IP port printers on 2003 server address change

Unusual problem yesterday caused complete chaos. Have a small network o
server 2003 (about 70 nodes) several served printers including three I
port printers running for POS restaurant preparation. (epson tm-u230's
After running for a very long time with no problem (years) sometim
midday, all three went offline. Running a setup report from the
directly showed that the addresses for all three of them had bee
changed from their static setting (subnet range 10.0.0.70, 71 and 72) t
224.0.0.1. I had to reset to factory then reconfigure each one. I hav
no clue why this happened. I see nothing in event viewer. I trie
internet search and I only get references to "multicast" with tha
address but honestly I'm not sure what that is or how it could relate
Any clue, any idea from anyone would be immeasurably appreciated. Pleas
help. Thanks, Jo

 

I can't think how this could happen on its own or how your server could have
anything to do with it. Do the Epsons have any sort of central management
application that could do this? Some sort of firmware bug? Did you contact
Epson support?

For what it's worth, I think you're better off using DHCP reservations for
printers, rather than statics.

 

We experienced the same problem just today (and once before about a week ago).
However, we are not using Windows drivers, but JavaPOS drivers.
On one host we are running 3 network and one serial i/f Epson TM-U220.
On another host (on the same network) we are running 1 network and one
serial printer. The installations seem to be identical, except for the number
of network printers on each host:
JVM: 1.4.2_18-b06
JPos: 1.11.3w (2008-10-15)
WinXP SP2

The problem only arises on the network printers hosted together with 2 other
network printers.

Could be worth trying to change to DHCP - will try and get back in a few
weeks if no new problems arise.
Any comments, theories or ideas on how to resolve this problem - and what
might cause it - are very much apreciated. I have also contacted Epson, whos
service employee adviced me to make a clean installation of the JPos...

jkreft: what is your setup?

 

We had the exact same problem here, our POS printer (an Epson TM-T88IV) suddenly stopped working after years of reliable service. The IP was reset to 224.0.0.1 (which is a reserved ID multicast address)...

I had to reset the printer to factory defaults (by pushing the hidden button on the interface module for about 10 seconds) and reconfigure the printer port throught the Windows printer driver.

Looking up for a solution, I found the following post which might give some indications on why such a problem happens and how it can be avoided:
http://www.lavucommunity.com/forums...using-ethernet-interface-important/#entry3677

Hope it helps someone.

Citing the post (by RafaelT) :