Aficio MP C4500 - taking ages to login to scan through AD??

[Guest]

Hi All

We have a Ricoh Aficio MP C4500 scanner is setup to authenticate via AD when you scan a doc. All of a sudden its now taking like 19seconds to authenticate where before it was just a few seconds.

Any ideas what I can try?

I have power cycled the printer to no avail.

Thanks

Scott

[rthonpm]

Have any changes been made to the server? Could be anything from a security update to a slow network connection...

[slewis1972]

The print server is ok as checked. Its only with scanning and it does scan to email and hence it only asks for a login when you press the scanning button

Any ideas how I can fnd out what server its authenticating against?

I have inherited the printer recently so am trying to get a grip on it but having issues fuinding any info from anyone.

Thanks.

Scott

[schooltech]

You mentioned that the print server is ok, but what about where AD is residing? Is it also the print server?

Also, what is the network setup? Is it just one server, or are there multiple servers?

Check the event logs, about the time when you think something happened, and see what it may have recorded. You may see the change right there.

Did M$ recently do a security upgrade or something to it?

It sounds like some sort of latency issue. Was there anything that was changed in group policies?

When you said, 'all of a sudden' that, many times, is a cue that there was probably some sort of software change/upgrade.

[slewis1972]

Hi

Print server is just controlling the printer part. The scanner part, I dont believe any software on a server controls it as I beleive thats built into the printer - but am happy to be proved wrong. We don have another one of these printers I have found out and thats ok. So, yes, I am thinking latency possibly, but not sure whats changed.

I suppose the fact it actually works is good.

Scott

[rthonpm]

If the machine is in a large environment, there may be more than one SMTP server so the same server name could be routing to a different server than before, maybe a backup or just an older server on the same rack.
I haven't seen this affect authentication before, only transmission of the scan data, but it may be part of your issue if it's only affecting scan-to-email...

[DarthAlbin]

There could have been a change with the servers security settings.

There could be increased collisions or dropped packets. I've seen IT guys switch a couple of cables on their switches or which port they are connected to. Maybe the switch has a bad RJ45 port. Has there been an additional service running on the network that might increase network traffic?

They could have added a few new users on that segment that increased network traffic. This problem could be exacerbated if they are still using a hub and not a switch. There would be a bottleneck in communication to the server. Have the IT guy mention ANY change in the network even if he thinks it's unrelated.

Plug the machine into a different network jack and see if you notice any change.

[pspahr]

K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid)

First things first. Input the SMTP servers IP address instead of using its name (ie: 123.456.789.012 instead of mail.yourmailserver.com). If this works faster/better then maybe the DNS was set improperly, or more likely, has changed. I've had a customer that scanned to email and used the DNS of their ISP. The ISP decided to change its DNS. Since I almost always set the machine statically in most enviroments that meant the DNS programmed into the machine was now incorrect and as such the customers scanning became slow at best and unreliable at the worst.

Second, are you using Microsoft Exchange server? If so, and it worked previously but now "all of a sudden" has slowed down then I'd bet there was some sort of software update done recently as was stated by the previous poster...Friggin' M$ Exchange......Too many gripes about that to even get started on it.

Never underestimate how long it may take for a response from any mail server. If you aren't using an internal mail server then you have just about zero control over how well it functions. If you are using an internal mail server then maybe contacting your IT dept. (or if you belong to said dept.) is your best bet. Of course, they will almost always be resistant to any perceived criticism of their holiest of holy network, but be persistant and nice and maybe they'll look into and figure out what's going on.

Hope this helps, let us know!

[Nathaniel]

Hi slewis1972,

Can we get more details on how you have setup the MPC4500 and how the AD environment is laid out?

After you verify that DNS is not an issue via pspahr's suggestion go and access the MFP via the web interface and check the LDAP test by logging in the selecting Configuration then select LDAP server. Edit the LDAP server and change the LDAP server to it's IP address then click the Run Test button. If it passes change the IP back to it's DNS. This will confirm that DNS is setup properly.

Also besure to have the latest firmware on that MPC4500.