Strange network/scanner issue - need advice

[Jonny Two Shoes]

Hey all...here's an interesting one I'm having. (Not sure if this belongs here or under hardware but we shall see )

We have a Utax printer with scanner. The scanner is on it's own IP address.

All of our PC's are on the same domain with same subnet.

All of our PC's use DHCP controlled by the server.

The scanner is not on DHCP but has been set up correctly and been working fine for a while.

Here is the scenario...

Scanner is having intermittent problems sending PDF scanned jobs to certain PC's (quite a few) on the 1st floor to the people close by to it (fails 90% of the time and times out). However it sends the jobs 100% fine to me all the time and to some previous users who have now moved to other areas in the building. Although pinging the scanner IP address from any PC even the problem PC's show replies with no errors.

Another scanner (same type but different IP) sends jobs perfectly fine to the problem PC's (this is what confuses me - I mean )

All network points throughout the building are directed to a main switch via ethernet cables. (well...switches...there are a few in a rack)

The only changes I know of late is the installation of a new IP phone system that of course tampers a lot with the network but I'm not involved with this project.

So...

1. "Problem scanner" is working fine. It sends jobs 100% fine to me and others.
2. "Problem PC's" are fine. They receive scans from the same type of device from another part of the building.
3. Network cables are fine no? They receive comms from the other devices through the same path.

All I can imagine is that perhaps there is a problem between certain (elaborate on certain) ports only on the switch? But is that possible? If comms from other areas through those points are fine how can that be?

Or alternatively the IP phones are causing an issue...but surely other network resources would be affected? Not just one "specific" scanner.

Any thoughts or something I may be missing?

 

[|tera|]

We've got a similar setup in our building Johnny.

Generally speaking, check the following:

Problem scanner IP needs to be in the same range of course, same subnet and the gateway needs to point to the DHCP server (DNS server in your case as well most probably).

Try to do a standard TCP/IP repair on one of the problem pc's, so that the DNS Resolver Cache could be flushed. Just double click on the Network Adapter, click Support and repair (XP Pro, you probably know, but I'm posting it for those who don't).

I've seen one port on a switch definitely fail and caused a specific pc to lose connectivity, so that is possible, but highly unlikely if the other scanner scans to it.

Any more info you could provide would help as well.

 

[Amida]

Hey all...here's an interesting one I'm having. (Not sure if this belongs here or under hardware but we shall see )

We have a Utax printer with scanner. The scanner is on it's own IP address.

All of our PC's are on the same domain with same subnet.

All of our PC's use DHCP controlled by the server.

The scanner is not on DHCP but has been set up correctly and been working fine for a while.

Here is the scenario...

Scanner is having intermittent problems sending PDF scanned jobs to certain PC's (quite a few) on the 1st floor to the people close by to it (fails 90% of the time and times out). However it sends the jobs 100% fine to me all the time and to some previous users who have now moved to other areas in the building. Although pinging the scanner IP address from any PC even the problem PC's show replies with no errors.

Another scanner (same type but different IP) sends jobs perfectly fine to the problem PC's (this is what confuses me - I mean )

All network points throughout the building are directed to a main switch via ethernet cables. (well...switches...there are a few in a rack)

The only changes I know of late is the installation of a new IP phone system that of course tampers a lot with the network but I'm not involved with this project.

So...

1. "Problem scanner" is working fine. It sends jobs 100% fine to me and others.
2. "Problem PC's" are fine. They receive scans from the same type of device from another part of the building.
3. Network cables are fine no? They receive comms from the other devices through the same path.

All I can imagine is that perhaps there is a problem between certain (elaborate on certain) ports only on the switch? But is that possible? If comms from other areas through those points are fine how can that be?

Or alternatively the IP phones are causing an issue...but surely other network resources would be affected? Not just one "specific" scanner.

Any thoughts or something I may be missing?

As far as I know these scanners usually sends the PDF via exchange to your email address. Is it the connection between your exchange and the printer that is failing?

 

[Jonny Two Shoes]

Hi guys thanks for replies

How it is set up is:

Each PC has a Scanner File Utility client installed on it and a folder on C:\ ready to receive the PDF files. When you scan and select a users name on the Utax it sends the PDF straight to that folder on the client PC. You can access the scanner via HTTP and associate each user name with a Computer Name which must then be handled by DNS. We don't run exchange we have a Domino server for mail (Lotus Notes) lol

I checked range and subnet on the scanner and it appears to be fine. Did ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /release/renew. Tried re-installing the scanner clients on problem PC's. Tried re-adding user and PC names on the scanner HTTP. Tried replacing network cable in use by the scanner. Tried rebooting PCs and Utax machine. Tried removing IP phone between PC and network point and plug directly.

What I have yet to try but the users are very reluctant to cooperate as they are too busy is I would like to take one of their laptops to my office and try scanning from there and see what happens. Will post what I find when I can.

Here is the funny thing I have confirmed this morning. The scanner does sometimes find the PC's and sometimes does send a PDF successfully. And from playing around on the scanner itself this morning it seems it has bigger problems with two of all the problem PC's where it hardly finds them at all whereas another it will find 50% of the time. So there is a link between scanner and PC for sure but it is so intermittent.

 

[Conradl]

Things to check:

If you can ping the scanner from the problem PC, then it is not a physical (cable/switch/NIC) problem.
Do any of the problem machines have a firewall - perhaps they allow ICMP, but drop the packets from the scanner?
Is your DNS setup correctly on both the scanner and the problem PC? Try ping/nslookup the problem PC from your PC. Also try a reverse lookup from your PC to the problem PC IP. You could also try manually look at the DNS registrations on the DNS server to see if there are any duplicates. Does the scanner have the correct DNS settings? Don't worry about the gateway, it should not be used if all the machines are on the same subnet.
Can you use an IP address instead of a host name? Give the problem PC a static IP and then configure the scanner to use the IP. If it works then it is probably a DNS problem.
Can you connect to the problem PC share? How is the Scanner authenticating to access the problem PC? Does it have a domain account, local account etc. It may be permissions.

My guess is permissions, something blocking access to the PC (firewall, 10 connection limit etc), or DNS (I would check DNS first).

 

[Amida]

Do a continous ping for about an hour or so ping <printer IP> -t on the users pc. Just minimize it so the user can continue working.

Then check if there is time outs at a certain period.