Brother MFC Printer Disappears From Network

[computersteve]

I have a Brother MFC-795CW & I keep having a problem with the printer just disappering from my network. I have to do a power cycle for the printer to be re-recognized by my Mac. I have tried resetting the printer to factory default & tried switching the interface from Wi-FI to Ethernet. The result is the same =( This problem has never happend with my Asus router the RT-AC5300 or my Fios G1100. I'm wondering is anyone else experiencing this even if it's not with Brother printers ? I already see theres a Homekit problem, im wondering if the Orbi is also interfering with some other protocal

[FURRYe38]

Have you set up a reserved IP address ON the router for our printer or set a static IP address of 192.168.1.79 ON the printer? 

I would uninstall and re-install the printer driver on the Mac. Make sure it's up to date. 

Contact the Mfr of the printer for additional help and information on this as well. 

[computersteve]

No I havent setup a reserved IP but why should I do that? I never had to do that before.. 

[computersteve]

Ok I have applied a static ip to the printer. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks 😃 

[FURRYe38]

Helps ensure the printer gets one same IP address each time it's turned on and doesn't change.

Hope it works better for you. 

[eljarviso]

I have similar problems with my brother color laser.  The latest firmware broke airprint so i had to rollback to version 2.1.2.18.  The printer flaps on and off the network... a problem which never occured with my ASus AC87u.  I think it has something to do with the single 2.4/5Ghz SSID and the printer being 2.4 Ghz only.  I ended up using an old airport express I had laying around as a wireless bridge and connecting the printer via ethernet.

Two things you could try doing is ensuring you're on firmware 2.1.2.18 and also try disabling 20/40Mhz coexistence.  Another forum user claimed this fixed connection problems with his Ring doorbell which also uses 2.4Ghz.

[FURRYe38]

I believe they resolved there issue with setting a static IP address and not related to FW. 

You can try this as well if you decide to update FW again. 

Most devices like printers, controllers and devices that don't need much internet access, set up a static IP address ON the devcie. Takes up less router resources, doesn't use much if any internet resourses and when needed or turned ON, always gets the same IP address. Doesnt' change. 

Other factors are some printers may not have updated wifi drivers or support most current WPA2 and AES security protocols, so in cases the use of an other wifi AP can be used if the printer doesn't have LAN cable support. 

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@eljarviso wrote:

I have similar problems with my brother color laser.  The latest firmware broke airprint so i had to rollback to version 2.1.2.18.  The printer flaps on and off the network... a problem which never occured with my ASus AC87u.  I think it has something to do with the single 2.4/5Ghz SSID and the printer being 2.4 Ghz only.  I ended up using an old airport express I had laying around as a wireless bridge and connecting the printer via ethernet.

Two things you could try doing is ensuring you're on firmware 2.1.2.18 and also try disabling 20/40Mhz coexistence.  Another forum user claimed this fixed connection problems with his Ring doorbell which also uses 2.4Ghz.

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[computersteve]

So for me, setting a static IP seemed to fix the problem. Thanks for the suggestion 😃 

[FURRYe38]

Glad it's working better now. Enjoy.