The Mystery Of The Reluctant RICOH - Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple needed!

[Sedgewick]

I need a sleuth who is good at solving mysteries.

So, I'm a newbie and I have had everything set up correctly by Sawgrass who helped me by remote access.

I've got a RICOH SG311ODN, Mac laptop and Photoshop (and a DF1 mug press, sublimation paper and tape) - all from BMS.

There I was, happily printing away. I'd printed about six mugs - testing them out and trying to get the temperature and timing right.

The Ricoh is fine.

Then I step away from the Ricoh for 15 minutes and come back, and suddenly it won't print...

I live alone so nothing has been knocked - nothing at all has changed in my set up.

I know enough to leave the Ricoh on at all times.

There is no red light or error message. It looks as it did before.

The cable between my laptop and the printer are unchanged.

Yet, it does not even notice when I send something to print!

As there is a cable I assume this is not a wireless connection - so it can't be the network connection, right?

Oh and paper is in the printer.

Now what on earth can the matter be...?!!

[Tubstar]

if you use the menu on the printer to find out what the ip address is, (something like 192.168.1.44 as mine is setup). You can then test the communication from typing that number into your web browser. It should show you a status display telling you about the printer. If not it's not communicating. That's a good place to start unless you haven't tried turning it off and on again already

Alex.

[Sedgewick]

Good sleuthing!!

Unfortunately my Ricoh doesn't seem to come with instructions. I found the menu, and looked through it - not sure how to select an item. I thought googling the buttons on my Ricoh would work, but keep getting newer models.

Let's assume that the printer has suddenly has stopped communicating with my laptop - why does it happen, and what is generally done about it?

I wish it wasn't the weekend - it's typical isn't it!!

[webtrekker]

Before you print, press the blue power button once to make sure printer is on and check the LCD display? Does it show the ink levels and say 'Ready?'

[Sedgewick]

Thanks Webtrekker, it's really a mystery.

Yes, I always press the blue power button and it does say ready and show the ink levels.

It's so weird. It was working perfectly - I leave the printer for 15 mins, and on my return it suddenly isn't printing anymore.

It's like it is not getting any instructions from my laptop - but given nothing has changed in the set up, how could they suddenly not be communicating?

I've not changed anything I'm doing, and the printer is brand new and no error messages or red lights.

[raydavies]

Are you printing through PhotoShop , or PS Elements?

[mrs maggot]

I have had this happen several times, it was always the IP address, as mentioned, yet I had changed nothing, the lads at sawgrass were even stumped as to why it happened.

[Sedgewick]

I'm sure you're right, Mrs Maggot - but as I say, I don't know how to get the IP address. I go through the menu but don't know what to select or how to select an item.

My Ricoh came brand new but without instructions.

Also, if I find it's the IP address issue - what do I do to fix it?

[johna1954]

Hi Sedgewick, Mine does the same if left for a while, just as you describe will not print. I have just assumed that it goes into a 'Sleep' mode and I just press the power button for a brief second and all starts working ok. Always best to setup with a fixed iP address which you can do from the menu. Click on Menu and go down to 'Host Interface' > Hash key then down to Network Setup You will probably need to input, DNS, IP address and Subnet Mask.
DNS probably something like 192.168.001.001 and Subnet Mask 255.255.255.000 but check as your own setting as will possibly be different. The IP address can be 192.168.1.xxx where xxx you can set to between 2 - 254 (1 & 255 reserved) depending upon what you have attached to your network. You should be able to access your router from a browser and find what devices are attached and their address. Choose an available number and restart printer and check that it saved ok. Then in your computer either change the network details or sometimes maybe easier to reinstall . You can always check if IP address working by putting it into your browser, you should then be able to access printer info and settings.

[Sedgewick]

Hi Sedgewick, Mine does the same if left for a while, just as you describe will not print. I have just assumed that it goes into a 'Sleep' mode and I just press the power button for a brief second and all starts working ok. Always best to setup with a fixed iP address which I did from the menu.

In terms of the Power button - yes, as mentioned earlier in my posts, I did indeed press the Power button - the machine woke up as it always does when you press Power, but did not print.

As mentioned, I don't know how to setup with a fixed IP address. I can scroll through the menu but don't know what button to press to select. Nor do I know what item from the menu I need to pick to set up with a fixed iP address.

The Ricoh did not come with instructions.

Sawgrass set this up for me via remote access.