Problems with WNDR3700 and Lexmark wifi printers.

[3Cubed]

I got a problem with my Lexmark S305 printer, loosing connection to my WNDR3700, sort of.

Sort of, because it's still listed in the attached devices, that tells me that the router didn't forget the printer, so I guess that the Lexmark printer has a problem, sort of sleeping to deep... But read on, I can force it, trough the router, to wake up with out touching the printer.

You should also know that after set up or power up, it all starts out working perfect. Then the printer goes to sleep and if no one prints anything for more then an hour or so, I can't print from it again. To get it to connect again, I have to pull the power from the printer and reconnect it. An other option is from the WNDR3700 in the advanced wireless tap, just click apply in the bottom. I think that make the router power cycle the wireless radio and some how it reconnects and start working again. I cant seem to figure out if the problem is in the Router or printer end. Since I can do things in both ends to make it reconnect...

One guy in the WNDR3700 forums said the following:
After a specified time every wifi device changes it's security key automatically (known as 'key renewal'). This is to keep the wifi connection secure. In some routers one can change the time ,measured in seconds, until the key renewal will occur. The default time is often 3600 seconds, on my Dlink DIR-655 I could change this. Unfortunately the WNDR3700 does not offer this option. So after this time the router wants to renew the WPA encryption. It seems the Lexmark Pro901 is not able to to this while in standby. Once this key renewal has failed it won't connect afterwards. I don't know if this is an error with the router or the Lexmark printer.

It seems like he could be right, and that I have the same problem with my Lexmark S305. But who is at fault here? I imagine that both company's is going to point fingers at the other, not doing anything to fix the problem.

What do you think? Also is anyone in here using the WNDR3700 with wifi printers and does it work as it should, as in when you press print, it prints, even if you haven't been printing for a month?

Thanks Kasper

 

[JoeJoe]

I had a similar problem with a Netgear router and a HP wireless printer, I fixed it by:

1)not using the 'auto' channel selection, I put it to channel 11 instead.
2)added the printer to the static DHCP table - address reservation, so it had a constant IP address.

 

[3Cubed]

I did try changing the channels, didn't help. But I did that with DHCP still enabled... Reason for this is that if I assign the printer it's own IP in the DHCP table, then it just gets even worse..

The thing is that there is some settings in the printers setup, that I haven't tryed to fiddle around with. it is set up to use DHCP, but I can change that to static IP It then asks for IP, subnet and gateway IP. What is a gateway, the WNDR3700?
If I do change to static IP on the printer, then what should i do in the WNDR3700 end? I don't really want to build the network up my self, so I'd prefer to keep using DHCP.

Right now it's working but dooing so I'm bleeding on the power bill, since it's now connected through an old Trendnet TEW-450APB access point I had laying around. I would prefer to not be using it though.

So it confirms to me that something is wrong in the WNDR3700 and that the printer can work with other routers or access points. If I had known about this when I bought the WNDR3700 I would have chosen another product.

Thanks Kasper.

 

[claykin]

load latest firmware on 3700 and Lexmark printer. Get latest Lexmark driver for your OS.

Some Lexmark printer drivers use a funky tool to manage network printer connections in Windows. This tool is especially problematic when there's multiple Lexmark printers on the same LAN. Its goofy at best.

 

[3Cubed]

I did allready load the latest firmware to the WNDR3700 and the S305 Printer. The same about the printer drivers , they are all updated to the latest on all computers... Still the same..

 

[3Cubed]

Got it working

If anybody else gets this problem, I just wanted to let you know that you have to limit the throughput in the routers wireless settings, in the Mode field it needs to say up to 54Mbps.
I now changed the printer to the Epson Workforce Pro 4535, expensive, but running cost is low and so much better on all points.. Plus it just works and with no limits needed in the settings in the router.
I also tried the Lexmark S405, same thing, needs the limit just as the S305.

Thats it, over and Out.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
You ought to try trondah's OpenWrt f/w for that router.
That's what I used when I had V1 nd V2.

 

[3Cubed]

Cant find trondah's OpenWrt f/w

Now I have a new problem with that router. The DLNA media share has disapired out of the blue, I can read/write to and from the USB drive, but not through any media players. This is while USB drive is connected to the WNDR3700.

I tried Ejecting the USB drive safely. Did not work, so I powered of the router off and removed the drive, power back on, mounted the drive to a vista computer and deleted the .readyshare folder and reconected the drive to the WNDR3700... Did not change anything, still no mediaserver to be found...

Now I'm about ready to try trondah's OpenWrt f/w... But where should i look, been googleing it but it always lead to a forum somewhere (that never says anything about trondah's) or 404 pages, never anything usable... So a frindly pointer in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks Kasper.

 

[claykin]

Not sure about trondah, but try this respected firmware based on OpenWRT.

http://www.gargoyle-router.com/download.php

Be sure to download the correct version for your WNDR3700 (check if V1 or V2).