all MacBooks (local admins and some users) have old printers installed with sharing on. So the printers list appears again and again. I have been going around school checking every single MacBook and removing old printer references. With regards to server, I looked at it and there were printers setup under workgroup manager --> groups there were old printers setup. It's not my setup unfortunately I inherited it from the previous IT guy. I don't think he knew what he was doing as everything I touch seems to have millions of problems appearing.

 

Here's what I have done since my last post

1. Remove all printers instances from the server, checking all workgroup manager groups and users

2. Remove all instances from each MacBook (whichever I have managed to get my hands onto)

3. Run the script given above to remove all printers

4. Clear cache

5. Deleting com.apple.mcxprinting.plist (I don't know how to edit this list rather than deleting it each time. When I delete it then only I can see printers under Print & fax).

6. Once printer appears on the Print & fax, set it up as default (press and hold ctrl key and right click on the printer).

7. Logon to localhost:631 and check the printer list, also setup default printer to A4.

 

The above has worked so far but the only way to find out if it is truly working is tomorrow when everyone comes back and login to their machines.

 

Many thanks for the continuing support Furby.

 

Best regards

 

J.

 

Update: I didn't have to wait until tomorrow as one of the user that I fixed MacBook earlier started to have same issue again. For example iMac7 user, I deleted all instances from machine and checked his name under the server workgroup manager. All clear, logged out from his machine and log back into it and all the annoying old list re populated again. This issue is driving me insane.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Jehanzeb