Canon Copier / Win2k3 Shares / Dell Switches

I have 2 Canon Multifunction units that scan to network shares on a Windows 2003 server. The two multifunction units go offline at exactly the same time every day and need to be rebooted. We can still print to them, fax and copy but they lose connection with the network shares at the exact same time. We have two other Sharp Multifunction units that do not experience this issue. I've ruled out everything except for the fact that maybe our dell switches and the canon's just don't like to play nicely.

Does anyone have any other ideas what may be causing this strange issue?

 

Hi neo

Sounds interesting!

Clarify!
OK so are you saying they go off togather when they do go off, or they in fact go off togather at the exact same time of day each day?

If so what time of day? Does this correspond to any network event that is set for this time of day?

What do the server event logs have to say about this.

Are these units attached by parallel or usb to a server and shared from there? Or via tcpip direct to the network.

If tcp then do the following:
before it happens

Drag your mouse to highlight the below, between the lines then rt click and copy.
--------------------------------------------
%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /c %windir%\system32\ping.exe 192.xxx.xx.x >> "%USERPROFILE% "\Desktop\ping.txt
--------------------------------------------

Next open cmd prompt and paste but do not hit enter, then arrow back to the (place holder IP) and change it to the IP of the 1st printer press enter.

When back at prompt hit up arrow to redisplay that same command and change IP to IP of 2nd printer.

Now just repeat the above after you lose connection again before resetting.

A file will be created on the desktop ping.txt. Post contents back to us!

All the ping results will be in this one file.

Mike

 

I can successfully ping both devices when they go offline. The both respond. It is only the scanning functionality to the network shares that is lost. All other functionality is still available. Scan to email, etc...

 

.........ok

And the rest of my questions?

Mike

 

They go off at random times during the day but both at the same time. I use SolarWinds Orion for network monitoring and there are no other network issues occurring at the same time. THere is nothing in the server event logs about this. Units attached via tcp/ip.

 

There is a reg edit for shares going off line after no activity. I cant remember where though.

 

OK Neo

I doubt this is your network switch or router working most of the time then failing.

So the share is OK, it is only the scanning part of the multifunction that fails.

So how do you get it back?

Turn off the whole device by power cycle?

If the above is the case then have you looked at the Multifunction entries in Services before and after the failure to see if they change?

Is the service not started?

Change or not, can you restart the services and restore the Scanning functions without the power off cycle?

If any of these services are set to Manual I would change them to Automatic!

Your issue is likely a driver issue for the sanning part of the Multifunction device.

After you answer the above and we have no new info to work with, then I would consider uninstall and reinstall of this device with fresh drivers from the mfg. If you used this same driver then I would drop back to the next older driver!

Mike

 

There are no services that i'm aware of that go offline. We simply power each multifunction unit down completely, then power it back on and it restores the functionality.

 

Don't sound right, there should be services related to scanning and specifcially to the MultiFunct devices.

And you do not get any entries from the event logs?

Do the below while it is working

Lft drag mouse and copy the text between the lines!

----------------------------------------------------------
%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /c %windir%\system32\tasklist.exe /svc >> "%USERPROFILE% "\Desktop\Tasklist.txt
----------------------------------------------------------

then
Start-Run
type cmd
hit enter or click OK

rt click in the open cmd screen and rt then paste
hit enter twice

Now repeat the same process with the below

----------------------------------------------------------
%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /c %windir%\system32\sc query type= service > "%USERPROFILE% "\Desktop\ScQuery.txt
----------------------------------------------------------

then

close cmd prompt

Now there are 2 new icons on the desktop Tasklist.txt and ScQuery.txt
Post back contents of both!
=========================================

Then do the same again after they go offline before putting power cycling them.


Mike

 

Well I dug deeper and what I was suspicious of was covered in a service pac long ago.
It used to be that XP shares would go offline after no activity and we had a reg hack to fix it. That was a long time ago though.

 

If it is scanning to a server It has to log that server at startup. Are both printers using the same loging and the server is set to log them out after a set time limit or inactivity? The printing wouldn't go through the file server so it wouldn't be lost. I would check the user settings at the Windows 2003 server.