Network Devices 7 Rediscovery Issues

[RhoXS]

I have a home LAN using a Linksys WRT54G router and a DLink DGS-2208 8 port switch. An HP 1320n Laserjet printer is connected to the network using a hardwired Ethernet connection. The network devices (DSL modem, router, & switch) are all powered via a UPS.

Once every week or two the printer suddenly cannot be found by the computers on the network. The problem is simply fixed by deleting the printer and reinstalling it on each computer. This is getting old and is destroying my faith in the reliability of a network.

Any suggestions how to make this more reliable so we can depend on being able to use the printer without having to remove and reinstall it every week or so on each computer?

[TempliNocturnus]

Make sure your printer is configured with a static IP or that your router has a MAC address reservation so that the printer receives the same IP all the time.

[RhoXS]

Make sure your printer is configured with a static IP or that your router has a MAC address reservation so that the printer receives the same IP all the time.

Does the router really matter here since I think could have connected the printer and the computers with just the 8 port switch with no router at all?

What determines the printer IP; the printer or the switch? Or are you suggesting the router does more than route the internet connection and also assigns an IP to things like the printer and the network storage device (a DLink DNS-323 which also has the same problem)? If so, this confuses me because, again, I thought only a switch is necessary to connect the network devices and computers, albeit without an internet connection.

I obviously do not have anything other than superficial knowledge of the network at this level so would appreciate help.

[TempliNocturnus]

Well in order for your devices on your network to communicate with each other, they need an IP address. These devices may either obtain an IP address from a DHCP server (which there's high likelyhood that your router is configured, by default, as a DHCP server), or a static IP address may be assigned to the device by the user (aka. you).

Your devices, both the printer and the NAS, are probably configured to obtain an IP address automatically through DHCP (your router). Every so often --typically every three days or so-- the lease for the IP address assigned through DHCP expires, and the DHCP server (your router) may assign your device a different IP address. This may cause you to have to re-map to the device if you are mapped to it by its IP address. Sometimes even if you're mapped to it by its hostname, your routers DNS may not translate the host name to IP address correctly (I know mine doesn't all the time), and will break any mappings you have to the device.

As I previously said, I think the solution to your problem lies in configuring your devices to always have the same IP address. The two ways you can do this are either going into the configuration panels for your devices and setting the IP address to a static one, or go into your routers configuration page and set up an address reservation so that it will only assign the devices a specific IP.