Today (5/21/2024) I received the invitation to upgrade from 23.10 to 24.04, and I accepted. It took about 45 minutes and went smoothly. I have now checked all the applications that I use on a regular basis, and there was only one that did not make it through the upgrade and that was Evolution Email. It lost its ability to connect to email accounts and bring in messages. I re-installed it but that didn’t fix it. Fortunately I also had Thunderbird installed and had been using it up until a few months ago, and it is still working well, so I’m happy with the upgrade.
7 Likes
Well, there was one problem. 24.04 insists that it is unable to communicate by ethernet to my HP printer. It “sees” the printer, but says in can’t connect to it. I had to hook it up with the USB cable to get it to work; the other computers on the network are able to access the printer through the USB-connected computer, but not by ethernet.
Hi Jim,
Can you ping the printer by its IP address?
If you can get that far it is just a matter of setting up CUPS… unless the printer is very unusual and there is no driver.
If you cant ping it, your network setup needs attention.
Regards
Neville
3 Likes
Hi Neville, using <ping -w 10 169.254.250.136> it times out.
Using <ping 169.254.250.136> the terminal just sits there indefinitely.
The printer ethernet cable goes to one output on a little 4-port switch, and the other three outputs go to computers. None of the computers can talk to the printer, but they all could on Ubuntu 23.10. I’ve tried re-starting the switch, re-starting the printer, and re-starting the computers, to no avail.
24.04 came with hplip installed; didn’t work. I installed hplip latest from hp site; didn’t work. I installed hplip with apt; didn’t work. hplip recognizes the printer and knows information about it, but if you try to “ADD PRINTER” it always says “cannot communicate with printer”. As the King of Siam said “IS a puzzlement!” Working on USB OK, so it’s not top priority anymore. Thanks for your reply.
Hi Jim,
Can the computers ping each other?
Either
- switch problem… which seems unlikely…
- cable problem
- you updated all 3 computers at once… so network not configured
What you can try:
- connect 2 computers directly (not thru switch)… ca-n they ping each other?
Turn your modem off, so they cant ping thru that link.
Then can they ping each other?
If not… you definitely need to configure the ethernet interface, probably in both computers… you are not connecting via your modem, so it will not be able to use dhcp, you will have to configure a static ip address for each computer and it must be an address on the same network as your printer address … ie 169.254.250.x
Just curious… how do you get your internet connection? You must be using wireless
or a second ethernet port? Is that configured Ok? Most distros will configure a dhcp connection to a modem OK, but not a static local network connection. That is most likely why you have the problem with the new Ubuntu.
If you had done an inline upgrade, rather than a fresh install, it would have kept the old ethernet configuration and avoided this problem… Oh, I see it was an inline upgrade… well Ubuntu messed it up… it shoukd have preserved your network configuration.
Regards
Neville
2 Likes
Neville-- thank you very much for your list of things to test. Hopefully I will learn some things about networks. As to your quoted question: the uplink on the switch is an Ethernet connection to an Eero wi-fi module (the modem is at the farthest away corner of the house, so there are three wi-fi modules and a switch between the modem and the three computers. Modem → Ethernet → module 1 → module 2 → module 3 → Ethernet → switch → Ethernet → computer. It works well though; my internet download speed is usually > 175 Mb/s Although computer 1 (with USB cable) was an inline upgrade, the other two computers were fresh installs. With 23.10 I think all three were fresh installs. With 24.04 all three have good internet connections, but all three fail to “connect” properly to the network printer.
that looks like a self assigned IP address…
What is the IP address of your desktop machine?
1 Like
So you use the one physical network to connect to both
- the internet with dhcp
- the printer at 169.254.250.136
So that printer ip address must have been allocated by your modem? Right?
So it is not a static local net it is dhcp controlled by your modem? Right?
OK, I guessed wrong.
Disregard last reply. Can your computers ping each other?
and
Can you log into or ping the modem?
Hi Dan – the desktop has address: 76.158.182.206
another one has 76.158.182.206; both are connected to the switch.
Correction to configuration: there is another switch that merges the modem, the wi-fi system, an Apple storage disk, and a (Mac) 4th computer, all at the “other end” of the wi-fi chain.
That is not the same network as the printer?
That must be the external address
Neville – these questions are a little over my head. I don’t know how dhcp works, but yes, the printer is on the same network as the wi-fi module. I need to re-learn how to discover the address of the wi-fi module, or to log in to it. I don’t know how the printer gets its address, or whether the local network is static or dynamic. Computer 1 is NOT able to ping computer 2 on the same network. Additional info: On the other end of the wi-fi-chain there is another 5-port switch that merges a Mac, an Apple storage device, the wi-fi main module, and the modem. (It’s a LOT, right?) I’m surprised that it ever DID work.
Start from there. That should be possible.
If the internet connection is OK, from both computers, then they can both communicate with the modem, but not with each other.???
I wonder has the modem allocated new IP addresses to the computers when you upgraded the OS?
To check that do
ip addr
in each computer.
Is it what you used to get?
On main desktop: (computer 1)
ip addr → 192.168.4.184 / brd 192.168.7.255
ip-address → 76.158.182.206
I have no record or recollection of what these were before the upgrade & new installs
Computer 2:
ip addr → 192.168.4.203
ip-address → 76.158.182.206
USING THE ADDRESSES GIVEN BY ip addr the two computers CAN ping each other
Neither computer can ping the printer at 169.254.250.136, so that must not be the printer’s local address, but it has a display screen that shows that address. How do I identify the printers local address? There are some options in printer installation that ask for an ip address.
Those addresses are “self assigned” - i.e. if the device can’t find a DHCP server (most routers function as DHCP servers) it will self assign an address.
Your computers on 192.168.4.203 and 206 cannot reach that IP address as it’s a different TCP/IP network.
I don’t understand how you’re getting a 2nd IP address on each computer… I think that 76.158.182.206 address is your Internet IP address that your router is assigned by your Internet Service Provider.
You should be able to go to the control panel on your HP printer and manually set an IP address on it - e.g. if nothing’s using 192.168.4.100 (e.g. trying pinging it) - set that with netmask 255.255.255.0 on your printer… that’s assuming that all your devices are on the same ethernet “segment” - i.e. they’re all using the same network switch.
1 Like
That is a good sign. … There is nothing wrong with the cables, or the switch, or the modem
but
ping hostname does not work… so it is not resolving hostnames properly
and
you cant ping the printer at 169.254.250.136
2 questions
- what do you have in /etc/hosts file?
- why does printer not have a 192.168.4.x IP address?.. it needs to be on the same network as the 2 computers.
Hi Jim,
Can you draw a very simple sketch of what you mean by this phrase?
I’m sorry. I can’t understand how you have your internal network distributed.
Thanks
Jorge
1 Like
Daniel and Neville,
I I think Jim has the internal network with 2 different IPS because of the routers. I don’t know if that’s the problem and how he’s configured the gateways.
Could it be? What do you think?
Jorge
Hi Jorge,
I am not sure. Thanks for bringing it up. Anything is possible.
That is why I ask questions. … i do not want to suggest something that makes Jim’s
situation worse.
If we can define exactly what Jim has, I am sure @daniel.m.tripp can show us how best to do a fix.
I think his wifi modules are just repeaters… in that case it is one physical network.
2 Likes
My thanks to you all for your comments and suggestions. With your help I have learned that the printer has a setup function called “Network Setup” and in that, there is a function called “Ipv4 setup” and within that there are the choices “Auto” and “DHCP”. When I changed it from “Auto” to “DHCP”, the computers all miraculously were able to communicate by Ethernet with the printer – without the USB connection. So if I understand your comments correctly, DHCP is the protocol with which my local switch assigns an ip address to each device that is plugged into it, and AUTO tells the printer to make up its own ip address. And yes, all of the wifi modules are repeaters except the one connected to the modem.
4 Likes
@jimofadel ,
Yes, if you can make the printer accept DHCP, that is the best arrangement.
The modem will then assign it an address in the correct network.
On the other problem, … your computers can ping each other by IP number but not by hostname… if you want to fix that you need to setup the /etc/hosts file in each computer.
2 Likes