[PLUG] Printer IP address

Derek Loree drl at drloree.com
Tue Nov 5 05:09:31 UTC 2019


> On Nov 4, 2019, at 8:39 PM, Michael Barnes <barnmichael at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 5:12 PM Galen Seitz <galens at seitzassoc.com <mailto:galens at seitzassoc.com>> wrote:
> 
>> On 11/4/19 3:44 PM, Rich Shepard wrote:
>>> I think that I've discovered why I cannot communicate with the Dell
>> C1760nw
>>> printer. Using the printer's control panel I printed out a page of its
>>> settings and noticed that it has an apparently hard-wired IP address of
>>> 169.254.98.111. No wonder I can't ping it using the LAN IP address
>> 
>> FYI, the 169.254 address is a link-local address.
>> 
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link-local_address>
> 
> Far from an expert here, but in my experience, most 169.254.x.x type
> addresses indicate the DHCP client in the printer was unable to pull an
> address, so it assigns one of these "dummy" addresses. While some printers
> can have a static address assigned, every one I have personally dealt with
> used DHCP and a dynamic address. Pseudo "fixed" addresses were actually
> assigned by the DHCP server based on the printer (or other peripheral) MAC
> address.
> If the printer is giving itself a 168.254.x.x address, I would check the
> network connections and be sure the printer can see the DHCP server to
> request an IP address lease.

I agree with Michael, this address range is used automatically if there is no reply from a DHCP server.  The printout should have a line showing the network mode or something like that.  It might not say “DHCP", but “Automatic” or similar.  If it is a hard-wired address, the mode would say “Manual” or something similar.

Your linux distribution may also automatically set the IP address of your laptop to something in the range of 169.254.x.x if it can’t find a DHCP server.

Good Luck,

Derek Loree


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