Ricoh MPC 2500 Network Issues PLEASE HELP!!

[iscott]

It seems we have tried everything as the copier will not obtain a local IP address when set to DHCP (it gets a crazy 169... IP address) and we can set it to static but the computer still will not see or print to the copier as we cannot ping the copier.

We have a single computer with a linksys wrt54G router and have set router to default settings and even tried 2 other routers but always get the same results. The light on the router port will not light up when copier is plugged into any of the ports but lights up on the port the computer is plugged into. Also the orange light on the copiers network card stays static and the green light blinks.

The funny thing is that when we set a static IP address on the computer and set a static IP address on the copier and plug the copier directly into the PC then we can ping it and we took that as the network card is not bad.

Could it be bad firmware? Bad network card on copier?

The network settings are simple and have even disabled all firewalls to rule that out.

PLEASE HELP

[Ollie1981]

Is this a fault that has developed? Has your current setup worked in it's current state at some point in the past and only now has this problem developed, or is this a new installation and/or have you just decided to connect a machine that you were previously using just as a standalone copier onto the network?

If it is the former, have you had a recent thunderstorm with a power blackout? I have had a problem similar to this that was caused by a lightning strike on a customers premises .... but they had many other things fried too.

Also check that all the SD cards are present and correct in their slots on the controller board (under a metal cover near the network port), there should be one with the print/scan application and possibly another with the optional PS3 option (if fitted)

So reading your post... a direct Cat5 connection is successful when you manually assign I.P addresses?

Have you checked you can ping/print to the I.P port and open web image monitor in a web browser? I would test to make sure as I have had weird connectivity faults in the past (sometimes infuriatingly intermittant) that have been traced to damaged pins in the network port of the copier.

I have also had weird problems with routers whereby they just wouldn't allow traffic originating from the copier across the network at all, you could send a print job to it from any other node (server, client PC) on the network, but just no traffic from the copier (no SMB/TWAIN scanning, web image monitor etc). This is with all permissions set in the firewall to allow traffic on the relevant ports, the only workaround was to make sure that the copier connected to other nodes via a dedicated switch, rather than using the DSL router in question as a switch.

Past that....... the amount of different network routers, switches etc that I have seen customers using, the sky is the limit. I can't claim familiarity with that particular model but I would check if there is any security settings in the router's DHCP setup, I've never actually seen it myself but I'm thinking that most routers can be set up to reserve particular I.P addresses for particular devices based on their MAC address, I'm wondering if some can be configured to only allocate I.P addresses to a list of "known and trusted" MAC addresses. Maybe I'm confusing the issue with some settings I've seen to do with wi-fi networks whereby you can restrict who can connect based on a "known and trusted" list.

As for firmware ... I've never had any problems like this that was attributable to firmware, it's worth a try though if all other avenues are exhausted, it's possible a faulty controller board is to blame but that is rare.

[mikedci]

"The funny thing is that when we set a static IP address on the computer and set a static IP address on the copier and plug the copier directly into the PC then we can ping it and we took that as the network card is not bad."

Dumb question but...you're not using the same cable to plug from copier to pc(crossover) and copier to router(patch) are you?

[iscott]

Finaly got it comunicate by switching conection speed from auto to 10MB tried 100MB it would not work.
I had someone tell me that this ment the nic card was going bad is this true?

[mikedci]

Finaly got it comunicate by switching conection speed from auto to 10MB tried 100MB it would not work.
I had someone tell me that this ment the nic card was going bad is this true?

Havent heard that fwiw, but then again im fairly new...

[jonhiker]

Finaly got it comunicate by switching conection speed from auto to 10MB tried 100MB it would not work.
I had someone tell me that this ment the nic card was going bad is this true?

Is this when it is plugged directly in the PC or through the router?

And, yes, that could be true that the controller board is bad. this machine does not have a seperate NIC card.

[Choro1dal]

This used to be an issue with 'Link-flapping' enabled on the hub/switch. The workround was to set the MFDs ethernet speed to match that of the hub/switch. (i/e 10MB Full Duplex to 10MB Full Duplex.) Mismatching the speed would produce the issue you are having. The table below show which combinations work

		MFP/LP
10M half	10M full	100M half	100M full	Auto
Switch	10M half	OK	NG	NG	NG	OK
10M full	NG	OK	NG	NG	NG
100M half	NG	NG	OK	NG	OK
100M full	NG	NG	NG	OK	NG
Auto	OK	NG	OK	NG	OK

The was a firmware fix for the MP C2500 and the System Firmware needs to be later than 1.66)

You could also flush the NCS (SP 5801-11) and reconfigure NIB.