Wireless Printer Not Staying Connected.

After purchasing a Samsung M2020W wireless printer and installing the software via the CD it worked wirelessly for a few weeks then kept coming up as "off-line" when selecting the printer.

I reinstalled the software and after several attempts it worked wirelessly again but only for a few days.

If it is plugged in via USB cable there are no issues and prints ok.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can keep the printer connected wirelessly?

I suggest you try giving it a static IP address.

What's the wireless signal like where the printer is?

My own printer is a [censored] to setup...unless you unhide the SSID being broadcast from the router. Strange that. Hidden, the printer can't see it, even if you tell it the specific one to look for. Once unhidden, it sees it, configures, then you hide it again, but the printer 'sees' it thereafter.

I also recommend the previous poster's suggestion for the static IP for the printer, and perhaps tweak the DHCP IP range on the router to prevent said IP being allowed. For example:

xxx.xxx.xxx.1 - router (default gateway)
xxx.xxx.xxx.2 - PC
xxx.xxx.xxx.3 - printer
xxx.xxx.xxx.4 to xxx.xxx.xxx.254 - in router's DCHP range (assuming you want or need DHCP).

Edit: female dogs not allowed? Hmm.

Edited by camieabz (Mon 14-Sep-15 00:20:34)

This may be barking up the wrong tree but do you actually need the printer itself to be wireless? I know a number of people that want to print from a wireless device but don't realise that the printer itself could be plugged into a wired port on the router/switch.

I gave up and now keep my wireless printer connected via USB to my laptop. I still use it via WiFi when printing from my iPad and iPhone without any problems at all.

Printer is 3 metres from the router/modem (Technicolor TG582n) so signal should be ok.

I presume I log in to the router to set the static IP?

It's just annoying that it works for a short time then doesn't. And I thought newer technology was supposed to be easier to use.

There is an USB socket on the Technicolor TG582n router but I think there is a bit of faffing to be done to get it to work with a printer.

I bought a wireless printer to work wirelessly.

I do have 2 printers upstairs connected to a "print server" (old laptop running XP) and they are wired to the server and the server is connected to a switch which is wired to the router.

Have you tried turning off all the power saving options and testing it. I often find these settings cause devices to disappear from the network and never wake up until a power cycle.

If it's only 3 metres from the router can you directly cable it if it has an Ethernet port)? Cabling via Ethernet would likely be better than using USB to the router.

You can still print to it wirelessly but it being connected to the router wired would hopefully make it more stable. My brothers printer is a little temperamental on wireless and will print for a while and then the laptop will just stop seeing it and have to power cycle the printer a few times to get it to connect again.

Wireless printing is more trouble than it is worth, I have a canon bubblejet printer and had the same problem of it disconnecting, so I stuck it onto USB