not printer found when trying to send a file to print. it has been working fine, but then it stopped

[SFJones]

the printer is not coming up as connected.  It was working fine but now it is searching for a printer.  I checked the printer and it says it is connected to the network

[BeemerBiker]

The FDN uses USB or hardwired ethernet.

I assume you have Cat5 or Cat6 cable to the router or modem from the printer.

if the PC cannot contact the printer then the printer must have powered on or woken up from sleep and received a different IP address than it had before. 

This show how to add a printer: for windows  click here

To fix the problem permanently, do one of the two steps below.

1 - To fix this you can program the router to provide a fixed or reserved IP address to the printer.

Get a network report from the printer and make a note of the IP address.

log into the modem / router, find the HDCP server, look for the printers IP address and make it fixed.

restart the modem.

2 - do not use the IP of the printer when connecting the PC.  Use the hostname instead.

The printer needs to be online and you need to obtain the hostname. You can do this from the printer by asking for a network or status report. If the hostname is not listed then there should be an IP4 address. If the IP4 address is 192.168.1.120 then you can obtain the hostname using the windows administrator command prompt and entering the following command.

nslookup 192.168.1.120

The hostname NPI40CB07.attlocal.net can be used to access the printer even if the IP address of the printer changes.

In windows 11 use the "add a printer manually" and select the TCP/IP not IPP after clicking next.

enter the hostname instead of the IP address.  if the IP address is listed, then delete it and enter the hostname.